This weekend finds two major movies contending for your movie monies: Wall Street 2, and Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga'Hoole. Honestly, the two are so far apart in genre and style, you really shouldn't have much trouble choosing between the two, depending on your taste. But, hey, I got to see the preview screening of Legends last night, and maybe you're debating taking your kids to it, so here's a review.
The story is pretty basic. Its pretty much every other fantasy movie you've ever seen in the post-Star Wars era, only its about owls instead of people. So, its got that whole 'talking animal' thing going for it that seems to define the childrens' movie genre. Soren is the main owl, a young male just learning to fly, alongside his extremely competitive twin brother. The two of them bicker and argue a lot, with the twin often getting annoyed with Soren's tendency to daydream about his heroes, the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, rather than focus on their races. Soren lives with his head in the clouds, like so many Bastian Buxes.
Eventually, the two young owls are kidnapped by a group of larger owls, and taken to the hideout of the “Pure Ones”, where they are to be enslaved, along with myriad other young owls. This is essentially a race of Nazi owls who believe in a pure race of Tyto (barn owl) ruling over all the other owl races. The Nazi owls are led by Metal Beak, the legendary foe of the Guardians. Soren and his brother are Tyto owls, and soon they are divided, Soren resisting conditioning, with his brother being drawn in by promises of power, and joining the Pure Ones.
Soren, finding Metal Beak to be a reality, figures his heroes of lore must be the same, and so he escapes to find the Guardians.
Chances are that you can tell from the very simplistic description above whether or not this movie is going to grab you. Most of you will have already seen a dozen movies with similar stories, and so you can kind of tell what's going to happen, beat by beat. There will be a rag-tag group of heroes put together with some of the usual comedy-relief suspects. There will be a prophecy. There will be a training montage. There will be a betrayal. Ultimately, there will be a big fight, and our underdog young owl, Soren, will find a way to sneak into it and confront his brother.
I can't really call these spoilers, they've been in every fantasy movie for the last 30 years or so. You've even got a handful of Star Wars references, in the crazy Obi-Wan/Yoda-ish impish retired owl General, who instructs Soren in the arts of combat and how to 'use his gizzard' to feel out the way to fly in the final dogfights. Legends doesn't forget to add in the voice-over as Soren flies through the battle for his one-in-a-million shot “Use your gizzard, Soren. Trust your feelings.”
But, hey, this is a kids' movie, right? So in many regards, the simple plots and ideas really work for the film. The villains are reminiscent of 80's fantasy villains, Metal Beak bearing a resemblance to Darth Vader, with maybe a smidge of Willow's General Kael thrown in there. The other Nazi owls have the typical bad guy, Nazgul-ish, red eyes and metal mask kind of look. Its all a mish-mash of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Eragon, Harry Potter, Willow, Golden Compass, Lady Hawk, Neverending Story, Sword in the Stone kind of ideas. Nothing real new, but enough to entertain your kids. As a parent, you might find yourself a little bored by the simplistic plot, but you can try to entertain yourself by imagining how a Tea Party member might react to the very Socialist kind of idealized life the Guardians have created for themselves by living together in a big commune tree, everyone having a chore list to keep the society running, and everyone eating from a big, robust, group collective, with no poverty or wealth on either side of the spectrum. THOSE DAMN COMMIE OWLS!! THAT'S NOT WHAT OUR FOUNDING FATHERS FOUGHT FOR!
But, Legend of the Guardians does have one good thing to offer to both kids and adults alike, and that's the quality of its animation, which is of the highest caliber. Once you get over the initial jarring fact that the owls' beaks movie in a manner eerily like lips (!!), you can really learn to appreciate the detail of each feather, the generally realistic movement of the owls in flight, and the wonderfully rich and detailed landscapes that the owls inhabit.
Zack Snyder, of Watchmen and 300 fame, continues to show that, even if he doesn't have a gift for telling deep or nuanced stories, he does have an eye for stunning visuals. The movie is peppered with breathtaking images, all rendered perfectly in High-Def CG quality. Of particular splendor is the flight training sequence during a thunderstorm, accentuated with his trade-mark slo-mo abuse, the cracks of lightening illuminating the storm, each of thousands of little rain-drops individually animated and beating upon the wings of the owls, swirling in the tempestuous winds... it all makes for a pretty stunning sequence. You tend to forget, just for a moment, that you're watching a talking owl movie.
Can we just have Zack Snyder do animated, slo-mo nature documentaries? Of course his eye for combat also lends itself to the climactic end sequence, which are probably better produced and more visceral and exciting than they have any right to be. The film was made with 3-D in mind, as well, and it adds to the show, if you've got the extra couple bucks to throw down for it.
Can't give all the props for that to Snyder, though, a lot of it has to go to David Caro (action coordination), Simon Whiteley (production design), and all the talented developers at Animal Logic who were in charge of the animation. As ever, these guys never get enough credit for their talent and hard work.
So, in the end, Legends of the Guardians somehow crams three whole books into one movie, and turns them into a shining example of adequacy. The story, the action, the acting, none of them ever excel to any great or exciting heights, and most parents may want to roll their eyes or take a little nap. But, your kids are bound to like it, and you might find some charm in all of its throwbacks to fantasy flicks of yore. Don't expect any new ideas, though.
The quality of the visuals and animation remain high, and many will be impressed by them, and rightly so. But the Owls of Ga'Hoole never really shows enough gizzard to inspire any real emotional moments, instead choosing to walk step-by-step down a well-tread path.
Or, fly, I guess. … some goddamn owl metaphor...
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