StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

cinemajesty Movie Review: "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" (2010)Presenter Warner Bros. Studios gives its long-time first-look inclusive partner Village Roadshow Pictures from "Down Under", Australia a lift in distributing this explicit animated feature directed by Zack Snyder, who after "Watchmen" (2009) overthrown himself with the story of young owl Soren, vocally performed by non-recognizable actor Jim Sturgess, who's character embarks on journey into the depth of a mystical, highly-visceral landscape of ruling nemesis-owl "Metal Beak", given voice by decisive-striking vocal beats-sharing Joel Edgerton, when dark magic boot encampments of stone, rock and gorges transforms child-owls into metal-armor-wearing soldier-owls in order to enforce an army to invade hometree of the peace-loving family tribe including the character of father-like owl Noctus, portrayed by Hugo Weaving, and the war-approved, trauma-scared Ezylyrb, performed by Geoffrey Rush; together in deep voices, they build atmosphere and story-telling moments of an promised animated fantasy-action-spectacle that falls short after the first excellent visual strokes in terms of tiresome showdown-fulfilling proportions due to emotional distant confrontation between rivaling childhood friends Soren and the brainwashed character of Kludd that then again are visual stunning in character detail down-to-each feather designs, environmental shading in sparkling fire slow-motion shots, but nevertheless share a feeling of unidentifiable leading characters for a targeting group of the 8 to 12 year old, which wanted to be animation for adults in human flesh and blood, yet without the proper animation of empathetic behaviors and an adapted screenplay by shrieking writers John Orloff and Emily Stern, especially in the most fearless full-frontal moments of conflict, fails "The Legend of the Guardians" to deliver awestruck convictions in the end; circumstances, which the fulminate success of animation action-drama "Toy Story 3" by competitor Pixar Animation Studios, out the same year, could deliver to an heart-stopping, suspension-pulling sequence at a fire-breathing, metal-claw-menacing trash-burn facility of closer relations to international audiences.© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Chiller7 Very refreshing to see an animated film, outside of Japanese animation, dare to present us with an epic adventure story that takes itself seriously, without the need to stuff every other scene full of excessive cartoony slapstick fluff and desperately witty comedy dialogue, just to lighten the mood and remind us that it's a kids movie, which is the trend that modern Western animation seems stuck in lately. Kids absolutely can engage with serious stories that are not afraid to go a bit darker in tone, as I remember quite well from my favorite fantasy movies as a kid.A story featuring owls as characters is a little unusual, for sure. But aside from the unusual owl theme, this is a classic epic fantasy at heart. Epic fantasy is a genre that I love and one that I can forgive for reusing some of the same old clichés, such as the good guys vs the evil empire setup, or the classic hero's journey tale, because it just wouldn't be epic fantasy without some of these same old things.The one thing, though, that makes this movie stand out more than anything is its director, Zack Snyder. It may seem a little usual for a director who specializes in adult-oriented CGI-heavy action movies to handle a kid's animated adventure like this, but upon seeing the movie, it's clear that he made this one special in a way no one else can. His trademark eye for breathtaking visuals and exquisitely-handled action directing is on full display here. In the hands of someone else, we may have instead gotten the silly cartoony slapstick style more typical of animated movies these days, and not the epic quality action that we see here; so, thank you, Zack Snyder, for making this movie.

Sjoerd Jonker What a nice ride! A young dreamer, taken from his home to a land of evil. He managed to escape along with his new companion who was also kidnapped. They found shelter by local peasants, who were willing to aid them to for full their quest to vanquish the rising thread in the west. Together they went north and arrived at the mystical isle 'Ga'Hoole' where the Guardians live. They are the only ones that can bring a permanent end to this evil recovered from the Battle of the Ice Claws. Together they returned to St. Aegolius to take down the Pure Ones once and for all. Victory! The Guardians restored the peace once more thanks to our brave owls who not only brought the message, they saved the Guardians from certain death. They stood for the King and Queen not only as heroes, but also as rightful Guardians. The End!The Legend of the Guardians is a striking story in a medieval, fantasy world populated by owls, but the movie has its flaws. Besides the light script, the whole story they told us is too brief. As a feature film the length is good, but being put in a story like this, there are many elements that I missed during the film. There was more A LOT MORE that they could tell us to give the story more spice. There weren't even romance scenes guys, already they missed one entire important ingredient! Anyway they could've told us more about the mysterious flecks in St. Aegolius. We know that they are harmful to the so called 'Gizzard', though we still do not know how the Gizzard really works on owls and why metal flecks have a negative effect on it, not to mention that it is still a mystery how the flecks wind up in prey that the owls eat. We also did not know much about The Battle of the Ice Claws. They could've showed us interesting flashbacks how the conflict between the Pure Ones and the Guardians happened(were the King and Queen there?), when Soren found out Ezylryb is Lyze of Kiel(in order to make more emotional involvement) in his hollow. BTW we still don't know why he called himself Ezylryb. Was it because his fans would be disappointed for the rest of their lives, because of the fact that their hero is a little screech owl full of battle scars, or did he changed his name because he simply did not want to be remembered as a hero, who is to say. Furthermore I feel that they missed some critical scenes. For example they fail to tell us what the current state is of the world. Is the whole world torn apart by the previous war or is the world fully recovered yet the inhabitants just did not know what is going on with their young-lings? We simply know nothing of this world and how it is ruled. Furthermore there are several other things that were too brief, The Owl God: Glaux, The Echidna(one of the most rushed characters), Grimbles family(we still don't know what became of them), The reunion with Soren's parents at the very ending of the film(the parents did not even mentioned Kludd), The King and Queen(the queen never showed up during the final battle) and being moon blinked(does this works on every animal or just owls?)Not only is the story brief it is also as straight as an arrow. By that I mean that it is too obvious what is going to happen next during almost every scene and since the scenes are in general brief it makes them only more predictable, not to mention that the story itself is unoriginal, but I'll let that one slide, because otherwise I would be a massive hypocrite for liking tons of other movies. Anyway, it would have been fine if just a handful of scenes were predictable, but in this case the complete film is predictable. For example: Soren was the dreamer in the beginning and Kludd was not convinced that the Guardians even existed. And that is fine, but there was not one moment that caused the slightest turbulence in their visions. The result of this is that we feel little emotional attached when Kludd had fallen in the fire, because he was a bad brother the whole time. It was also obvious that it was going to happen one way or another. They could've lessen both by hiding his personality more in the beginning. As for Soren he is obviously the 'good guy' in this, no two ways about it. But there are certain aspects they missed to build him up as a character. For example after he escaped from St. Aegolius he didn't even bother about his own brother or his parents! He didn't feel like going back was an option and he didn't asked the necessary questions that make us sympathize with him. For example: 'But what about my brother, he is still in St. Aegolius?'(When they found shelter at Twilight's and Digger's place) or: 'You're right Mrs. P, I can't go without letting my parents know what has happened, can I?'In conclusion: The film is not perfect, that is clear, but I see the ambition behind it even though they played it safe by telling the story at minimal length with its light yet decent script in order to satisfy all audiences. The visuals are superb with an outstanding lighting from the time of day. Metal Beak is great! He is more like an idea than he is a person and he was everything that Soren isn't and that makes him a good villain. The music is intriguing and the art style is just marvelously done! And I must also give the trailers credit, since they were the reason for finding my favorite band: Thirty Seconds to Mars.

tapio_hietamaki I'd heard that this movie is surprisingly dark. Well, it isn't that bad. Sure it's got some themes that are quite heavy for a kid's movie, but so do classic Disney animations (The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast). Legend of the Guardians is your basic fantasy adventure with a kind, young protagonist and his wacky companions. They must fight a villain who's assembling an army of bad guys and the protagonist's brother chooses The Dark Side.The thing is, all the characters are cute owls. They look gorgeous - you can see every feather stirring in the wind. All the visuals are pretty much breathtaking (for an animated film).There are some fight scenes but nothing really graphic happens. The owls wear funny pieces of armor and it's implied that they tear each other apart with their talons but the film is bloodless. In the end everybody learns a lesson. The story is based on a young adult fantasy novel. Personally I would've preferred an animation film like this based on Redwall.