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| Rise of the Guardians; expected topic | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 4 2012, 12:41 AM (868 Views) | |
| bearface | Dec 4 2012, 12:41 AM Post #1 |
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So for those of you who have spoken to me on Skype or follow me on Tumblr, you kind of already know that I've been I can't blame people for brushing it off; I would have, too. But several months ago, I saw some GIFs from the trailer that introduced Jack Frost and was instantly interested in it. From the time I saw the old 1979 Rankin Bass special when I was younger, Jack was one of my favorite characters. For some reason, I never liked the happy-happy-joy-joy that permeated a lot of the other holiday specials, and always preferred Jack to them. So naturally, I felt like a kid again when I first found out about RotG! Though it fell to the back of my mind until its release, I would occasionally think about it; how ridiculous it was, and how I was seeing a children's movie starring characters like Santa and the Easter Bunny, myths I haven't believed in since I was probably 7 or 8. On to the actual movie. The animation is fantastic; you can see the imperfections in Jack's skin, each individual feather on Toothiana, and the homes of each Guardian are absolutely gorgeous. You can see that an incredible amount of imagination and childhood wonder is present in the film, and it honestly made me feel like I was a kid all over again. However, there are some problems. Though the characters do have a level of depth, the actual story is indeed predictable. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing most of the time. It's a children's film; we expect it to be predictable to some extent and forgive things such as character archetypes (such as the rebellious Jack). Where it is a problem is in the introduction of the villain, who is evil for the sake of being evil. Even though they didn't flesh out the other Guardians (besides Jack) very much, we could see that they all had their own opinions. With Pitch, we see only a tiny bit of what's beyond the surface; he's ultimately a forgettable villain. And then there are the children, who aren't really developed either. The only one who gets any development is Jamie, because, like Jack, he's a little bit of an outcast (not as much, but there's a bit of separation) and provides a parallel between the Guardians and the rest of the world. In addition, the narrative speeds through certain scenes that otherwise would have had greater emotional depth, which weakens the film. To put it bluntly: the pacing is messy. But even with these problems, Guardians is still a solid, enjoyable film, and is excellent for a first-time director. The development that does go into the characters gives emotional depth to most of them, and we truly care about them. Jack is especially empathetic, as he is invisible to children for most of the film, and his storyline focuses on finding his purpose. Since we've all felt lost at some point, we can relate to him. But even outside of Jack, there are incredibly subtle emotions animated within the characters, which only brings them further to life. Though I can only think of specific examples regarding Jack (not surprising considering a great deal of the emotional impact in the film is felt with him), one that stood out to me the most was the wet film that appears over Jack's eyes in a certain scene; we can clearly see that he's near tears. And we see different sides of him in other scenes, such as the one that is considering joining Pitch. Though it isn't obvious, if you pay attention to his body language, you can see it. The inclusion of these subtle emotions blew me away, and I left the theater unable to forget them. So, I'll sum things up. Yes, RotG has some serious problems regarding its pacing and predictability. However, interesting characters and beautiful animation help to offset them to a degree. Though the concept is not exactly original, RotG is still filled with wonder and is an incredibly solid film. It falls short of being great due to its problems, but is still a good, solid film. If I had to rate it on a numbered scale, I'd go with 7/10. But don't let numbered reviews fool you; despite its problems, this movie has an incredible amount of heart to it. I went in with relatively low expectations, but was completely blown away. It proves that you can take a completely ridiculous concept and make it work. I'm kind of tired and may not have made complete sense with this post, but I've been wanting to talk about this film ever since I saw it last week. |
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| ShmittlesThePoe | Dec 4 2012, 01:56 AM Post #2 |
Pirate Wavemaster
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I liked Santa |
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| Kalinder | Dec 4 2012, 03:04 AM Post #3 |
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Was interested in seeing it but haven't yet and may not for a while but will definitely submit critique when I can. Your words definitely motivate me to see it though. ~ |
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| ShinyGirafarig | Dec 4 2012, 08:21 AM Post #4 |
Giraffes are adorable.
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I am quite fond of Tooth's design. Harpies are my favorite mythological creatures and I like those that mesh well together human and bird like qualities and they did a great job for Tooth. Have not seen the movie but plan to for DVD. (Ok maybe harpy would be the wrong term to use but she is different from how fairies are normally depicted as) |
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| bearface | Dec 4 2012, 10:36 AM Post #5 |
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Her design would be more accurately described as a woman/hummingbird hybrid. Her feather design, towards the bottom, is supposed to represent a dress (that's what the artbook says, anyway). I guess harpy is technically correct (in the basic human/bird hybrid connotation), but hummingbird/human hybrid is a bit more accurate. |
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| bearface | Jan 1 2013, 11:27 AM Post #6 |
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Oh, if anyone wanted to know, the DVD/Blu-ray are being released (in the US, at least) on March 15. |
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| ShinyGirafarig | Jan 1 2013, 12:08 PM Post #7 |
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Giraffes are adorable.
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Only 10 days away from WiR's US DVD release. The rivalry continues.
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| bearface | Jan 1 2013, 12:11 PM Post #8 |
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It's so adorable. I actually watched WiR and RotG in the same weekend. I like both equally, but for different reasons. |
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| Remanoir | Jan 28 2013, 05:49 PM Post #9 |
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I also like how Cupcake, the super tough big girl secretly wants to be a girly girl and have dreams of unicorn. That part was so cute. The kids on the block used to fear her until Jack use his fun magic to make her join the kids in the snowball fight. I honestly thought that bit of the back story as absolutely amazing. It is kinda sad that Pitch got no development and the empty broken bed unexplained. Apparently he had a daughter in the original books. |
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| bearface | Jan 29 2013, 09:51 PM Post #10 |
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I'm with you on the Pitch development. |
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