Rise of the Guardians

Image Source: riseoftheguardians.com

Dreamworks has done it again. They have had their hits and misses though. But Shrek 1, Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Kungfu Panda 1 & 2 and How to train your dragon were memorable hits for me.

If you're a die hard Pixar fanboy expecting something very WOW - well, it's definitely not your Pixar. I've observed that Dreamworks stories and storytelling are usually predictable and formulaic (wait, so was Brave, but I'll look the other way and blame everything on Disney) - but that doesn't mean that their animations are any less watchable, fun, warm, cute and funny. Sometimes we just need popcorn instead of sushi. 7-11's Slurpee instead of whiskey on the rocks. Ramlee burger instead of juicy, succulent steak. You get my drift.

I grew up exposed to the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, Santa Claus and Jack Frost through reading about them mostly or through over-commercialism  So I already have an idea of what they should look or behave like.

Then enters Dreamworks coming in with a dash of fuck you and re-invents each of the character. Each mythical creature was interpreted with a twist - edgy, cute and with a really unique attitude -  which I really enjoyed and kept me entertained throughout the movie. It was like WOAH SANTA DOES WHAT? and like WOAH THAT ATTITUDE ON THAT BUNNY! and AWWW LOOK AT HOW CUTE THE SANDMAN IS WAIT WHAT! It was like being re-introduced to old friends who had a massive personality upheaval and extensive plastic surgey, haha.

The only thing that was slightly odd was that Jack Frost looked like he just walked out of a manga series - his features were very anime-ish. No complains. I guess it helped to make him look super animated, carefree, youthful and very NOW. Also I guess he had to look like a misfit... okay won't say anymore.

Which one of the Guardians was my favourite character? Well, it's a tie between Sandy the Sandman (+1 for being mute and cute! +1 for kicking so much ass) and North aka Santa Claus (+1 for being Russian and +1 for his naughty and nice tatts)

If you really really want to be critical about it, there's actually nothing spectacular to shout about in this movie - there were no memorable lines, no surprises. But the storytelling, the animation, the heart, the development of each character's personality - that was what got to me. I couldn't stop giggling whenever a character gets into action or whenever I spot silly references (there was a tribute to steve irwin too i'm sure of it).

I would want to watch this a few more times.

So if you haven't figured it out, I really love this and at a rating of 7.5/10 looks like the folks at IMDB liked it too. But don't take our word for it - go watch it yourself. It's fun for the whole family!

Image source: awn.com

More:
On IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446192/
Official website: http://www.riseoftheguardians.com/
Malaysia showtimes: http://tinyurl.com/myshowtimes
Trailers: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/dreamworks/riseoftheguardians/