Legend of the Guardians
08 May 2011
OK, I have to admit I was mostly watching this because two people I know here in Sydney worked on the production, and it's from the studio that does Little Feet (which sadly, I hear, is an awful place to work.).
In any case, I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by how good this was. I was expecting some over-Disneyfied animation, but it's actually a pretty great little hero archetype story and the animation is astounding. I mean, they are owls so you can imagine how difficult ruffly feathers are to animate, but it's amazingly well done. Add in some storm and fire sequences and the difficulty of the animation must have been astounding. Very impressed.
Is it a kid's story, though? It's pretty dark thematically in a way. The evil is a bit less than cartoony, there is betrayal and a divisive sibling rivalry and the battles obviously have real consequences and a death, but I do like it's, um... legendary quality.
Oh, and as it was done here in Aus, everyone has Aussie accents and affectation but I have to say I loved the featuring of Aussie animals like the echidna and Tasmanian devil in it, even if it was slightly out of place (um, to say nothing of the snowy owls. ;-) ).
Oh, the soundtrack is out of whack with the production though as a serious critique. Having goofy, happy songs along with epic, orchestral and choral just doesn't work well in my opinion.
Overall though, very slight flaws and a I'd recommend checking this out.