Hoooo R U?

A few weeks back Dee and I went to see Alice in Wonderland and one of the movie trailers was for an animated film set to be released in September: Legend of the Guardians. I immediately knew that this movie was going to consume much of my summer and I, along with a theatre of 13 year olds, would be wiggling in my seat on opening night come the fall.

The first (and major) thing that sucked me in was it’s an adventure story about owls. I’m really into owls. I think the owl is by far the most interesting animal. Not only is it nocturnal, but it flies completely silent. Their head has a 280 degree turn radius and their eyes are fixed in their socket. These things have a satellite around their face which allows them super hearing. I’ve never seen too many owls outside of a sanctuary or zoo, but I always hear them. And when I’m hiking, the cooing owl sounds help me forget that there’s a big, nasty bear thinking about having me for dinner.

There seems to be an aura of wisdom and calmness about the owl that fascinates me. The mystery of the animal makes me feel like a curious kid again which is probably why I’m all about this movie.

Legend of the Guardians is actually based on the first 3 books in a series titled The Guardians of Ga’Hoole by Kathy Lasky. I’ve never read these books as a kid so the first thing I did after seeing the trailer was acquire copies of them. The books are very visual and the story line is actually intense. I got sucked into the first book in the series, The Capture, right away.

When I was in elementary school I remember seeing other students completely obsessed with series like Goosebumps and Hardy Boys. I’d watch their eyes dart across the pages during our “free reading” time. Meanwhile, I would stand the biggest book I could find on my desk so the teacher wouldn’t notice me trying to make my bully’s desk levitate. Needless to say, I never developed into a very strong reader (and I still can’t make things levitate!). Recently, I have been backtracking with my reading and picking up the classics I was supposed to have read in school but never did. So when I found out that these books are classified under “independent reader,” I thought that sounds about right.

As it gets closer to the movie’s release date I’m sure it will get more attention, but I doubt it’s going to be much of a big deal. I read movie snob’s opinions on message boards and many of them say it’s a rip off of Happy Feet and the flying sequences are, “a bit emulative of Avatar,” both of which I haven’t seen. I’ve also read that it’s just a kid’s movie with a silly plot. There is a bunch of criticism of the director Zack Snyder (300 and Watchmen) for doing a “kids” movie they claim he can’t so it’s going to be “a sure flop.”

All the downing of Legend of the Guardians doesn’t really mean shit though cause in the end, it’s going to be a few hours of some dope animated owls with some epic adventure storyline. I’ll be there and if I’m alone in the theatre, I’ll just stay and see it again…for FREE!

Check it out…