Review: 'Rise of the Guardians' Hefts Composite Narrative and Powerful Imagery

Rise of the Guardians, despite its juvenile premise, is pretty clever. The whimsical adventure is contrived to resemble a superhero movie which works as it grows on you. Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny and who knows what else? These simple figures of children myths are given rigorous origins making for an impressive main story. Young Jack Frost (voiced by Chris Pine) is a B-lister on the hierarchy, but is welcomed to the league called "Guardians" in order to stop a nightmarish campaign of one bogeyman named Pitch (Jude Law).

The "Guardians", which is comprised of a tattooed Santa Claus (Alex Baldwin), a macho Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), a sweet if not cloying Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) and a charismatic and golden Sand Man who never speaks, preserve the innocence of the children of the world, their hopes and dreams. The exact opposite of this is Pitch's liking, crush their hopes and serve them fear. This he does in order to have children believe in him, not the motley posse of Santa Claus.

Rise's composite story is admittedly told in a mediocre manner, but it's intended that way. The target audience is the kids, not the demanding and intricate minds of adults. This aside, the movie may be easily considered as DreamWorks' best 3-D animation movie of the current times, transcending the quality that the company has established and surpassing the strengths of previous animation heavyweights like Kung-Fu Fanda and Over the Hedge. For one, the use of 3-D are used expertly (not overdone, not half-cooked. Just beautiful), highlighting the movie's dazzling images, first-rate animation and beautifully drawn landscapes (Santa's factory, Pitch's lair and Tooth's home).

Debuting director Peter Ramsey worked well with the exceedingly devised characters of Santa Claus, Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy. Him and the actors playing, they all did. Pitch and Jack Frost are the only characters who seem to work further reinforced by good vocal performances, especially Jude Law's whose evil speaks to a very high level of audacity.

It's unlikely to work on audiences above pre-children, but it has a lot of things to still see. My constant epiphany in those parts of my life when I had to enter the theaters, "Don't over think it," will be of great use if it appears on screen before the very first frames of these kinds of film. On a common font, the message would read: Don't over think it. Sit back, and just enjoy the goddamn show. You imagining it?

VERDICT: B+