Owls, y’all. After making Watchmen Zack Snyder apparently felt it would be nice to tackle some material that was a little less, shall we say, heavy. And so he directed an animated feature based on the Guardians of Ga’Hoole book series, fifteen books chronicling the wild adventures of a group of barn owls and other animals. Sounds like source material that is just ripe for cinematic expression, don’t you think?
Indeed, the resulting movie is a strange piece of work, with challenges including the task of being able to tell one owl from the next, a world where we’re supposed to engage in the story of these talking owls. One could call this ambitious, or perhaps a fool’s errand, but the degree of difficulty aside, the movie itself is fairly amusing and entertaining. It’s unlikely someone like me is its target audience, but by the conclusion I was mildly swept up in the battle between the good owls and the bad owls and the relationship between brother owls and the snake that’s there for some reason. It was enjoyable. The visuals in this film are absolutely and indisputably gorgeous, with the land and skyscapes featuring some of the most delicious color you’re likely to see in any other movie from 2010. I can honestly say it is the best movie about owls politics I will probably ever see.
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