BEFORE: Well, there was a rather noticable owl in last night's film, so this worked out rather well. And I swear it's another one of those little coincidences. It's strange how as the list gets smaller, there seem to be more and more links I can make between the films that are left - I'm even passing on some rather notable connections. I don't know how long I can keep my chain going, I'm guessing that by May or June I'll be watching random leftovers, but who knows?
Elisabeth Moss from "Once Upon a Forest" links through "Get Him to the Greek" to co-star Rose Byrne, who appeared in "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" along with Joel Edgerton, who does a voice in tonight's film.
THE PLOT: When a young owl is abducted by an evil Owl army, he must escape with newfound friends to seek out the legendary Guardians to stop the menace.
AFTER: Last night's film was think with pro-environmental messages, and this one? Well, it comes close to collapsing under the weight of its own mythology - not to mention that convoluted title. There's all kinds of owl stories and legends, referring to battles in the past between warring factions of owls - it all seems rather complicated.
The buy-in tonight is high - you not only have to believe that owls can talk, but that they can forge armor, operate magical items, and form complex hierarchies based on conflicting idealogies. Oh, and all the owls speak with Australian accents. It's a lot to take in - also, they live in a world that's filled with gorgeous ruins, but no people are seen. It looks a bit like Middle Earth if you gave all the elves and orcs the day off.
The central character, Soren, is kidnapped and enslaved, brought to a far-off place where owls are each assigned tasks, and are forced to work at hard labor for the benefit of the leaders, the Pure Ones. Fortunately, he's able to escape and he travels to a far-off place where owls are each assigned jobs, and all work hard together for the benefit of the Guardians. Hey, wait a minute...how is that really better?
I suppose it's all about free will - and the Guardians' tree-colony looks a whole lot nicer than the mountainous cavern that the Pure Ones live in. But other than some very obvious Nazi-like analogies about purity and the killing of the weak, it's rather fuzzy trying to assign labels like good and evil to different factions of birds.
The film's redemption comes in the battle sequences, fantastically choreographed mid-air fights between armored owls. This film's director also made "300" and "Watchmen", so that sort of thing kind of carries over nicely. I almost (but not quite) forgot I was watching owls battling, and just sort of got into the excitement of the battles late in the film.
But it's still rather formulaic, and vastly overblown. I can make connections to a number of other films including "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars: Episode 3", but I've already written about how these touchstones, like the long and difficult quest, are fairly universal in fantasy films, and this one is no different. Except it has more owls.
Also starring the voices of Jim Sturgess (last seen in "21"), Hugo Weaving (last seen in "The Wolfman"), Helen Mirren (last seen in "Inkheart"), Geoffrey Rush (last seen in "The Tailor of Panama"), Sam Neill (last seen in "Memoirs of an Invisible Man"), Anthony LaPaglia (last seen in "Mixed Nuts"), and Richard Roxburgh (last seen in "Mission: Impossible II")
RATING: 4 out of 10 mouse pellets
Beautiful, near-photorealistic animation isn't always the best answer. The animation in this movie was both of these things. And that's why I found it impossible to buy into a world where owls are blacksmiths and swing hammers with their wings.
ReplyDeleteWhich is not to say that it would have been an easy sell under the best of circumstances.
See, the real pros at the movie studios run into the bookseller's convention the moment the doors open on the first day. Those are the ones who snap up the rights to the "Harry Potter" franchise and books that can become "Game Of Thrones." If you decide it can wait until a lush room-service breakfast and a three-martini lunch have been completed, the only multi-book fantasy properties left are about a team of talking owls.