Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole follows a young owl named Soren, who lives with his older brother Kludd and baby sister Eglantine. Although they are close in age, Soren and Kludd are complete opposites. Soren is an adventurous optimist, who loves to hear tales of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a group of warrior owls who are sworn to protect all owls. Kludd is more of a bitter realist, who doesn’t believe the stories. One night, when Soren and Kludd are practicing flying, they are kidnapped by an evil owl named Metal Beak and taken to place called St. Aggies, where owlets are being brainwashed and forced to become soldiers in Metal Beak’s evil army. Kludd is singled out as a soldier by Metal Beak’s queen, abandoning Soren to be a slave. However, Soren does not simply admit defeat. With the help of his brave young friends, he sets out to escape St. Aggie’s and find the Guardians of Ga’Hoole.
I went to see this movie for two reasons: the super cute baby owls and the 3D flying scenes. I was not disappointed. The owls were so adorable that afterwards I spent hours looking into buying an owl as a pet and flying scenes were so amazing that I felt like I was riding on the backs of the owls. However, I was disappointed in the plot and poor character development. Based on three books, the movie is merely one and half hours long, making the storyline rushed. The basic plot is easy to understand, but there were so many other details that would make the story better. For instance, why did Metal Beak want to have an army? What made him turn evil? What was his relationship with the queen owl? I would have also liked to get to know the other characters more. Digger and Twilight are introduced, and all of a sudden they are best friends with Soren, but the friendship is never really developed. Soren hardly reacts at all to his brother becoming evil. He yells “no!” but other than that, there is nothing. It would have been great to actually see the characters grow.
Despite it’s flaws, The Legend of the Guardians was fun to watch. Kids will definitely enjoy the cute owls and special effects, and they will easily overlook the vague storyline.