The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
When a filmmaker moves out of his comfort zone & makes a movie in a different medium or style, it is generally a pretty exciting prospect. Spike Lee has made concert films and documentaries, as has Martin Scorsese; Robert Zemeckis and George Miller, both skilled in live action, have been making animated films using the newest motion-capture technology; and Steven Spielberg is following in their footsteps with next year’s “The Adventures of Tin-Tin.”
Admittedly, Zack Snyder moving from “300” & “Watchmen” to a CG-animated adaptation of Kathryn Lasky’s childrens series, The Guardians of Ga’Hoole, isn’t quite as dramatic visually as it is thematically. But Snyder and screenwriters, John Orloff and Emil Stern, manage to tell a smart and exciting adventure that stands up to some of the best modern fantasy films.
The story follows a young owl named Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess), whose father has regailed him all his life with the stories (legends) of the Guardian Owls of Ga’Hoole, who were said to ward away the evil owls (ones who believed in “purity”) and bring peace to the world. Well, one day Soren and his brother Kludd (Ryan Kwanten), are practicing their “branching” (one of the steps by which an owl is taught to fly) when they are picked up by warrior owls and taken to the lair of Metalbeak (Joel Edgerton), leading Soren on a quest of faith in his dreams and in the possibility that the stories his father told him were true all along.
Even if the story had fallen short, Snyder has nonetheless made a beautiful film to look at. Of course, all style and no substance is why “300” never really resonated with me. Thankfully, Snyder (who just landed the job of directing “Superman: The Man of Steel” for producer Christopher Nolan) hasn’t skimped on a story that may be like any other hero’s journey (a la “Harry Potter” or the original “Star Wars”), but matches this movie’s lush scope in a way that sweeps the audience along and (pun intended) makes hearts soar, even when leading us down some dark paths along the way.
