Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (critiqued by yours truly)

Let me start off by saying that I almost didn't go see it because of the unfamiliar word (try and spot it! hint) in the name. Also, a lengthy title really doesn't make me jump up and down to go see something. The book series was called "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" (the movie was based on the first three, The Capture, The Journey, and The Rescue). That was all. Seriously. Three words. I really don't understand why they added so much fluff to the title.

Watch the Trailer

ANYWAY - After getting that off my chest, this movie was actually pretty epic. Obviously, a lot of dough was spent on the visuals, as you can see to the right. The film had a slow start, I had to keep reminding myself that it was aimed more towards kids than not. But as soon as the first conflict occurs, it spun off into owlly action. There was even a little feathery love triangle.

Jim Sturgess stars (if it sounds familiar, you might know him from Across the Universe, and 21) as Soren, who's nothin' but a dreamer who believes in a Legendary group of Owls from Ga'Hoole, who...Guard. It's kind of unclear, really. Go read the books.

What was extremely clear was that the the director wanted to quickly get to the big fighting scenes, because the build up storyline to a lot of this movie (stuff that one would think would take place over a couple weeks) kind of felt like only a day. It felt too quick-paced, like the real-time credibility was off. But again, once the story reached it's climax, there was no more confusion. For the duration of that 90 minute period, the audience was fully aware that the owl is the most bad-awesome fowl to grace the sky with its glory.

The characters were developed pretty well (of course, they were originally created by an author, someone who's supposed to be good at that). You've got the required hero, with the perfect amount of luck on his side; the small ones with something to prove; the highly animated, prone to injury bozos that make kids laugh. It's all present and it's a hoot (not my joke. I am ashamed).

For those of you planning on going to see it, I'll clear something up for you. I have no idea what a "gizzard" is, but it was the most used word in the entire film. As far as the story goes, and what I gathered from it, I liken it to The Force.

I highly recommend the movie for parents. (not just parents, if you want a date movie I think I'm going to see "Life As We Know It" soon, and I'll be reviewing it) Aside from a few iffy parts (kind of scary, but they quickly lighten the mood) I noticed most children in the theater seemed fully transfixed. Absolutely nothing inappropriate. But that's to be expected. With birds.

I enjoyed watching this, and was pleasantly surprised. As a Cheez-It, this thing gets 75% Real Cheese. Absolutely take your kids. But don't break your leg going to see it alone.

Have a great weekend!