Nov. 28, 2012 - Issue #893-Krampus Christmas
Rise of the Guardians
Whipping and whizzing along, the animation's usually a visual delight, with elements of wood-carvings and picture-books in many scenes. Etched out on the screen are the glittering grain of Sandman's dreams, Pitch Black's flying ash of nightmares, and Jack Frost's winter calligraphy on windowpanes.
There's a rather predictable, trite moral—children are the guardians of holiday spirit—and it's an all-too-male tale (the sole important female, the Tooth Fairy, is a decorous hummingbird-creature who flits about iridescently and even coos over handsome Jack). Frost himself is a kind of moping American outcast-kid, feeling unappreciated. But there's enough visual spark and inventiveness in the rest of the supporting cast—the Cossack-clothed St Nick ("Shostakovich!" he swears), the image-popping Sandman and Bunny boy (a hopped-up hare from Down Under, complete with boomerangs)—to make this animated adventure rise above the Christmas crowd of flicks headed our way. vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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