Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of GaHoole (Warner Brothers)
Perfect For Bird Lovers
It is hard to determine for which audience Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of GaHoole is aimed. It is too dark and violent for young children and too much of an animated film about owls for adults. The story is convoluted and hard to follow while the individual look of the owls is hard to distinguish. Maybe in the end it is just meant to appeal to bird lovers and thats it.
The film is beautifully crafted and there are scenes of the land of the owls that look like magnificent paintings. Plus there is a melodic score by David Hirschfelder that adds an upswing to the soaring visuals of the owls flying. Director Zack Snyder (300) knows a thing or two about scenic design and how to use it to create a new world.
The story concerns two owl brothers, Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess) and Kludd (voiced by Ryan Kwanten). They are kidnapped one night by a group of renegade owls and taken to a land where they are enslaved. Kludd becomes a warrior while Soren becomes a picker. In this capacity Soren gets a chance to escape and flies toward the land of the Guardians He has heard of these owls in stories told to him by his Da but doesnt know if they are real or just mythical.
Soren finds they are real and a battle ensues with Soren on the side of the Guardians and Kludd on the side of the Renegades. It is brother versus brother in a battle to the finish. Soren has to summon all his skills and power to stay brave in the battle.
The visuals in the movie are amazing and worth the price of admission. The battle sequences are fierce with metal helmeted owls armed with sharp knives on their talons doing battle. But both sides wear helmets and the looks of the owls are similar. It is hard to keep straight who is fighting who. And as for the names of all the different characters, well forget about it. It is enough just to keep Soren and Kludds names in your mind.
At one point there is an evil all white owl in the picture. That should be identification enough to keep her in the evil category, but then you get white owls in the good camp too. That ends that easy identification.
The movie is rated PG for violence and that is a mild rating since the owls not only kill and eat their prey but also do vicious battle with their razor sharp talon attachments. This is not a movie for young children in any sense of animated entertainment.
The musical score, the visuals and the unique animation make this a film worth seeing. However, to properly understand the story would probably take a second viewing. It gets a little too complex in its presentation. So see it once for the beauty of the film and then see it a second time (if you are so inclined) to absorb the complexity of the plot.
I scored Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of GaHoole a give a hoot 6 out of 10.
