ANI-MOVIES, *Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'Hoole

Zack Snyder's films might have most superhero fans seriously divided concerning his works, but Legend Of The Guardians(no relation to the Rise Of The Guardians), which was based on the Guardians Of Ga'Hoole children's book series by Kathryn Lasky usually gets positive reviews. This fully CGI animated filmn collects the first three books in the series into a single timeline, and was an American/Australian production done mostly by the outback's own Animal Logic, which also created alot of the effects for The Great Gatsby.

A family of owls dwells in peace in their forest in Australia, but the two sons Soren and Kludd are kidnapped by thug owls working for the Pure Ones, an army of renegade owls lead by the scarred Metal Beak amassing numbers in their efforts to conquer the lands. Soren befriends the smaller owlet Gylfie, and the two manage to escape the Pure Ones, while Kludd is seduced by Metal Beak's consort, the malevolent Nyra. The two escapees run into a duo of stray owls, Digger and Twilight, and they all head for the great tree of The Guardians, the ruling kingdom of owls that maintains peace throughout the region. The young heroes tell their story the The Guardians, which leads into an epic battle of owl vs. owl with talon daggers, battle armor, and a magnetic sonic boom!

The film works surprisingly good considering it ties together three whole books, even though your average children's novel isn't more than 100 pages, but it also carries out as an exciting fantasy/adventure. It captures the essence of Don Bluth's The Secret Of Nimh, along with the style of fantasy in a Tolkien story. The animation is even beyond Pixar standards, and truly excels by making the owls appear as actual owls while still taking on human personalities. Despite alot of conflicting criticism on his works after this, Zack Snyder put together a well crafted production, both in story and development. The voice cast is top-notch too, with stars like Hugo Weaving and Helen Mirren. Forget the DVD, and just get the Blu-Ray to enjoy the pure visual glory!