Yes, I hate the title. Even if it didn't come between Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole and Guardians of the Galaxy, you could hardly guess what sort of guardians were involved. Besides, there have been quite enough movies with "Rise" in the title in the last, oh, decade, and it's not especially appropriate herein. But I moved past the title and enjoyed the movie, for the most part.
In some ways, it's typical of DreamWorks. Like in the Shrek series, we have a mishmash and reimagination of characters out of folklore. Unlike in the Shrek series, there are no moments to really give a parent pause, despite the PG for mild magical violence. Jack Frost looks about as realistic as CG can get without veering into the uncanny valley. Like in The Croods, there aren't many voices to credit, perhaps partly because the studio likes to splurge on big names like Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, and Jude Law.
Oh yeah: Jackman finally gets to use an Australian accent...as a brawny Easter Bunny. And Baldwin's Santa is a sword-wielding Russian who uses exclamations like "Shostakovich!" Considering the Scottish-sounding vikings in How to Train Your Dragon, my best guess is that DreamWorks subscribes to the Cartoon Network attitude that foreign equals funny. Meh. I'll take that over bathroom humor, thankfully absent from this flick.
Apart from that, I welcomed most of the new takes on old figures. The Tooth Fairy and her tiny underlings, for example, resemble hummingbirds, and they have a good reason for collecting the teeth, however bizarre the premise. The Sandman is made entirely of sand and communicates in floating symbols, much to the frustration of himself and the other Guardians. North and Bunny both have unique methods of portal travel, tho the somewhat tricked-out sleigh still serves for carrying loads.
Reportedly, the Man in the Moon has imbued each Guardian with powers (leaving us to wonder what Bunny was like before) and occasionally communicates with them somehow, tho not nearly often enough for Jack Frost. Here he used to be human until he fell in a frozen pond and forgot his past. To me that suggests undeath, but nobody brings up that interpretation. Now Jack roams the world as a nuisance to adults but a fun playmate to kids (those who like snowball fights, anyway), exercising just enough responsibility to prevent serious injuries. No wonder the more official Guardians have their doubts about him. To be fair, I'm not sure what I'd do differently in his proverbial shoes, being disbelieved by all humans and thus invisible, inaudible, and immaterial to them, which curtails his life satisfaction.
Jack finally gets called into action with the four others when Pitch Black (Law), briefly identified as the Bogeyman, launches a campaign to ensure that kids finally believe in him -- and not the Guardians. Pitch gets my sympathy at times, but even Jack in his similar situation cannot abide such aims. When your essence is fear, I guess there's no redemption for you.
So what exactly are they guarding? Hopes, dreams, wonder. You know, "kid stuff." That's about the only justification anyone can provide for a story that appears to endorse sincere belief in these characters. I remain unconvinced that we need such lies to instill positive qualities (and don't tell me the filmmakers actually believe in what they depict). Mainly I find the premise inherently insipid.
Still, I didn't go in hoping for insight. I wanted creativity, which I got in the form of supernatural adventure and the amusement of grandiose personalities bouncing off each other. A worthy way to kill 90-odd minutes. I'm sorry no one else in the house saw fit to join me, tho I understand even Christmas can't guarantee you'll be in the right mood to appreciate it.
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