#*peter ramsey

97 min, PG

Starring Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, and Isla Fisher

Watched in theaters 11/25/2012

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“Am I on the naughty list?”

What makes this film enchanting is not the story, not even the characters, but the art direction. Appropriate, seeing as it is an animation, but also disappointing.

Deemed by many as (suitably) an “Avengers for the elementary school kids,” Rise of the Guardians has so much potential to be terrific, but only ends up being so-so. The storytelling is rather bland, and the characters could be fleshed out more, but the pacing is consistent and the animation is simply gorgeous. I regret not seeing it in 3D, only because I’d like to see how the creators handled the flow of the sand and the floating snow. It must be a very charming sight to behold.

Every frame is so detailed and so very obviously planned out that it almost hurts seeing all of this beauty. I could point to so many examples, but what’s the point if you can’t see them yourself?

It’s so sad that the story doesn’t live up to the aesthetics of the film. The premise is very cute and wonderfully handled, but it almost seems like the creators were too scared to step out of the box and try something bold. Perhaps they didn’t think that anything rash would be appropriate, considering the overall theme of the film, but everything was so formulaic that you knew things would happen before they could. This is less of a problem in animated movies, particularly those directed at the specific audience of young children because they don’t necessarily expect anything novel, but I just can’t stop thinking about how much it could’ve been.

This does not mean I didn’t enjoy it for what it was. Guardians is a delight even with its many faults, thanks to the wonderfully designed characters and the woosh back to childhood it provides the older members of the audience. Still, there’s major room for improvement, even if the beautiful animation does make up for most of it.

“Naughty list, you hold the record!”