It's not quite as distasteful a film as Never Let Me Go, but Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Gahoole runs into several problems that it doesn't mind to deal with. The film follows a barn owl with aspirations of one day becoming one of the mythical Guardians of Gahoole. This film would feel like a rather huge cop out if they didn't exist, so it doesn't play around too much with subtlety. Everything is quite literal and yet too vague. It's a film of contradictions, but it's practically made for child audiences who should love it, even though it's dark as hell and includes plenty of bloodshed.
It's a 90 minute film with aspirations of being an epic, and as such this film feels quite rushed. It tries packing too much information into such a short run-time, and despite that, I found myself almost nodding off a few times. It stumbles into the chain of events that leads through the story, rather than moving along it as its own course. It also, as hinted above, may be too violent for young viewers. Zach Snyder wanted to make a film that his children could see, but is this really the best he could do? If you're going to make a kids series as violent as this into a film, you push the intensity to the fullest extent. He doesn't, and this film falters.
However, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the beginning of this movie. The first thirty minutes or so were filled with such an epic atmosphere, and the action worked brilliantly. The music was corny throughout, but the opening utilized it best before it was repeated seventeen times over. Zach Snyder undoubtedly has a great eye for visual flourishes, and the action sequences show it best. The monsoon scene is definitely a visual high point in 3D. Unfortunately, if I had to choose between seeing Legend of the Guardians: The Owl of Gahoole (long title) again and seeing the first 90 minutes of Avatar again, I'd choose the latter.
C+
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