“In a world of guardians….these were the best…until one day….they had to rise against evil”. We were disappointed to find the above sentence had not been used in the trailer for Rise of the Guardians, as it perfectly sums it up. The Guardians, a group of well known holiday characters including Santa, The Tooth Fairy, Sandman and The Easter Bunny, have to choose a new guardian so they pick Jack Frost. Jack is a cocky young lad who doesn’t quite fit in with the group but when the evil Pitch turns up to spread darkness throughout Earth, Jack has to help the group and himself.
Rise of the Guardians is quite a dark film for children, the beginning is very bright and upbeat but once the bad guy arrives it becomes very dark and menacing. The scenes involving darkness spreading throughout the earth are very chilling, even for adults, and when the shadow horses arrived it turns into a horror film for a while. Considering its executive produced by Guillermo Del Toro it was not a surprise to find that it plays on the dark fairytales. However, the light hearted moments do play very well in contrast, especially the story involving Jack Frost trying to find out about his past life. There are a lot of humorous moments, mainly involving the Easter Bunny or the non-speaking elves – who deliver some really funny slapstick moments.
The animation is some of the best we’ve seen from Hollywood studios; the backgrounds are very reminiscent of Studio Ghibli styling and the Guardians all look slightly different to the normal versions we see. But with all these positives it seems the makers have forgotten how to make respectable looking humans, as these are poorly done and look like human animation we would have seen ten years ago. It’s the one disappointing aspect of the film.
Rise of the Guardians plays more to a mature audience but kids will enjoy it too; from the fun beginnings via the dark middle section to the heart-warming conclusion. Ultimately it’s Avengers Assemble for children’s fables.
Mark has awarded Rise of the Guardians four Torches of Truth.
