(Movie Review) Rise of the Guardians (2012)

Rise of the Guardians is an extremely well-produced movie, but I don’t know if it was worth the effort.

This is usually the time of year when Holiday movies roll out and people are bashed over the head with thoughts of good cheer and sugar plums dancing about. The problem with that is I can’t remember a GREAT Christmas movie coming out at this time of year since Elf (2003). Sure, there have been plenty of efforts, but usually they are box office disasters. Fred Claus (2007), Christmas with the Kranks (2004) and Arthur Christmas (2011) are examples of Holiday movies failing to meet expectations. So the people of at Dreamworks had an idea. If Santa Claus isn’t getting people in the theater seats, why not add every other mystical Holiday character too. What they ended up with is a very attractive movie that doesn't really fit in and fails to hit the Holiday sweet spot.

Storyline: North/Santa (Baldwin) notices a dark shadow looming over his globe of the world and immediately realizes that it is that of his old nemesis Pitch Black/The Boogieman (Law). He calls on the rest of the Guardians to help him investigate. This team consists of Tooth/The Tooth Fairy (Fisher), Bunny/The Easter Bunny (Jackman) and the always silent Sandy/The Sandman. The Man In The Moon informs them that the threat is too great and that a new addition to the Guardians must be called. Jack Frost (Pine) is summonsed to meet with the group and to be brought in to help fight the evil threat that is on a warpath to ruin the Holidays for every child. But Jack is at odds with himself and isn’t sure of his place in the group. If he is to succeed, and the group is to defeat Pitch, Jack Frost must become the Guardian that the world needs him to be.

As you can tell from the above description, the movie is a bit convoluted. Not only is it a movie about every major mythical childhood figure, but stuffing all of that into a single story would be a daunting task for anyone. Sure, the movie is cute, and the visuals are stunning, but with this movie being top heavy on characters it doesn't ever really seem to get it right. Within a very short period of time you have dreams, Christmas, Easter, and the belief in Fairies all threatened. Because of that, they sting a lot less that you would think that they should. It’s just a classic example of Hollywood overcompensating when it doesn't need to.

Worth the admission? Only for the kids. They will like it. But the movie falls short of being a Christmas movie. I don’t think that it will perform like the studio wants. I think that it will underwhelm and will be released in time for Easter. Also, I have to admit that the voice acting for Jack Frost and Bunny might be the worst I have seen in an animated film. The voices just don’t match and it is often very distracting.