Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole

The short version:

Amazing art, inspiring storyline, Australian actors, Sydney based animation studio, talking animals… what’s not to like?  5/5

The long version:

Owl and I went to watch Legend of the Guardians at the Moonlight Cinemas. It was my choice because I love watching cartoons but this one really popped out at me when I first saw the trailer. To be honest I had no idea what the plot was as I was intrigued more by the appealing art and the graphics of the movie. Oh yeah, I also really like talking animals  😛

The movie was shown in 3D at the Moonlight Cinemas. Immediately I was amazed at how far 3D rendering had come. I remember watching 15-30min snippets in movies like Harry Potter and Beowulf at the IMAX theatre. It was the only cinema showing 3D at that time and they would show most of the movie in 2D then tell you to put on your 3D glasses for particularly exciting sections of the film. To be honest, it wasn’t really impressive. It was blurry and unrealistic. I understand that it’s because the movies were shot for 2D film and then modified post-production; but you have to understand, nobody cares. We just want good quality films; we don’t care how you do it. To top it off, Ga’hoole is an animation so already you can begin to appreciate the amount of work put into it.

I have to say, the art in the movie is absolutely amazing! The detail is meticulous, the characters lovable and the overall look very consistent and aesthetic. It was difficult to appreciate fully how beautiful the art was in 3D hence my pining to buy the Blu-ray to so I can watch it in 2D as well (thinking of getting this set from JB Hi-Fi when the price drops a little. It’s AUD$40 now).

I was also pleasantly surprised at how good the storyline was. Most people would say it was cliché with the whole good vs. evil thing but I think we need more movies these days which laud the principles of honour, chivalry, sacrifice, faith, kindness, goodness, courage and acceptance. It is not unlike Despereaux in helping wash away the grime of cynicism and renewing one’s vigour to fight for what is just and right.

In addition, I was particularly pleased that many of the actors were Australian including Sam Neill, Joel Edgerton, Richard Roxburgh and Helen Mirren. The animation studio (Animal Logic) is based in Sydney, Australia and I’m patriotically happy to support this kind of industry since it appears to be so lacking.

Overall, I loved the movie and actually am looking forward to watching it again. It is definitely worth your time and a great character-instilling movie for kids to watch. Ten thumbs up! 🙂

Advertisement

Sucker Punch

There’s a movie coming out in March 2011 called ‘Sucker Punch’ about a girl who gets sent to a mental institute by her cruel step-father and plans to escape but the lines between reality and make-belief gets blurred.

I was interested because its being directed by Zack Snyder, the guy who directed Owls of Ga’Hoole, a movie which absolutely blew me away (more on that later). He also got the same animation studio to work on it so I was expecting some really good graphics.

Upon watching the trailer however, I was less than impressed. It’s very anime with blond girls in short skirts and midriffs making sailormoon moves which might be a hit with alot of con people out there, but it’s definitely not something I would pay to watch especially since the graphics did look nice but not exceptional – typical action movie kinda stuff with no real indication of where graphics could be heading to.

End line is I don’t think I’ll be watching it unless someone lends it to me and even then I might struggle to getting around to it :p It might be pleasant enough to watch but theres something about the way the girls were portrayed that kinda creeped me out. So strange. It’s apparently the first movie Snyder has made which isn’t based on someone else’s work (e.g. book) but I hear it’s rather Alice in Wonderland; which might explain the young girls. Not sure how it will do in the movies since there are alot of con people to boost it.

Anyways, here’s the trailer.

– ant –