Viewed once on October 31, 2010 in theaters (3D)
The first time I saw the preview for this movie, I had two thoughts:
1--WOW! The technology looks amazing!
2--Gosh, this movie looks dumb.
Quite honestly, I had no desire to go see this movie except to drool over the really realistic computer animation. The more times I saw the preview (I think there was only one and I think it was around 5 minutes long), the more I felt that this was the most beautiful animation I've seen that is not Pixar. (Even with my huge bias favoring Pixar's talents, I really think that this movie is on par, if not better than Pixar. *GASP!*) When I finally took the little siblings to go see it, we were all dumbfounded by it. I think I must've said, "WHOA, that's so COOL!" about fifty gazillion times. Truly, the owls are amazing. Their feathers are so beautifully animated that you wonder if you're not being tricked into watching real owls. Even water and fire (notoriously the two hardest things on the face of the Earth to animate) look absolutely breathtaking. Wind, trees, dirt, sunshine--it all looks so realistic that I had goosebumps nearly the entire time. This film is truly a work of art and, I believe, is representative of the best computer animation available today.
The story isn't as terrible as I'd thought. It's actually pretty good, with deep morals and a wonderful message of heroism and courage. Plugged In says, "It's a Lord of the Rings with owls," and I agree, it basically is an old, old story that we've seen in countless reincarnations and numerous reinterpretations. The only difference is that these are owls and not hobbits.
Basically, Soren is a young owlet who is just learning how to fly. He (along with his younger sister) loves to hear mythical stories about the owls' "heritage" as told by his father. His twin brother, Kludd, however, is so sick and tired of the same old stories. The two boy owlets disobey their parents and try to learn how to fly on their own, resulting in a scary encounter with a huge weasel-looking-thing and getting kidnapped by evil minions of a diabolical "King of the Pure Ones." The Pure Ones are a cult, kidnapping young owlets, forcing them into labor or becoming brainwashed (almost Nazi-esque) soldiers. The Pure Ones have a horrible plan to take over the known world and commit widespread owl genocide in order to spread their own ideals. Kludd embraces the new ideology; Soren does not. Long story short, Soren meets a misfit group of owls who all band together to find the "Guardians" of Soren's father's stories; they all come together to make a harrowing journey across a dangerous sea; the Guardians wage war against the Pure Ones. I'm not going to tell you the end or spoil the twists, but just know that there is betrayal and loyalty, love and hatred, violence and comfort, honor and cowardice, and some really sweet slo-mo fights.
Honestly it was all a bit confusing at times. I had one or two things that I was like, "Wait, what are they doing? Wait, who is that?" The movie whizzes by so quickly that it doesn't take much time to explain much of anything, except for the fact that the Guardians have been fighting the Pure Ones for generations and what it is exactly that the Pure Ones wish to accomplish.
NEGATIVES:
>>Profanity: None past one usage of "hell" (as in, "War is hell") and a few made-up substitutions for God's Name.
>>Violence: OK, you might be thinking, "It's an animated movie about owls. How bad could it be?" Again, I agree with Plugged In's summary: It's a Lord of the Rings with owls. Basically, take out all the blood, guts, and gore, and that's what you get with this movie. There are some intense battles involving fire, sharpened talons, broken wings, falls from great heights, swords, ambushes, and a kinda creepy zombie-like state that many of the owlets are caught in. It's loud, flashy, fast, and a bit scary. However, there is no blood and the warfare is handled (almost) tastefully, so that we get the general idea that this is a major epic battle.
>>Spiritual Content: There is one echidna character who is kindof like an old oracle/shaman/prophet thingy. He just says everything is "foretold," so whenever the owls tell him something he responds with, "That also was foretold." At the end he yells, "I foretold you so!!" It's actually quite annoying after a while, but it's obviously not taken seriously, nor is it explained.
>>Alcohol and drugs: None.
>>Sexual content: None.
It's squeaky-clean, confusing, fast, beautiful, violent, loud, epic, and teaches great morals. We learn about true heroism (even when it comes at a heavy price), bravery, loyalty, and doing what's right even when it's really hard. Characters lose things/friends. One character gives their life to save others. The Guardians rush into battle knowing that many of them will be killed, but it's the right thing to do. This movie was pretty good, and I'd recommend it, if only for the stunning beauty of it.
p.s. I forgot to mention that the 3-D effects are really cool. We were left with a dizzy feeling afterwards.
Also, the slow-motion stuff was really cool the first few times. After the tenth or twelfth time, it was almost comical. Plus, it's extremely hard to take the owls seriously, because they just look so darn cute in their little metal helmets!
3 1/2 out of 6 stars
So that everyone (including myself) may benefit from it, please feel free to leave your own personal opinion of this film.
Plugged In Movie Reviews
The Internet Movie Database
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