If you want to see just how far CGI has come, check out this movie. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga Hoole will blow you away with its beauty and the story ain’t too shabby either. This is one of those animated movies that both kids and adults can enjoy together. After all, who doesn’t like seeing decked-out owls? Based on the Guardians of Ga Hoole book series by Kathryn Lasky, it’s the latest in a sub-genre of “animated animal movies”. And yes, I did come up with that just now.
After the huge success of Happy Feet, they decided to do the same thing, quickly running out of cute animals. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga Hoole also marks a sharp career turn for director Zack Snyder. After a relatively successful remake of the cult classic Dawn of the Dead, he started working on bigger projects like 300 and Watchmen. This is his first movie that didn’t receive an R rating. However, that doesn’t mean we won’t get some of his trademark action scenes because we most certainly will.
Just think of it like 300 but with owls. They’re strong and gritty, wearing shiny armors and weapons but underneath it all, there’s a very emotional story. A story that makes the viewers relate to the characters in some sense. I mean, who of us didn’t feel like a young owl? As soon as this movie starts you’ll start seeing where that budget of over $80 million went. I won’t spend any more time praising its visual quality.
Meet Soren, a young barn owl just getting the hang of things. He still can’t fly but he and his brother Kludd are practicing how to under the watchful eye of their father. However, when both of them end up falling from the tree while their parents were out hunting, they will have to learn how to survive quickly…
As you can see, the story is quite generic but it works. With a runtime of just over ninety minutes, this movie is here to entertain you. The whole movie actually has a pretty dark tone and quite an ominous atmosphere. Although considering who the director is, that’s not very surprising. This cool darkness is balanced with the cuteness of the baby owls. They’re so fucking cute you just want to smother them with love.
Director: Zack Snyder
Writers: John Orloff, Emil Stern, Kathryn Lasky
Cast: Anthony LaPaglia, Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving, Helen Mirren
Fun Facts: The movie was in production for more than three years with over 500 people working on it.
Rating:
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219342/
