"Hang on. People love super heroes, and people love widely established holiday characters, couldn't they be both? Cha-ching!" - the imagined thought process of William Joyce as he created the Guardians book series.
Sure enough, the movie version of the latest holiday/superhero mashup/cash-in is wildly popular and thankfully, it's also fairly enjoyable.
Rise of the Guardians opens with Jack Frost waking up with powers and no memory of who he was or clue as to what he's supposed to do. After 300-plus years, he's growing fed up with not being believed in or appreciated.
But dark clouds are rising and he's called on to be a "guardian." Guardians, of course, are a superheroesque team chosen by the Man in the Moon to protect children. The Santa character (Alec Baldwin) is actually really good as a bad-ass, dual-sword-wielding Russian St. Nick. Then there's the cute tooth fairy (Isla Fisher) and a silent Sandman. And granted, the Easter Bunny has always been the weirdest of the holiday creatures, but this movie steps it up by making him a tattooed boomerang swinging Aussie voiced by Hugh Jackman.
Together, they team up to stop the threat of Pitch Black (a.k.a.: the boogieman).
This film came highly recommended from two very excited young kids, who assured me no one gets hurt even though it looks like they might.
The film itself is a full-out visual spectacle with obvious catering to the 3D-television-owning crowd. When the movie isn't chasing around at full tilt, it's filling every pause with quirky inventions and minions. Sure, there's not much below the surface but that surface is certainly not a bad way to spend 90 minutes on a rainy afternoon.
Rise of the Guardians is ready for your instant enjoyment on Netflix enjoy.
