Il regno di Ga'Hoole - La leggenda dei guardiani

I have loved animation for as long as I can remember, as far as when I was 2 when I saw The Lion King in the cinema. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is not one of my favourite animated movies, but it is a long way from the worst. I've not read the books, so I cannot say how good Legend of the Guardians is as an adaptation. But I will judge it on its own terms, as it does deserve to be. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Sure the dialogue is stilted and sometimes verges on ridiculous with the profound talking about gizzards. At times also, while never dull, not too preachy(even with the death, slavery and indoctrination) and well-meaning, as well as maintaining a serious tone despite some of the writing, the story is rather formulaic and rushed in how it is told. On the plus side, it is really one of the most visually beautiful films I have ever seen, the owls are beautifully modelled, but the landscapes, the camera angles, colours and the flying in the storm scene are just breathtaking to watch. Every bit as impressive is the score, which is really stirring stuff and fits perfectly with the visuals and the goings on in the story. The characters are engaging also especially Soren, who you identify with every step of the way, and the voice cast with the likes of Jim Sturgess, Helen Mirren, Hugo Weaving, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Miriam Margoyles and Anthony LaPaglia are superb. All in all, even with its faults Legend of the Guardians is a breathtakingly beautiful film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Is 2010 the Golden Year of CG-animated films? We already had TWO excellent films, all computer animated and all family-friendly. "How To Train Your Dragon" and especially "Toy Story 3" are stunning in terms of quality and technicalities. Even "Despicable Me" had a heart. I'd add another to that list: "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole".

There will be complaints, like every other movie. Some will call the story unoriginal. Some'll say it's childish because it has talking animals. Some'll say it's stupid for the exact same reasons. I say, so what?! It's a family film, meaning there's something for both kids and those who are kids-at-heart! People go to the movies to be entertained, especially families, and with that this film delivers in spades.

First we have a superb, outstanding cast consisting of Australian/British actors of both the young and highest caliber. There's too many actors to say here, so I'll just say this: the voice acting is terrific. The owls speak in accents (for obvious reasons) making them sound as far and away from being "Hollywood-ized" as possible. There's depth, determination and heart to these characters. The villains of the film are really menacing, a feat considering that almost every character in the film are owls.

Story-wise, it's obviously unoriginal, but it is told very well. This is due to the animation, which is absolutely, spectacularly stunning. There is a great amount of detail in the film, especially on the owls, you can see every feather, every movement they make, every gust of wind that brushes that pass their feathers. Director Zack Snyder (finally using his talents for the kids) puts his signature style to terrific use here, using the "ramping" (frantic slowing down and speeding up repeatedly) technique from his "300" and "Watchmen" for the action sequences, that will make one forget he is watching an animated film, let alone a movie that has talking owls. It's absolutely breathtaking to see it in 2D alone, I watched it in 3D and had a hard time closing my stuck jaw afterwords!

The film looks and feels like it's a lost "Lord of the Rings" film. There's the armor, and the swords (talons), and then there's the big bad (Metal Beak) and the young hero (Soren) who is destined for greatness. It's set in a fantasy, far-away world where 3D is put to terrific use. Not since "Avatar" has 3D been used so efficiently and effectively that makes it an essential part of the story instead of being distracting and gimmicky. Likewise, the cinematography and the orchestral score is great and puts you into the film more. The owls look painstakingly well- rendered and they don't look too-clichéd-cartoony or too-frighteningly- realistic. It's just right. The only gripe I had with the film is the insertion of an Owl-City (because he's practically the most famous artist today with the word "Owl" in his name) song in the middle of the film which is distracting. But apart from that everything else was great.

In short, it's one of the best animated films of the year. It's the perfect movie to bring your family (and maybe friends as well) and enjoy. Have no worries, sit back, and enjoy the ride. And seeing it in 3D is a plus, no matter what anyone else says. The ending also hints at a sequel. Hope that's a possibility as Warner Bros. has a potential new family franchise at their hands. And I hope Snyder returns as well.

Overall value: 74/100

Legend of the Guardians is director Zack Snyder's first attempt at a completely CGI and children's film while his other credits are all hard "R" films. So does the king of slow-mo succeed?

The quick answer is yes. Guardian's is a film that takes the liberties 3D and photo realistic CGI have to offer, like Avatar, to make a world and characters larger (or smaller) than life to let your mind be soothed into something beautiful, mystical, and most importantly, entertaining.

The story takes the classic yet reliable fable of good versus evil. To put it simply, an army of Evil owls who have obvious horrid intentions of ruling the Owl Kingdom must be stopped against all odds. The only creatures powerful and wise enough to defeat the army are the legendary Guardians of Gahoole.

The film follows main owlet Soran, voiced heroically by Jim Sturgess. Soran is kidnapped by the army of the Evil Owls. After being exposed to the armies wrong doings, Soran knows the only hope in defeating the baddies are to warn the Guardians. From there, the film takes flight into an epic adventure of action, companionship, and beauty.

Guardians is a rare treat in computer animated cinema. While Pixar is always reliable, Guardians is a very different film that strives to be an epic while appealing to a mass audience and succeeds in doing so. From the fantastic action scenes, to the articulate directing, spectacular animation, smart 3D, and top notch voice acting, Guardians is a film that will leave you mesmerized days after it's viewing.

The looks of this feature was the absolute highlight of Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole and so far the pinnacle of what CGI can do which is rare praise from me, because I rarely get such feelings by watching computer animation.

That's is both a blessing and a curse, because the story is a little messy and the characters are a mixed bag. Soren and Kludd are young owls about to learn to fly, but accidentally fall out of their nest and are captured by other owls to be slaves. From there on they go through many things with different consequences. While that's going on many new characters are introduced, and that's where they sacrifice quality in exchange of quantity. Some characters are annoying one-note comic reliefs (don't remember their names) and were not serving much of to the story.

BUT the saving grace was the villains! Oh god they were intimidating! If Disney's Maleficent and Frollo had a child, that would be them! Every time they're on screen I got the chills! Enslaving other owls because they view themselves as superior!

Even if it has a story with flaws and a mixed bag of main characters, I can without a doubt tell that this is the best looking animated movie to be released in a long time and set the bar unbelievably high for the rest of the 2010's. Don't know if a better looking movie has turned up considering the fact that we're currently at the end of 2018, but this is a tough one to beat.

Right from seeing the trailer in June, I had extremely high hopes for this movie. What drew me to this film was the animation quality and the animals they used; owls. Thankfully, the trailer did not reveal too many details about the story, I love going into a movie not knowing what to expect.

As for the film itself, I found it to be an extremely captivating and magical experience, a similar experience that I had not felt since seeing Avatar in December of '09. The animation was beyond top notch as each audience member bare witness to the immense detail of the owls and the environment. Each feather on the owls and each rain drop and spec of dust from the environment was clearly visible in the film.

The cast chosen for the film couldn't have turned out better than it did. The overall voice acting was fabulous and wouldn't have wanted any other way. The perfect octaves, expressions and moods were used in each line. Straying back to the previous paragraph slightly; most animated movies leave most people guessing the actor who plays the voice of a given actor. I, however, did not do this in this film. I was simply too immersed into the film to really notice.

The music used in the movie was beautiful and majestic. Truly epic scores of musical composure added so much to the film. You can tell the music in a movie is great when you never truly notice it, not to say it doesn't deserve its recognition. I merely mean that if you notice the music in a movie, it simply stands out too much and becomes a distraction. So having not noticed the music, I simply mean that the music became one with the movie and the experience.

In the end, I left the theatre with a very familiar feeling that I had not felt since I was a child. The feeling of classic Disney storytelling. The feeling of a masterpiece in the making. Legend of the Guardians is truly an epic film with a very rich plot and brilliant characters