There’s a New Team Hitting the Big Screens
Dreamworks is bringing a new kind of superhero to town. Say hello to Jack Frost, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman — the real heroes of the world. They’ve been around for centuries, bringing gifts and good dreams to children everywhere. However, a conflict arises – while they’re doing good for the children, an evil force is negating their efforts. Jack Frost & Co. join forces to fight against this fear-spreading demon.
This trailer focuses on protagonist Jack (voiced by Chris Pine). He’s been separated from the “Big Four” (Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Sandman) and they’re asking for his help to defeat the bad guy. So as well as the good vs. evil fight, it looks like director Peter Ramsey will give us Jack’s own conflict of reuniting with the gang and overcoming whatever rift they had in the past.
‘Rise of the Guardians’ Trek the Middle Road
The film has potential, but there are a couple of things that might keep Rise of the Guardians from becoming a hit. First, although the plot seems unique, both superheroes and fairytale remakes are big right now. We have The Avengers, and The Amazing Spider Man, and Superman: Man of Steel hitting theaters as well as the misfit duo in Kick-Ass and (coming soon) Kick-Ass 2. Then we have Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror Mirror. The Guardians will really have to deliver to match up to all the competition.
The characters themselves seem a touch cliche and I’m hoping that there’ll be a lot more character development in the movie. We have the gruff frenemy Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the jolly and slightly clueless Santa (Alec Baldwin), tough-but-feminine Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), constantly-distracted Sandman (Tom Kenny), the charismatic leader (Pine), and the mysterious villain (Jude Law). They’re very similar to the Madagascar cast. Sometimes the reason things become cliche is because they do work well, but it’s easy to fall on these old stand-bys instead of developing unique individuals.
But even if they don’t particularly act like something new, kudos to the animators because they certainly look different than anything else out there. Santa has motorcycle-gang “Naughty” and “Nice” tattoos on his forearms and instead of the typical Tinker Bell-esque fairy, Tooth is a green birdlike creature covered in what looks like a combination of feathers and scales and the Sandman (who’s adorable, by the way) glitters. Of course, there is the possibility that a young’un might see this and be a bit put-off by this new depiction of Santa & friends. Parents, you might want to take that into consideration.
Another thing I’m excited about is how perfectly-matched the voice actors are to their characters. There’s a variety of different accents, both recognizable (for once Hugh Jackman gets to use his native Australian!) and indiscriminate, which give it an otherworldly feel. Even if I’m correct in my prediction that the characters’ personalities might be recycled, they look and sound awesome enough to make me want more.
If you’d like to see more Rise of the Guardians images, you can check out some pictures and the first preview by going here.
Rise of the Guardians, which is based on William Joyce’s book series The Guardians of Childhood, is directed by Peter Ramsey and co-directed by William Joyce. It will hit theaters November 21.
‘Rise of the Guardians’ Movie Trailer #2
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