The Legend of the Guardians: the Owls of Ga'Hoole (PG.)
Directed by Zach Synder.
Featuring voices of Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Helen Mirren, Hugo Weaving, Abbie Cornish. 93 mins
Or, translated into what people actually think when they see the title – The What of the What? The Who of the Where? Owls?!! Bluh! Though the title appears to be unnecessarily convoluted and off putting it actually gets across the nature of the film quite adeptly – dull and generic yet simultaneously obscure and unappealing.
Before anything else let’s immediately and unequivocally say that the 3D computer animation is remarkable, as good as any seen this year. It’s not David Attenborough lifelike but in terms of animated talking animals, the owls, the other creatures and the landscapes all look incredibly realistic.
So much so that it can be hard to really identify with them or even tell them apart. The story and the characters don’t engage and a lot of the kids around me seemed distracted and fidgety, either because the film was a little too dark for them or just plain boring.
The plot involves some innocent sibling owlets being kidnapped by a cult of Nazi Owls who believe that they are pure bred and that only the strong should survive. Brother turns on brother after one is seduced by their ideology but the other escapes and heads off to try and find the mythical Guardian owls.
I think that the film aspires to a Lion King style gravitas. There are moments of levity (mostly failed) but predominantly the film is aiming for something much more fundamental and stirring, a proper expression of good and evil.
It doesn’t make it. It has been described as Lord of the Rings with Owls but if so it is the 1978 animated, Ralph Bakshi’s Lord Of The Rings with Owls. Or maybe it The Dark Crystal with Owls. Or Krull with Owls. Or The Neverending Story with Owls. Or any other half baked fantasy epic that looked nice but was uninspiring, with owls.
It all ends in an enormous owl on owl battle. As they fly into combat, many with sharpened metallic weapons on their claws you realise that all the remarkable technical advances that have been made have brought us here – 3D animated cock fighting.
Directed by Zach Synder.
Featuring voices of Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Helen Mirren, Hugo Weaving, Abbie Cornish. 93 mins
Or, translated into what people actually think when they see the title – The What of the What? The Who of the Where? Owls?!! Bluh! Though the title appears to be unnecessarily convoluted and off putting it actually gets across the nature of the film quite adeptly – dull and generic yet simultaneously obscure and unappealing.
Before anything else let’s immediately and unequivocally say that the 3D computer animation is remarkable, as good as any seen this year. It’s not David Attenborough lifelike but in terms of animated talking animals, the owls, the other creatures and the landscapes all look incredibly realistic.
So much so that it can be hard to really identify with them or even tell them apart. The story and the characters don’t engage and a lot of the kids around me seemed distracted and fidgety, either because the film was a little too dark for them or just plain boring.
The plot involves some innocent sibling owlets being kidnapped by a cult of Nazi Owls who believe that they are pure bred and that only the strong should survive. Brother turns on brother after one is seduced by their ideology but the other escapes and heads off to try and find the mythical Guardian owls.
I think that the film aspires to a Lion King style gravitas. There are moments of levity (mostly failed) but predominantly the film is aiming for something much more fundamental and stirring, a proper expression of good and evil.
It doesn’t make it. It has been described as Lord of the Rings with Owls but if so it is the 1978 animated, Ralph Bakshi’s Lord Of The Rings with Owls. Or maybe it The Dark Crystal with Owls. Or Krull with Owls. Or The Neverending Story with Owls. Or any other half baked fantasy epic that looked nice but was uninspiring, with owls.
It all ends in an enormous owl on owl battle. As they fly into combat, many with sharpened metallic weapons on their claws you realise that all the remarkable technical advances that have been made have brought us here – 3D animated cock fighting.
