Rise of the Guardians

I find my stance on big name actors contributing voices for animated features to be right down the middle. Sometimes I think it’s a nice touch and other times I wish the big-wigs would leave some work for the little old voice actor. But either way, Rise of the Guardians is an example of the former. The stars actually fit well with their animated counterparts. Billed as a Christmas movie, the story is centered on Jack Frost (Chris Pine) as he turns away from his life of mischief in order to join the Guardians, the elite team of holiday characters. The team, consisting of Santa Claus, (Alec Baldwin) the Easter Bunny, (Hugh Jackman) the Tooth Fairy, (Isla Fisher) and the Sandman, (who doesn’t speak) is needed when their old foe, the Boogey Man (Jude Law) returns to steal the hopes and dreams of the world’s children.

The film spends some time trying to set it apart from typical holiday fare with a tattooed Russian sounding Santa and a sass talking Australian Easter Bunny. Though these surface changes do little more than present a bit of context for the adventure format. The unique packaging doesn’t prevent the usual motifs from breaking though. They’re powered by children’s belief in them, the villain somehow doesn’t stand a chance against a few untrained, brave children, so on and so forth. But laughs and interesting moments are still brought about with funny touches on how the holidays are misinterpreted.

Possibly the most glaring question with Rise of the Guardians is why DreamWorks pushed it so heavily as a Christmas movie. Santa Claus is featured and Jack Frost is obviously winter related, but the holiday that is the target for the film is Easter. How disappointing for everyone who went to the theater to see a Christmas movie. For the most part, the film is fun and dramatic like must DreamWorks animation, if not a bit confused.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.