Movie Review : Rise of the Guardians

 

 

 

Another week and another cartoon picture. This film intrigued me when the previews first came out as I love cartoons that have an edge and seeing Santa all tatted up got me hooked. My youngest niece also wanted to see this so I had every excuse to see it now.

 

The big characters that we all know and love, Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and the Sandman are represented but are not the focus of the movie as Jack Frost is the main character. That is also his problem as he has for his whole life felt neglected and is not believed to exist by children so he always has a chip on his shoulder. The bad guy here is the Bogey Man aka Pitch. He wants to control everything just like in the dark ages where there is no hope or happiness and wants to bring those times back. The Man in the Moon chooses a new guardian to join up with the other four to combat the upcoming battle with Pitch. Jack is that guardian and he doesn't understand why and neither does the other four guardians but everyone except for Easter accept that the Man in the Moon knows what he is doing. Easter and Jack have a long history and have irritated each other over the centuries and they have the best back and forth in the film. The dialogue is sharp but tasteful.

 

Pitch infects Sandman and all his nice dreams become nightmares for the world's children and they all start to believe that none to the guardians exist which starts to make them all weak and slowly lose their powers. Jack is the key to all this but Santa questions his motive and ask what his "center" is. What makes him tick. Jack has no answer as he doesn't remember who his was before he became Jack Frost.

 

Jack and the guardians battle Pitch a few times but they are losing and every kid in the world ends up not believing in their existence til there is only one kid left who always believed in the Easter Bunny and wants him to prove that he exists or he will give up all hope as well. Jack steps in helps him keep the faith. Now with renewed hope and the guardians on their last legs they join together to take on Pitch in one last battle to reclaim what they lost. In the end after Pitch is beaten and driven away Jack is accepted and believed by all and he officially becomes a guardian.

Verdict : In typical "mature" cartoon flicks nowadays this movie surrounds lessons that should be learned by fun talk and entertaining battles. All it takes is to have one person have faith and anything can be achieved and that there is a purpose for anyone in this world and you just have to find it. Though not as good as most Pixar films this holds up as a fun escape for a couple of hours for kids and adults alike. A THUMBS UP from me.