Rise of the Guardians

2012 • 97 minutes

About this movie

A fun-filled magical story about the legendary guardians– Jack Frost (Chris Pine), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy- together for the first time! When the evil boogeyman Pitch (Jude Law) threatens to take over the world, it’s up to our beloved heroes to protect the hopes and dreams of all children. It’s a dazzling and heartwarming family film.

Ratings and reviews

Rise of the Guardians is a mixed outcome for me. It's sweet and heartfelt and fun. But, at the same time, it's somewhat dark and action-packed. They twisted the characters to make them more cool (specifically, Santa was a total BA and the Easter bunny was a master of parkour and knife skills). This is good, but the thing that weirded me out was Pitch Black. He didn't freak me out, but he probably freaked someone out. Pitch was surprisingly creepy for a kids film. But all in all, a good kids action movie.

ROTG is ok, not great, but decent. There's definitely some clever writing here. Why the Tooth Fairy collects teeth fits nicely into the story, Santa being Russian fits with the nesting doll analogy, why the guardians do what they do, etc. My biggest problem is the gigantic hole in the story (being seen by kids). There's no rule not to be seen by kids but kids need to believe they're real to be seen. So instead of... you know, showing themselves to kids, they collect teeth and hide eggs...

Traditional holidays like Christmas and Easter are a great and important part of our lives, because they are a major tool that make us believe. There are also some legendary icons like Jack Frost, the Tooth fairy, Sandman, and the Bogeyman, which is a timeless phenomenon of fiction. But, what would happen if they go together, and what if there is something deeper within these popular characters of well-known childhood culture. "Rise of the Guardians" has the answer. And this whole concept is totally original. It's about Jack Frost who cannot be seen by children because they didn't believe him, but because he had a backstory with his family, he was joined by Nicholas St. North (Santa Clause) who is the leader of the heroic group called "the guardians." The question that St. North asked Jack is "what is his center"; the "center" explains a guardian's true personality and in some case, makes kids believe in them. But, the trouble is that someone is spreading darkness and instilling terror in the minds of all kids by causing nightmares. That someone is Pitch Black (the Bogeyman). Pitch's goal is to make kids believe in him because he feels left out due to the fact that nobody believes him It is up to Jack and the guardians to find a way to stop Pitch and put an end to this monstrosity. The filmmakers tweak the characters by making them "The Avengers" of belief. Here's my reaction to the whole movie: The title is not genuinely original; (Legend of the Gaurdians from 2010 anyone?). Here's The first act: It was interesting from the start, but as a comedy, it tries to be funny on purpose because the choices are quite forced and redundant; The elves are not funny at all because of their nasty mischievous antics with cookies, I laughed once, I find the idea of Alec Baldwin voicing St. North an odd miscasting choice as he does not sound jolly, and he just laughs like a man instead of using the "hoe ho hos" like how Santa would laugh. They should've hired John Goodman instead. Also, why should Hugh Jackman voice the Easter bunny to make him sound Australian and masculine? They should've hired Ed Helms. And why can't the sandman talk or speak? The second act has higher quality within it's content; it's more clever and more amusing with it's script-writing and direction, The tooth fairy tells Jack the information about the children's teeth which is appealing, there is one unfunny moment where the tooth fairy said something disturbing to a child. And last but not least: The third act: this is by far the best part of the whole movie; it's engaging and entertaining with a great ending. Also, the elves were funny once. All of this aside, here are that rest of my thoughts: for the comedy, it's not hilarious, but I did find the comedy quite funny at times, including some of the of the dialogue. The speed of the action is fast, a little too quick for me. What I actually like about this film is The tone. The tone is subtle is mature yet lively. Speaking of mature, the movie is quite harmless. The movie has great messages about teamwork, courage, positivity, and saying that one child can save the world with continued belief. The visuals are striking; The animation is dazzling with realistic detail and was supported by the impressive screenplay. Another impressive aspect is the sprightly score by Alexandre Desplat. From a Christian's perspective, this film can be seen as a movie about good vs evil with themes about believing and redemption. Pitch Black is such a menacing foe that has the characterization to be a child's worst nightmare, and just like Jack, Pitch has considerable depth. There is nothing awful about this movie, it's just that it needs some improvement, and as an animated movie from Dreamworks, it's not marvelous like "Shrek," or "Spirit," "How to train your Dragon." I've seen better from Dreamworks, but this is a solid holiday movie that the whole family will appreciate. 3.5/5. Recommended.