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Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

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Legend of the Guardians:
The Owls of Ga'Hoole
File:Legend of the Guardians Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byZack Snyder
Screenplay byJohn Orloff
John Collee
Produced byZareh Nalbandian
StarringJim Sturgess
Geoffrey Rush
Emily Barclay
Anthony LaPaglia
David Wenham
Ryan Kwanten
Helen Mirren
Sam Neill
Hugo Weaving
Edited byDavid Burrows
Music byDavid Hirschfelder
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
  • September 24, 2010 (2010-09-24) (United States)
  • September 30, 2010 (2010-09-30) (Australia)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Budget$80 million[1]
Box office$139,939,143[2]

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is a 2010 English-language computer-animated fantasy film based on the first three volumes (The Capture, The Journey, and The Rescue) of the series Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Kathryn Lasky. Zack Snyder directed the film, with Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Barclay, Ryan Kwanten, Anthony LaPaglia, and David Wenham voicing the characters.

Warner Bros. distributed the film with the Australian companies Village Roadshow Pictures and Animal Logic, the latter having produced visual effects for Happy Feet. Production took place in Australia, and the film was released in RealD 3D and IMAX 3D on September 24, 2010.[3]

Plot

Soren (Jim Sturgess) is a young adventurous Barn Owl who loves hearing stories from his father Noctus (Hugo Weaving) about the legend of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, a legendary alliance of owls that are sworn to protect the Kingdom of Ga'Hoole. His younger sister Eglantine (Adrienne deFaria) is enamoured by these stories, but their older brother, Kludd (Ryan Kwanten), is jealous of the attention Soren receives. One night, while branching, Soren and Kludd accidentally fall out of their tree. They are attacked by a tasmanian devil and then captured by owls working for the evil Metalbeak (Joel Edgerton) and his mate Nyra (Helen Mirren).

Soren and Kludd are snatched by two brothers, Long-eared Owls Jatt (Leigh Whannell) and Jutt (Angus Sampson). Still clutched in the talons of the owls, they soon come across a huge group of other workers for Metal Beak, with other young owlets. Soren meets Elf Owl Gylfie (Emily Barclay) and her captor, Boreal Owl Grimble (Also Hugo Weaving). Nyra arrives and makes a speech to the kidnapped owls, explaining that their families have abandoned them and that Metalbeak's "Pure Ones" are their new family. Metalbeak believes that Tytos are pure and strong, and deserve to rule. These owls are encourged to show strength and ruthlessness, and as such are to be trained as soldiers, while the rest will be "pickers". Soren and Gylfie object, and are thus sent to be pickers. Kludd denies his brother, which pleases Nyra. He goes away with the Tytos.

The pickers are made to sleep under glare of a full moon, which Gylfie says will induce a sort of hypnotic state that she calls "moon-blinked". Soren and Gylfie help to keep one another awake to avoid this fate. As predicted, the moon-blinked owls are docile and zombie-like the next morning; Soren and Gylfie try to imitate the moon-blinked birds, but Grimble notices their strange behavior. The pickers are guided to the Pelletorium, where their labor consists of picking apart owl pellets in search of metal flecks which the mice had eaten before being consumed. En masse, the flecks generate a strong magnetic field which has a peculiar weakening effect on owls; they are therefore managed by bats, which are immune to the effect.

Soren and Gylfie make plans to escape, but their planning is interrupted by Grimble and they are marched off to his library. Grimble reveals that his family is held hostage against his good behavior, and he has been waiting for owlets clever enough to avoid being moon-blinked; he wishes to teach them to fly and send them to warn the Guardians of Ga'Hoole of Metalbeak's plans.

Meanwhile, Kludd and other various Tytos are being trained by Nyra. With Kludd's success in an aerial hunting exercise, Nyra suggests that he try to convince Soren to join the Pure Ones. Nyra and Kludd catch Grimble in the middle of a flying lesson, forcing Grimble to fight the Pure Ones to buy time for Soren and Gylfie to escape. Soren begs Kludd to come with them, but Kludd refuses and joins the fray on Nyra's side. While the Pure Ones kill Grimble, Soren and Gylfie are forced dive over the cliff's edge, and just barley escape through a small crack between two giant bolders.

Lost, tired, and slightly injured, the two owls find allies in the form of a quirky Burrowing Owl called Digger and the Great Gray Owl Twilight, who considers himself a bard. They are unexpectedly reunited with Mrs. Plithiver (Miriam Margoyles), Soren's nest maid snake, who Twilight had captured as dinner. After hearing Soren's story, they agree to guide him to the Sea of Hoolemere, wherein lies the island of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree.

Kludd, under the orders of Nyra, brings Eglantine to St. Aegolious. They witness Metalbeak giving a speech to a large group of red-eyed Pure Ones. Eglanine is very frightened, and wants Kludd to bring her back home. Kludd tries to convince Eglanine that this is her new home now, but she still wishes to leave. Kludd chooses to make Eglantine a "picker". He tells her to sleep under the gaze of the full moon, moon blinking her.

Soren and his band are mobbed by crows on the way to the Sea, and nearly lose Twilight's lute, in which Mrs. Plithiver is riding. The battle brings them to the shore of the Sea of Hoolemere and the home of an Echidna (Barry Otto) mystic; the crows deliberately led them to the meeting so that the Echidna could give them their bearings to the Great Tree. Far out over the ocean, the group encounters a fierce hurricane, and their strength fails. As Digger falls toward the sea, he is rescued by a pair of enormous Snowy Owls with armored masks - the Guardians of Ga'hoole. They lead the band through the storm and to the Great Tree.

Digger's saviors are Boron (Richard Roxburgh) and Barran (Deborra-Lee Furness), the king and the queen of the Tree. They and the ranking officers of Ga'hoole hear Soren's tale in council. The search-and-rescue squadron leader, Allomere, expresses doubts about Soren's story, but battle-scarred Ezylryb defends him and Boron eventually agrees to send a scouting party to St. Aegolious.

Soren and Gylfie's training begins. Ezylryb takes them out to learn how to "really fly", using a powerful storm to teach the young owls how to use the wind currents instead of fighting them. Soren briefly masters the technique of flying by instinct, though he loses control when he starts trying to think about what he's doing. After the lesson, Ezylryb brings Soren to his hollow to discuss the lesson. While there, Soren discovers that Ezylryb is in fact the legendary warrior Lyze of Kiel; the story of Lyze defeating Metalbeak had been one of Soren's favorite stories.

When Allomere and his soldiers arrive at Metalbeak's camp, they are ambushed by the Pure Ones and the energy of the metal flecks is used against them. Allomere barely escapes, carrying two moon-blinked owlets, one of whom is Eglantine. With this proof, the Guardians go to war. Soren reluctantly stays behind to watch over Eglantine, and is thirlled when she finally wakes up. Eglantine awakens, and she tells Soren that Kludd gave her to Allomere to bring back; which means that Allomere had betrayed them and is leading them into a trap. Soren and the band fly off to warn the Guardians against the trap and Allomere's treachery.

When the Guardians arrive at St. Aegolious, they are drawn into a trap; Allomere peels off at the last moment and the Pure Ones unleash the power of the flecks against the Guardians, leaving the owls helplessly enervated on the ground. Soren and the band arrive minutes too late, just as Metalbeak and Nyra send the bats to finish off the disabled Guardians. Soren hatches a hasty plan and sends Twilight, Digger and Gylfie to hold back the bats, Soren plunges into the burning forest fire carrying an oil lamp which becomes engulfed in flames after flying through the fire. Meanwhile, Allomere reveals that he betrayed the Guardians based on Metalbeak's promise that Allomere would be the new king of the Tree, but Metalbeak betrays him and orders several bats to kill him, telling him that "there can be only one king."

Soren plunges into the flecks' magnetic field to drop the flaming oil lamp on the mechanism which holds open the lids over the flecks; the fire spreads across the machine, burns through the ropes and the lids slam down, freeing the Guardians. With his plan disrupted, Metalbeak orders the Pure Ones into battle. Ezylryb and Metalbeak square off, as do Soren and Kludd. They both fly into a small tree, and are dangling over the fire. Kludd has the upper wing against Soren, eventually sending them both plummeting into the forest fire, but Kludd breaks his wing on a branch. Dangling over the flames, Soren tries to save him, as he tries to pull his leg up, Kludd tries to throw Soren into the fire. The attempt then breaks Kludd's branch and he falls instead into the burning flames. Grieving for his brother, Soren sees Metalbeak and Nyra attacking Ezylryb. Angry at this, he flies off with a burning branch to attack him.

Ezylryb is no match for both Metalbeak and Nyra. Soren arrives just in time to save his life and attacks Metalbeak with the burning branch. The veteran warlord easily overpowers Soren, but he grows overconfident and Soren manages to stab Metalbeak with the flaming branch when he dives at Soren, killing him. A shocked Nyra retreats with the remaining Pure Ones.

They return to the Great Tree with all the owlets and Soren is greeted by Eglantine and his parents. Soren, Gylfie, Twilight and Digger are made Guardians of Ga'Hoole. In the epilogue, Soren reveals that Kludd's body was never found and Nyra is still out there with a contingent of Pure Ones, hinting at a sequel. Kludd is also shown looking at Metalbeak's body and mask, now with red eyes. The movie ends with Ezylryb and Soren going to fly into another storm.

Voice cast

Production

Warner Bros. acquired film rights to the book series Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Kathryn Lasky in June 2005. The studio planned to produce the series as a computer-generated animated film under producer Donald De Line with Lasky writing the adapted screenplay.[4] In April 2008, the project was under Village Roadshow with Zack Snyder attached to direct and Zareh Nalbandian producing. A new screenplay was written by John Orloff and John Collee.[5] Production began in Australia in February 2009.[6] The film was developed by the digital visual effects company Animal Logic, following its success with the 2006 film Happy Feet.[7] It features a song by Owl City "To the Sky". Along with the film was a all new 3d Looney Tunes cartoon entitled "Fur of Flying".

Reception

Critical reaction

The movie received mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 50% of 113 sampled critics gave the film positive reviews and that it got a rating average of 5.6 out of 10. It reported the critics' consensus, "Legend of the Guardians' dark tone and dazzling visuals are to be admired, even if they're ultimately let down by a story that never lives up to its full potential."[8]

Box office

The world liked "Legend of the Guardians" apart form the United States of America, where it took in only $4.5 million on opening day, ranking third at the box office in the USA. It ranked second on Saturday, earning $6 million, and was #1 on Sunday, earning $4.6 million (USA). Overall, it earned $16,112,211 on its opening weekend, reaching second place at the box office behind Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in America. This makes "Legend of the Guardians" Zach Snyder's first film not to reach #1 on its opening weekend in the USA; overall a disappointing start, only earning a fraction of this year's animation line-up and more in line with Warner Bros. other 2010 family films Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore and Yogi Bear. In its second weekend, the film held very well, slipping only 32% to $10,887,543 and holding onto second place, this time behind The Social Network, claiming the title of the biggest second-weekend hold for an animated feature in 2010. The film ended its run in February 2011 with a $55.8 million domestic (USA) gross, making it a disappointment and only ranking as the sixth highest-grossing animated feature for the year. However, in the wider market, it was a major success, grossing over $84 million from its international release. Its total of $140 million worldwide made it quite profitable given its estimated $80 million production budget.[2]

Soundtrack

Main article: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (soundtrack)

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on September 21, 2010 by WaterTower Music.

Video game

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released a game based on the movie, as well as including some elements from the books, for the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, and DS platforms on September 14, 2010. The game was developed by Krome Studios for Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 with the DS version developed by Tantalus Media. [9]

References

  1. ^ Fritz, Ben (September 23, 2010). "Movie projector: 'Wall Street' and 'Guardians' to battle for No. 1 as 'You Again' lags". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved September 23, 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  3. ^ Scott, Mike (September 20, 2010). "Newest Looney Tunes short to play before 'Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole'". The Times-Picayune. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "'Guardians' angel is Warner Bros". Variety. June 16, 2005. Retrieved February 9, 2009. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  5. ^ Fleming, Michael (April 13, 2008). "Snyder to watch over 'Guardians'". Variety. Retrieved February 9, 2009. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  6. ^ Kilday, Gregg (February 9, 2009). "Four fly to Zack Snyder's animated 'Guardians'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 9, 2009. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  7. ^ McWhirter, Erin (April 16, 2008). "Animal Logic produces Guardian of Ga'Hoole, after Happy Feet". Herald Sun. Retrieved February 26, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  9. ^ "Warner Bros. Announces Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Game". IGN. 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2010-04-03.

External links

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