Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole

Anytime a movie is adapted from a written source material, there’s always that risky edge they wander when it comes to either trying to appealing to the masses or appealing to the book fans. A balance is formed between what do you keep to satisfying those familiar with the brand while risking a flowing narrative structure, and what you keep out to make it digestible for newer audiences but risk losing the core fan base you should be trying to appease, and this because a real problem when you segment or even heavily truncate the book in order to squeeze what should be tons of information and content into one film in order to not waste time. The 2010 3D animated movie, Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole is an example that while it may not appease the book lovers, a fresh-eyed movie goer may be genuinely surprised with the direction this film is taken in. Set in a world of sentient owls, a young owl named Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess) along with his brother Kludd (voiced by Ryan Kwanten) are kidnapped by an evil group of owls led by Nyra (voiced by Helen Mirren) and Metal Beak (voiced by Joel Edgerton), who are planning to make them soldiers for war. Soren escapes with a small bird named Gylfie (voiced by Emily Barclay) while Kludd stays behind and turns to the dark side. Now with a larger group of owls including an insane bird named Digger (voiced by David Wenham) a poetic warrior owl named Twilight (voiced by Anthony LaPaglia) and Soren’s blind snake housemaid named Mrs Plithiver (voiced by Miriam Margolyes), Soren set out in search of the Guardians, a secluded tribe of warrior owls who fought in a war against the other side years ago, and must reach them quickly before the war between the two factions begins again. With a total of over 15 books in its series written by Kathryn Lasky, Legends of the Guardians did receive mixed reception and critics and only did moderate at the box office, but over the years, the film has garnered a bit of a cult following, and that does make sense. While it is plagued with certain elements either feeling underdeveloped or poorly established, the film is held together pretty well with some very good acting, a confusing but engaging narrative, a much harsher tone than other kids’ movies, and astonishing visuals (especially for the time).

Since the film is made up of the first three books of the long-running series, the main issues quickly become apparent, and that is that the story is very complicated and hardly explained due to rushing through several plot points in a single story sitting. You can piece a few elements together as it does feel like a very expected fantasy-epic narrative, but even with that in mind, the major specifics behind the plans of the heroes, villains and even the overall direction of the series is kind of left up in the air. Many plot points are incredibly rushed or skipped altogether, so the audience never truly understand the narrative their trying to tell and only really gets a sense of the story through the atmosphere and presentation, which is impressive, but does leave things feeling a little lacking. Since the major conflict isn’t even properly explained until the final act of the film, the stakes are pretty flat due to the risks and outcomes of said fight not being evident and therefore not as stressful. The world building is also pretty stale, with many locations having very little set-up or given a good background which causes a struggle in the film when it’s trying to tell a grand story. The screenplay for this film written by John Orloff and Emil Stern was criticized at the time of the film’s release, and their inexperience and minimal credits before and after this film are noticeable with how messy the script for this film is as the story suffers because it doesn’t have enough time to flesh out the finer details and build up to a sizable level for the climax to have weight, despite how much it’s trying to look and feel big. With that said, the premise is remarkably original and delightfully bizarre; coming off as the bird version of Lord of the Rings, despite the rushed story it still conveys an epic atmosphere when in conjunction with the cinematography and its gritter tone. The film has a darkness to it that not many other children’s movie would tackle, with some moments that feel genuinely creepy on a different level without going gory or over-the-top, but it all feels in service of its plot rather than an inclusion that feels out of place, it never feels false or poorly used. The film is directed by Zack Snyder, who is weirdly a great choice for this kind of movie. His talent has always been in bringing books and comics to the big screen and adapting them in visually epic and maybe sometimes a little overly extreme, but still entertaining ways (much like what he did with 300) and that style and passion comes across in this movie, with a delivery that provides a decent grasp on this world and its character (however basic they may be) and does present the film in an epic and even aggressive manner that helps it stick with you.

The characters also suffer from the rushed story which results in them coming across as a little one-note. The main character is pretty bland, his story arc is pretty messy, the main villain has a great look, but pretty weak motivation, and the other character while very likeable, are very quick to grasp and lose importance by the film’s climax. But with that said, the side characters have a simplistic charm to them, and they are given some good characters designs with some brilliantly done expressions. Since Owls are usually very cold and lifeless with their giant eyes, seeing how well the movie makes each one of them emote in a visual distinct way along with their memorable designs and dramatic voice-acting is a pleasing turnaround. The actors are also very good too, each capturing the intensity of the situation, but also the passion of its epic scale. It’s pretty well split between fresh new actors and recognizable talents. Jim Sturgess does a good job as the lead and does bring that youthful naivete that is needed for this kind of story and this kind of role, Ryan Kwanten is pretty good as the brother, taking a role that has been done before several times, but leads it down a path that isn’t entirely clear on what direction it’ll end on, so that’s nice (and the conclusion to that section is delightfully mean-spirited and very bleak given the circumstances).  Helen Mirren is a great villain and her deliciously evil voice against her pitch white and domineering design makes for a great look, people like Emily Barclay, David Wenham and Anthony LaPaglia as the side characters all stand out pretty good, and Geoffrey Rush does an especially good job as the main character’s mentor. Some actors like Hugo Weaving and Sam Neil are unfortunately not given enough time to show off their great talents in the movie due to their limited screen time, which could also be said for the main villain, but his great design and Joel Edgerton’s voice acting do help him stand out just enough.

For a film that came out in 2010, it is an absolutely gorgeous piece of animated cinema that has held up fantastically by today’s standard (even looking better than some movies released in the past few years). Even if the story could have used better direction, the film knew to make the visuals as grand and eye-bleeding levels of bright as they needed to in order to wow people. The animation was done by Australian-based company, Animal Logic, and the amount of effort that went into this film from the hundreds of artists, support staff and technicians is front and centre on the big screen The textures on the owls are very well done (although the main character looks a little odd and uncanny in moments) the already mentioned expressions are great, most of the landscapes, especially when flying, could be passed off as real life.. While not a very colorful movie due to the darker tone, the film has some great lighting moments that can almost be a little florescent in nature with how the film is presented and really sells the emotion of a scene and give each one a beautifully unique backdrop, from stormy dark blues of a ravaging seascape, to hellish pure red of a burning forest, to the heavenly gold-tint of a picturesque Owl haven. At times the film can get a bit too obsessed with the slow-down when it comes to some of the beautiful shots and the fight scenes (which is a staple of Snyder’s work so it’s not surprising), but the shots themselves are expertly crafted. There are some uncomfortably weird shots where the characters are shown in extreme close up and it’s pretty nonsensical and off-putting, but the other shots by cinematographer David Scott are handled much better especially when it shows off the landscapes. The writing doesn’t feel the strongest, especially when it comes to its humor and even most of the backstory, but not to an aggressively annoying level, just in a forgettable sense. The epic quality of the movie comes from how the characters say the lines, not what they are saying. The music is also a bit of a blunder; while most of the score composed by David Hirschfelder is traditional fantasy music pieces, an inexplicable pop song during the middle sung by Owl City (because of course, they had to) completely ruins the mood and tension of the movie’s pre-established atmosphere, not to mention the awkward singing and poor lyrics make it even worse. There was nothing about this film set up previously that warranted that element, and it takes what was otherwise a very timeless film and forces its head back into a lame outdated style through that one song. The action is good in premise, but not the best in delivery with the already mentioned slow-down mechanic not allowing for many fast-paced scenes, but it is pretty cool seeing owls fight in this kind of dramatic manner, so that is cool at least.

Legends of the Guardians isn’t a movie that will please everyone.  It is a relatively unknown story and the actual narrative itself could not be disclosed cleanly after watching the film, but as a bigger picture, the film managed to pull off a pretty cool experience. Most of the characters are pretty likeable, the acting is very good, the film looks stunning, the tone is nicely intense as well as pretty timeless, and even though the storytelling is clunky and very confusing, it still captures a great epic feel that will keep people engaged even without realizing it makes no sense. It may surprise people that they find a story about warring magical talking owls not only acceptable, but also surprisingly interesting and one that could and probably should have used more movies to better flesh out its ideas. The books can still entertain the fans, and this movie will more than likely entertain an average movie fan looking for something a bit more unique and visually pleasing. Check it out and watch your previously skeptical expectations soar to new heights.