Rise of the Guardians (2012)

This movie centers around Jack Frost, who emerges at the beginning of the film from an ice-covered lake with no memory of who he was, no idea why he has powers, and no understanding of why nobody can see or feel him. Several hundred years later, a team of Guardians consisting of Nicholas St. North (Santa Claus), Toothiana (Tooth Fairy), Bunnymund (Easter Bunny), and Sandman find themselves up against an old enemy, Pitch Black (Boogeyman). It is the Guardians' job to keep children around the world believing in them, while Pitch desires the opposite. The less children believe in the Guardians, the more they have to fear, and consequently the more they believe in the Boogeyman, i.e., Pitch. Pitch has grown stronger and the Man in the Moon has choosen Jack Frost to become a Guardian and join the team. Reluctant to join, North convinces Frost to help the team out anyways.

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20130503, 20130601:
The story plays in a fairly typical standard as far as animated children's movies go. We get some fast-paced scenes through tunnels and some visually exciting battle scenes.

While there were a couple minor plot points I didn't quite understand, perhaps they would have made sense to someone who has read the book series. For example, at the end of the movie, Jack says something about believing in the moon. While the moon played an important role in the film, it was not heavily emphasized. To end the story on it was surprising. On that note, I was also alarmed by the excessively high rate at which children around the world stopped or resumed believing in the Guardians. Ultimately, this movie had some fun and exciting scenes to watch. I'd imagine children would enjoy watching it.

[20130606]

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Instant Comments:
1a: Ha! The Sandman raises his arms while riding the sleigh, as if he's on a roller coaster. Of course, it's doubly funny since he can fly. Perhaps the sleigh is a faster ride.
1a: Hehe. So the plot develops.
1a: Recover stolen teeth...
1a: The competition is funny, but it seems they'd be much more efficient if they split up instead of going after the same teeth.
1b: I last stopped watching (because the plane was landing and I had to stow away the video screen) when the Easter Bunny said the group could no longer trust Jack.
1b: Ha! Baby tooth sits unenthusiastically after Jack awakens from from seeing his memories.
1b: The one kid says, "I know what we have to do," but its not clear to me what the kids ended up doing.
1b: Strange choice of song for the end credits.
1b: I enjoyed the final confrontation.

Credits:
1b: After the song, but still during the credits, the helpers (fairies, elves, and yeti) are shown helping the kids who are fast asleep to return home.
1a=20130503, 1b=20130601

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Watched 1st half 20130503 (British Airways In-flight Entertainment)
Watched 2nd half 20130601 (British Airways In-flight Entertainment)
Rise of the Guardians (2012) Peter Ramsey. 97 min [bot series The Guardians of Childhood by William Joyce]

Relevant Links:
Rise of the Guardians (IMDb.com)
Rise of the Guardians (RottenTomatoes.com)
Rise of the Guardians (Wikipedia.org)

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Trailers:

You can find a bunch more official videos on the DreamworksAnimation YouTube channel. Videos include character biographies, official film clips, and drawing tutorials.