TMG Scale 5.0 by Joy Lynn
Starring voices by Helen Mirren and Sam Neil and a bunch of really weird named owls…Gylfie, Otulissa, Strix Struma and other bird brained names.
TMG could not give a hoot to see this film despite it’s huge box office success and longevity. So he sent Joy Lynn with a group of kids. Here is Joy Lynn’s commentary.
If you enjoy dialogue such as “ they have no gizzards to be impaired by the power of the flecks” or understand the term moon blinking, you will like Legends of the Guardians; The Owls of Ga’Hoole. For anyone interested (and if you are, get a life), “moon blinking” is when an owl is forced to sleep beneath the full moon, which causes it to destroy the owl’s free will. Moon blinking can be resisted by thinking of things that are good and pure. [TMG would never get this concept!]
Maybe if I had read the first three volumes of the literature this movie is based on I might have understood what was going on. Computer animated fantasy adventures are not Joy Lynn’s preferred movie style.
Ironically, as the movie began, it had the feel of the fun penguin adventure Happy Feet back in 2006. The owls are furry and cute and speak sweet baby talk. This is far from a happy movie and is NOT for young kids. I was lost most of the time and found myself fidgeting and fighting for air! It’s a story about war, revenge, kidnapping and evil. I had to Google the movie title while in the theater on my cell phone to figure out the names of the characters.
In short, this film is about Soren, a barn owl who is abducted by an evil army of owls and taken away to serve as a soldier. All his life, his father filled him with dramatic tales of a group of owls called the Guardians. Soren assumed it was false. But when he escapes, he discovers a whole world of Guardians living in a wondrous tree.
The scenery is very visually beautiful at times. It is at its best when the owls soar through the air in the rain. It’s actually a beautiful sight and a welcome relief.
If Lord of the Rings trilogy had been condensed and starred owls instead of hobbits, it would have closely resembled this film. Bottom line, I did not get it nor did the first grader I mistakenly took to this film.