Review

Review Date: 26-September-10
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)

With recent advances in technology, it seems inevitable to encounter a movie about owls. Owls make excellent subjects for animated film, with their inherent beauty, diverse sizes and colors, 3D-friendly feathers, and general aura of coolness (after all, they come alive at night and are reputed to be wise). Plus, nature gave them the big round eyes favored by modern animators. So here we have Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, which is based on a series of children's books. The movie obviously draws from a chunk of the series rather than a single book, since it rushes the story in trying to lay out details of character and relationship. But because it follows time-tested standards of myth (inevitably recalling Star Wars), it manages to be accessible and satisfying.

The hero Soren is, of course, a young dreamer. (Jim Sturgess provides his earnest voice.) Soren and his brother Kludd (Ryan Kwanten) are just learning to fly when they are snatched away to a dark fortress of owls who call themselves the "Pure Ones." These avian Nazis, led by a sleek piece of work voiced by Helen Mirren, are amassing an army of thugs to seize the skies and rule by terror. They enslave captives with dread moon mojo, which seems unlikely for nocturnal creatures, and are building a weapon fueled by hairballs which I didn't quite understand, but the evidence is clear that they are vicious manifestations of evil. While his brother succumbs to the seduction of power, Soren befriends a tiny Elf Owl (Emily Barclay) and escapes on untried wings. They set out to find the fabled Guardians of Ga'Hoole, warriors who once brought peace to the world and are sworn to protect the defenseless. During their quest they pick up two comic owls and a snake for diversity.

The weight of the quest is diminished by the aforementioned rushing, since Soren and his friends find the Guardians quickly and easily. But the payoff is that this introduces the niftiest character of the lot. He is a battered old owl (Geoffrey Rush) whose long-ago exploits form the core of Soren's favorite legend. More appealing than Yoda but no less tough, he teaches his new protégé how to follow his gizzard (aka heart or instinct). This training comes in handy when the Guardians fly off to defeat the Pure Ones and are betrayed, leaving the younger generation to effect a rescue. Classic showdowns (and a battle that warrants the film's PG rating) lead to a victorious homecoming straight out of a galaxy far, far away. Vanquishing evil always feels good, and it looks particularly fine when carried out by owls.

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