Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Directed by Peter Ramsey
When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.
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19 films that influenced Rise of the Guardians
What critics say influenced Rise of the Guardians
Guardians is visually more akin to The Polar Express than to Shrek, with semi-realistic looking humans/environments and edgier character designs.
The film improves as it nears the end, but when compared to a like-minded classic like 2004's " The Polar Express ," it pales enormously.
I suspect these objections will fade over time, similar to how The Polar Express gradually found an audience.
All that we see of Santa's North Pole home is a big cottage on a mountain and a scene or two in the elves' toy shop (speaking of the elves, they come off as unfunny rip-offs of the yellow minions from 2010's " Despicable Me ," whether that's the case or not).
The film relies far more on the mere fact of "Santa Claus with swords" or "Easter Bunny with boomerangs and a bad attitude" than it does in giving anybody a distinctive, meaningful personality, and the whole film ends up feeling like a gimmick; a handsome, complex gimmick, but still just one more in the line of DreamWorks's impersonal pop culture melanges, thankfully deprived of any obnoxious jokey references outside of the lazy theft of the minions from Despicable Me .
His shop is manned by Yeti (who look a heck of a lot like Chewbacca) and Elves (who resemble the Minions from “Despicable Me” in almost every way).
Then there are Santa's elves, who provide the kind of silly comic relief that the minions of Despicable Me provided.
Even the deeply adorable stuff — like Baby Tooth, a tiny helper fairy, and Santa’s elves, who are more like an army of rambunctious kittens crossed with Despicable Me’s Minions — cut as often as they cute.
Elves consisting of conical red hats with eyes peering out and skinny legs protruding beneath are this movie's "Despicable Me" minions, lots of little funny, somewhat inept guys that make cute little squeaky noises.
He’s been forced into marriage (Santa Clause 2) and working retail (Miracle on 34th Street).
He’s had problems with overgrown elves (Will Ferrell in Elf) and recalcitrant brothers (Vince Vaughn in Fred Claus).
The last decade has seen a lot of ‘reimaginings’ of Santa’s workshop, in films like The Santa Clause, The Polar Express, and Elf, but I am far more fascinated by how Rise of the Guardians handles the North Pole, and that is only one fraction of the film’s larger tapestry.
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Certainly no child should be expected to sit through My Dinner with Andre, but at times it feels like the caffeinated camera is too easy a crutch, used to distract from an insubstantial script.
A prolific storyboard artist whose filmography includes work for Francis Ford Coppola (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black), David Fincher (Fight Club), and Steven Spielberg (A.I.: Artificial Intelligence), Ramsey has a great eye for detail that’s complemented wonderfully by a talented crew of animators, acclaimed cinematographer Roger Deakins (working as a visual consultant), and gorgeous art direction by Max Boas (Kung Fu Panda).
When he was making up tales for his daughter, author William Joyce spun out what would become The Guardians of Childhood series and, as adapted by David Lindsay-Abaire ("Robots," "Rabbit Hole"), one can see pieces of everything from "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "Monsters, Inc.," "Peter Pan" and even "Arthur Christmas" (which itself borrowed from prior films) in the mix.
First-time feature director Peter Ramsey (a longtime storyboard artist) delivers a series of absolutely stunning set pieces and painstakingly detailed tableaux that make the movie a visual feast, but its willfully blinkered secular message is a mess, and a serious miscalculation: Unlike the classic TV specials "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which demonstrated that the significance of Christmas transcends material goods, this movie tells us that if kids don't get toys and colored eggs, they stop believing, and Christmas and Easter die.
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Based on a series of children’s books by William Joyce, “Guardians” was directed by longtime storyboard artist Peter Ramsey, who’s worked on films like “Men In Black,” “Fight Club,” and “Minority Report.”
"Rise of the Guardians" is the directorial debut of storyboard artist Peter Ramsey (2004's " Shark Tale "), believe it or not the first black filmmaker to ever helm a major computer-animated feature.