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| Santa Claus |
"Rise of the Guardians" is the entertaining and energetic new animated fantasy film from DreamWorks Animation that is yet another interpretation on some popular fables of our time. Based on the children's novel series "Guardians of Childhood" by William Joyce, it's overly familiar, very busy and sometimes too dark for kids, but there's still a lot of cleverness to enjoy. Jack Frost (Chris Pine) is a carefree boy who has no responsibilities in the world aside from bringing winter wherever he goes. But everything changes when Pitch (Jude Law), a.k.a. The Boogeyman, begins his plan to engulf the world in darkness. The Guardians, Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) and the mute but powerful Sandman enlist Jack to join their group to stop Pitch and protect the children of the world. "Rise of the Guardians" is a serviceable, enjoyable, if not hyperactive effort considering it's from DreamWorks and not Disney. The all-star cast clearly has fun voicing the characters, particularly Baldwin as Guardian leader Santa, also known as North here, and Jackman is also memorable; it provides an original, interesting version of the beloved characters, though it seems a little well-worn after so many versions of Santa Claus, not to mention the "Shrek" films. "Guardians" holds to a simple bottom-line message of belief and goodness of humanity, "Guardians" also tries too hard to be too many things to everyone, and while it's amusing (particularly the elves), witty and the animation very crisp, it may be too overwhelming for the young ones. With goodness comes the dark side too, and "Guardians" embraces its dark side too, with clever voicing from Law as the Boogeyman, though those darker elements may scare younger children. Overall, the crowd-pleasing "Rise of the Guardians" is solid family entertainment and families will appreciate its cleverness, though you may be a little worn out by the end of it.
Wes's Grade: B
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