Review: ‘Rise of the Guardians’ is not furry Jesus

Personally I enjoyed the film as a way to escape a generally dreary afternoon, although both a friend of mine and I found the subtext in the film rather dark - but I don't think the writers particularly cared when they wrote it. Jack and Pitch both feel like outcasts, both have the same motivation (they want to be believed in), and we can assume they were both created by the Man in the Moon. Jack achieves this goal, and it's denied to Pitch - and really the only difference between them is that one is good and the other is evil, but you can't shake the feeling that Pitch was *made* to be that way, so it's kind of an unfair deal for him. Why shouldn't he be believed in? Also if you consider the role of balance; you can't have dreams without nightmares and vice-versa.

Anyway, it's better to watch this film without thinking about it too deeply. I liked the characterization of the guardians, the little side-jokes with the elves and the yeti, and the overall visual design of the movie. I went to see a 2D screening; the beginning of the film tries *way* too hard to take advantage of 3D, lots of camera movement and swooshing around, impossible to follow details going by way too fast. It eventually settles into something better for 2D, but it takes a while. :-)

The Easter Bunny has a very interesting design, Maori-like patterns on his fur, a very Polynesian feeling to his lair, they really wanted to run with the Australasian theme, and it worked. As for the mouse that shows up as part of the Tooth Fairy's European division - the French equivalent of the Tooth Fairy myth is indeed a mouse, so someone did their research!

Personally I'd say this is a film that works as a casual piece of entertainment. If you start thinking about it too much, what drives the characters and so forth, you're gonna have problems. Unfortunately as adults we have a tendency to analyze, so we've got that working against us.

Also: Jack is going to be an incredibly easy character to cosplay. All you need is a hoodie, flour in your hair, and a stick with a hooked end.

I don't know... With a few exceptions (Shrek II had some great moments), Dreamworks Animation's CG characters tend to not "act" as Pixar characters do. They do not seem to emote layers of emotions or really anything "human" beyond cheap vaudeville mugging, that makes me empathize with these characters as if actual living beings. Dreamworks seems tone-deaf at making films that kids will look back in nostalgia (maybe shame) 50 years into their adulthood, from the toilet humor to godawful bad pop songs and references. I haven't seen this film but the character designs made me hope it was better but the reviews aren't glowing.

I did see Pixar's Brave and the story felt a bit unconventional (though I think I had different expectations for it) for Pixar but they poured the heart (as usual) into the film, into every detail and the character animation, especially of the lead character, is just full of personality and life. There really isn't anything mediocre about 'Brave' but if there is never a Brave II or Brave III, that would be a terrible shame. I know a few Pixarians like Lee Unkrich have very carefully publicly worded it but you know an awful lot of Pixarians know that Dreamworks puts stuff on the screen that isn't even good enough for Pixar's cutting room floor.

Fun little historical tidbit from a Pixar talk I attended about their early days was that Jeffrey Katzenberg had creative influence over the original Toy Story but when Lassetter stood back and watched what they had nearly completed, they realized what they had was terrible - and they pulled back, told Katzenberg that they were doing the film "OUR way" (he graciously agreed) and threw away tons of complete work - what ended up was *very* different from the original story, and essentially defined the Pixar formula and Katzenberg would co-found Dreamworks, acquiring Pacific Data Images to finally HIS vision of animation - which is what Pixar could've been. *cough*

This movie is explicitly about believing in things we have no proof of

Now that I think about it, does anyone else think this kind of plot element has been popping up more often recently? It also showed up in the MLP episode Feeling Pinkie Keen, and a recent Fringe episode in which a side-character talks about having faith in the visions of the future she supposedly gets.

This movie could *do* with some furry Jesus (or, at least, less Frost and more Bunnymund): a few fundie protests would be good free publicity.

Is Rise of the Guardians a flop or not? “Everyone” says so. Ed Hooks at Animation World Network calls it one of “the most expensive feature animation box office failures of all time”. But Box Office Mojo reports its box office grosses as of just four weeks after its release as $71,362,000. The IMDb list of the USA Top Ten releases as of 14 December reports Rise of the Guardians in the #2 place. If its budget was $160,000,000+, it may not be a success yet, but it seems too early to call it a history-making flop.

http://www.awn.com/blogs/ed-hooks-acting-animators/rise-guardians-why-did-it-flop
http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/

Nice review. I've seen the trailers for Rise of the Guardians on TV but it really didn't look that interesting. The characters didn't appeal to me. Maybe it's 'cause I'm mostly over movies but maybe it's because it doesn't make sense that four entirely separate myths are suddenly thrown together.

I probably wouldn't like the movie anyway if it's about believing with no proof. It'd be nice if they included a character that went around believing someone had stolen his toy or was a bully with no proof and see how that mindset works when applied to the real world.

What about the elves? Were they the annoying comedic relief I predicted they'd be?

I probably got a bit disappointed about the tooth fairy thing, and others, but that doesn't make this movie less "furry Jesus" for the world though. I would still probably love the movie like those Christmas shows even though growing up about Santa would be a bust but those shows are still awesome. But everyone has there own opinions like this I guess.

*Comment Deleted*

_{What happened to the ability to delete our messages?}

Another week, another $5,900,000. Rise of the Guardians is still in fourth place after four and a half weeks, with a $79,694,000 total.

This week Rise of the Guardians is at the bottom of the Top Ten list, earning $4,900,000 in the week for an overall domestic total of $90,230,000.

What would u do if a child who actually believes in Jack Frost read this? For example...a child like me? Somebody who loved the movie and really hopes that there is a sequel. Somebody who has believed in the Guardians their entire life! How do u think this feels? All i wanted to do was find out if there was any news of a sequel...and then i came across this.