r/movies • u/Obversa • Apr 26 '23
Ten years after it nearly ruined the studio, "Rise of the Guardians" (2012) is still one of the best DreamWorks films Article
https://www.moviejawn.com/home/2022/12/13/ten-years-after-it-nearly-ruined-the-studio-rise-of-the-guardians-is-still-one-of-the-best-dreamworks-films1.5k
u/wanami Apr 26 '23 edited Apr 26 '23
The depiction of every character in this movie is just the best version of them to ever exist. Viking santa with tattoos, humming bird pixie tooth fairy, badass bunny, and overall Jack and his story. I didn't even know this movie did this badly for how good it is. Edit: russian santa, my bad
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u/ICumCoffee Apr 26 '23
I love the jack frost back-story, him and his sister playing on the frozen lake. I cried when i first watched it. Also when sandy reappeared in the final fight.
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u/Obversa Apr 26 '23 edited Apr 26 '23
Jack Frost's backstory got even crazier in William Joyce's Guardians of Childhood book series, which Rise of the Guardians (2012) was based off of. He is revealed to be the reincarnation of an ancient moon spirit and protector named Nightlight, one of the first Guardians.
Per the Wiki:
Before Nightlight sacrificed himself to save the Guardians and the children of Earth from Pitch, and reincarnated into Jack Frost, he was the most trusted and valiant companion of Mim, the Man in the Moon.
His actions have influenced and protected the Guardians in many ways. Nightlight's self sacrifice protected Mim from Pitch...[and] also inspired Mim to become the Guardian of the Children of Earth, and to call to his side a band of heroes to serve as the Guardians.
Nightlight also saved Katherine - a human girl who became Mother Goose, the Guardian of Storytelling - and protected her from Pitch's nightmares. Furthermore, Nightlight helped the Guardians figure out what Sandman's sand was capable of doing, and how to unlock its magic.
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u/palaiemon Apr 27 '23 edited Apr 27 '23
Nightlight also saved Katherine - a human girl who became Mother Goose, the Guardian of Storytelling - and protected her from Pitch's nightmares.
A while ago I learned that William Joyce's daughter Mary Katherine died at the age of 18, two years before the movie came out, and he created the Guardian character Katherine in honour of her. DreamWorks also dedicated the film to her (20th Century Fox's Epic, also based on a William Joyce novel, named its main character Mary Katherine as well). The fact that she's able to live on forever in her dad's stories as the Guardian of Storytelling is beautiful and incredibly devastating.
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u/Obversa Apr 27 '23
It reminds me a lot of J.M. Barrie writing Peter Pan for his deceased brother. The way that Jack Frost dies in Rise of the Guardians (2012) is also the same way that Barrie's older brother, David Barrie, also died - not from drowning, but a blow to the head. Both Jack Frost and David Barrie also died while playing on the ice with family.
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u/katelli Apr 26 '23
Oooh! I know what I'm reading after I get through my Bookworm mania. Thanks!
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u/Obversa Apr 26 '23
You're welcome! Guardians of Childhood is a prequel to Rise of the Guardians.
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u/ICumCoffee Apr 26 '23
Isn’t it also shown in the movie too? I remember that when he fell into the lake, his hair (was it eyes) turned white under the moonlight, and he gained powers. But yeah, they don’t explicitly states that he’s a reincarnation. I just assumed moon god gave him powers. Interesting read BTW, thanks.
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u/Obversa Apr 26 '23
It's more so that Nightlight, who was one of the first Guardians, was killed by Pitch Black, and then his soul reincarnated into the body of a human boy (Jack). When he died for a second time in the body of Jack, the Man in the Moon used his powers to make sure that Nightlight's soul was reborn as a new Guardian spirit (Jack Frost).
You're welcome!
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u/Ok-Conference5447 Apr 26 '23
Sandy reappearing gave me goose bumps.
Jack was powerful, but he was terrified of sand man and I loved him being scared of the soft sandy boy.
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u/Obversa Apr 26 '23
*Russian Santa. You may have gotten him mixed up with the Vikings from DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon.
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u/DrBomber95 Apr 26 '23
Rise of the Guardians was marketed HORRIBLY, which is probably why it didn't do well. All the ads showed little more than the same 3 gag jokes that were aimed at small children. I remember thinking the movie looked like it would be an awful kids' flick to cash in on the Christmas time adience. When a bunch of family that got together for the holidays went to see it I almost stayed at home. I'm glad I didn't, because I was pleasantly surprised with how good it actually ended up being, way different from what the terrible ads showed.
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u/CoachTTP Apr 26 '23
This is Sandy erasure and will not be tolerated! Him coming back and wrecking fools like Thor arriving in Wakanda is peak movie fun.
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u/dovahkiitten16 Apr 26 '23
I just watched Violent Night and I couldn’t help but feel like Santa was inspired by Guardian’s Santa.
Was a person in a past life, has tattoos, and I made the same mistake as you and thought both were Vikings.
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u/TranClan67 Apr 27 '23
I legit didn't know the movie bombed considering like more than half my facebook feed at the time was just people gushing about it. That and so much Jack Frost fanfiction that kept popping up
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u/GooseyGhost Apr 27 '23 edited Apr 27 '23
A-Fuckin'-men! I can't imagine them as anything else, they just feel so iconic, and I wish we could have an extended series based off the books - Pitch's story is actually really fucking tragic (like hero's downfall tragic) and waaaaay more dimensional than his movie version. Hell, the story of Kozmotis Pitchiner, High General and hero of the Golden Age, would make an excellent prequel movie on its own and if done faithfully, would have you bawling. Doubly so since the story is intertwined with the tragedy of House Lunanoff - the family of The Man in the Moon, Tsar Luna XII.
Also, Bunny isn't a rabbit, he's a species called a Pooka (really advanced rabbit-like beings) and the last of his kind. They were especially skilled with battle and were known to be creators of worlds. Pitch barely managed to wipe them all out in a battle because they were so advanced and skilled.
The world building in the books is fascinating, I highly recommend diving into them. The RotG movie barely scratched the surface.
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u/bob1689321 Apr 26 '23
I always get this confused with Legend of the Guardians.
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u/Obversa Apr 26 '23
Legend of the Guardians (2010) should've been named Guardians of Ga'Hoole, after the original book series it was based on.
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u/CompetitiveProject4 Apr 26 '23
I think I only remember that movie because 30 Rock had a joke where Matt Damon is a pilot that refuses to play any other in-flight movie
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u/Look_to_the_Stars Apr 26 '23
We say "half an hour" to control the herds of walking mozzarella sticks who think that three hundred dollars and a photo ID gives them the right to fly through the air like one of the guardian owls of legend! God, that's been our inflight movie for months.
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u/ShmebulocksMistress Apr 26 '23
You have to stay awake, Eglantine, or the Pure Ones will moon-blink us
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u/Poltras Apr 27 '23
It’s not that he refuses to play anything. It’s the airline that was picking the movie. He hated it.
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u/RuinLoes Apr 26 '23
Wait, its wasn't named Gaurdians of Ga'Hoole???
But i think that movie was kinda gonna bomb from the getgo. The books got pretty dark at times. If this was 1985 and it fell in Don Bluth's lap, maybe.
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u/Seihai-kun Apr 27 '23
I mean, from a kids movie in 2010, that movie is also pretty dark
the little brother got brainwashed to become soldier, so the older brother tried to find him, and decided to start a war and kill his other brother in a fight
Come to think of it... that movie is actually good, it's a shame tho it never got any sequel
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u/CeaRhan Apr 26 '23
Oh yeah the books were dark. Half the thoughts you read were people talking about bad experiences they had. I stopped reading after the 8th book but I was loving it for what it was.
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u/Noirradnod Apr 26 '23
My mind smushes the titles together as "Rise of the Guardians: Legends of Ga'Hoole"
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Apr 26 '23
I really liked both, but don't know why Legend of the Guardians has a special place in my heart. I love seeing badass owls.
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u/DefiantEmpoleon Apr 26 '23
This movie was great. It’s the Dreamworks equivalent of Treasure Planet in that it’s looked at as not having done well despite it being really good.
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u/Obversa Apr 26 '23
Plus The Road to El Dorado (2000), which was also another DreamWorks box office bomb.
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u/IceKareemy Apr 26 '23
So many of my childhood favorites were bombs which would explain why I would see them on TV for them to become my childhood favorites
-Judge Dredd -Iron Giant -Treasure Planet -Atlantis - Titan AE -El Dorado
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u/tljoshh Apr 26 '23
Titan AE. Talk about a banger of a soundtrack. The movie came out when I was young and absolutely helped form some of my musical tastes. I remember my brother getting the soundtrack on CD and we would listen to it in the car constantly.
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u/wbruce098 Apr 27 '23
Titan AE was one of the key movies that kept me interested in animation when I was a teen. It’s so damn good, and so is the soundtrack. There was some controversy way back when about the script being rewritten to be friendlier to younger American audiences, which may have reduced its impact ultimately. Something about how most mainstream Americans weren’t really ready for an animated show aimed at teens and young adults. But it’s still a lot of fun to watch.
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u/hobbykitjr Apr 27 '23
Just took my kids to see Iron Giant and a retro movie theater.
Brad Bird got his start on the simpsons, then made the incredibles...
inbetween was Iron Giant. Jennifer aniston and Vin Diesel. Brad's sister was murdered by her husband with a gun, and to cope he wrote a story about what if something designed to kill didn't want to.
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u/tljoshh Apr 26 '23
What an absolutely PHENOMENAL film. Cannot believe this was considered a box office bomb :(
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u/dbx999 Apr 26 '23
Every time Dreamworks released a feature animation, there has always been a popular backlash even before it hit the theaters due to “Pixar does it better” snobbery. dreamworks has an underrated lineup.
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u/Wraith_Tech177 Apr 28 '23
Wait, hold on, you’re telling me road to el dorado bombed? I no longer have faith in humanity.
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u/funky_monkery Apr 26 '23
Jude Law as Pitch Black (aka The Boogeyman) was the highlight of the movie in my opinion. Plus his design and animation was just chef kiss
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u/Obversa Apr 26 '23
Speaking of which, someone made a 3D model or render of Pitch Black on r/DreamWorks: https://www.reddit.com/r/DreamWorks/comments/10mbqwo/3d_modelrender_of_pitch_rise_of_the_guardians_all/
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u/DebSheep Apr 26 '23
His design is a bit lacking imo. He looks like a walking gradient
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u/Obversa Apr 26 '23
Pitch Black, originally Kozmotis Pitchiner, has a far better design in William Joyce's Guardians of Childhood book series, which Rise of the Guardians (2012) was based off of. He looks much more Dark Souls- and Black Knight-inspired in other book-based fanarts.
If I had to compare him to a Dark Souls character, it would be Artorias the Abysswalker.
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u/GetHighWatchMovies Apr 26 '23
I don't think I've heard of this, I thought it was the owl movie
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u/WarcraftFarscape Apr 26 '23
That would be legend of the guardians. This one is about Jack Frost
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u/Obversa Apr 26 '23
The owl movie was Legend of the Guardians (2010), which should've been named Guardians of Ga'Hoole, after the original book series it was based on.
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u/maynardftw Apr 26 '23
This is based on a book called Guardians of Childhood, which is also a better name than Rise of the Guardians
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u/Obversa Apr 26 '23
Eh, I actually prefer "Rise of the Guardians" to "Guardians of Childhood". (Though "Guardians of Earth" also does have a nice ring to it as well.)
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u/maynardftw Apr 26 '23
Rise of the Guardians just sounds so generic, it tells you basically nothing about the content of the movie, at least "Guardians of Childhood" sounds memorable and tells you something about the premise and its characters
Rise of the Guardians of the Revenge of the Legend of the Defenders of the Return of the Last Whatever
People can just stop naming their shit like that any day now
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u/UneducatedBiscuit Apr 26 '23
I remember my sibling wanting to watch this when it came out, and I was against it because I thought it was a sequel to the owl movie, and then when they told me it was about holiday mascots, I thought “oh, so it’s just generic names animated ripoff of Santa Claus 3.”
I was completely wrong, it’s a good movie, but the name and marketing did not make 12 year old me want to go see it.
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u/strawbribri Apr 26 '23
I really liked Rise of the Guardians. It’s a really fun movie
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u/RuinLoes Apr 26 '23
I think the look/feel kinda fell flat, so marketing didn't go over well. It kinda looks like a dreamworks knockoff.
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u/saintash Apr 27 '23
Also the timing of the movie being released was a little weird. It kind of feels like an Easter movie. Since the conflict was about saving Easter bunny to save the children.
But it came out during Christmas season.
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u/-PaperbackWriter- Apr 27 '23
Yeah my kids loved it when they were small, my daughter even named her Guinea pig Jack Frost
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u/toasterbath__ Apr 26 '23
one of my favourite childhood movies :) i have great memories of watching it in theatres
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u/Timbits06 Apr 26 '23
This movie deserved a sequel! I loved all of the character designs, the animation was stunning, and it was all around a fun film. I'm sure there are more mythological characters they could make stories about.
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Apr 27 '23
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u/Timbits06 Apr 27 '23
Been meaning to read the books for awhile. Did you enjoy the movie or books?
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u/AnEpicHibiscus Apr 26 '23
Huh I didn’t know this movie did poorly! I really liked it! Jack Frost > Elsa!
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u/NihilisticPollyanna Apr 26 '23
I loved this movie! I totally forgot about it, but now I gotta rewatch it asap.
Hugh Jackman as the badass bunny. 😆
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u/popsicle_of_meat Apr 26 '23
Hugh Jackman as the badass bunny.
I think part of the reason this works so well is he uses his native accent. So many movies with him he's using an American-ish accent, that his voice is more unrecognizable as the bunny and doesn't pull you out of the film as much.
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u/Dalenskid Apr 26 '23
My ex girlfriends dad was an animator on this and we got to go to a test screening and premiere event. I thought it was spectacular at the time. We had no idea over the coming weeks that as it made money, it was still losing money due to marketing and distribution costs (and some way more complicated “rob Peter to pay Paul” in house finance issues). It made for some wild dinner convos hearing what it was like from the inside. Sitting on a fairly successful project that was a somehow edging them toward losing their jobs. It was pretty fun having that kind of connect to Dreamworks at the time. I got free tickets for “How to Train Your Dragon: on Ice” and industry screenings of Turbo and The Croods. Plus an ungodly amount of Madagascar swag. I was team Dreamworks all the way!
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u/Kakashi168 Apr 26 '23
I love this movie, my favorite DreamWorks movie, not the best one, but def my favorite. 💚
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u/TheCosmicFailure Apr 26 '23
I watch it every December. I have it ranked 3rd at DreamWorks. Right after How To Train Your Dragon 2 and 3. It's a shame we won't get a sequel or at least a series.
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u/sharkiest Apr 26 '23
What kind of a monster doesn't rate HTTYD 1 as the best one
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u/TheCosmicFailure Apr 26 '23
It's still good. Just not the best, IMO. It has to do with the villains.
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u/Burningbeard696 Apr 26 '23
HtTYD2 is utterly phenomenal. It's still a crime that it didn't win the best animated movie Oscar.
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u/ExistentiallyBlue Apr 26 '23
Why do you watch it in December? It's an Easter movie haha
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u/ICumCoffee Apr 26 '23
It has santa in it, so Santa = Christmas
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u/Forsaken_Cost_1937 Apr 26 '23
It's a movie that can be watched in every season. It's also an Easter movie.
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u/MoltyPlatypus Apr 26 '23
The main plot is about jack frost, so its mostly about snow and cold. Winter
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u/Significant_Sign Apr 27 '23 edited Apr 28 '23
Isn't Jack Frost the main character? It may not be a Xmas movie, but I think Easter is even further afield.No, I'm wrong folks, don't listen to me.
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u/DamionMauville Apr 26 '23
I watched this movie randomly on a flight and was surprised at how good it was. Few people ever talk about it.
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u/OliOcelot Apr 26 '23
Literally one of my favorite movies of all time!! I’m so happy it’s still getting love these days!
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u/WG50 Apr 26 '23
I absolutely love this movie. I saw with my kids when they were around 8 and 10.
It's only my head cannon, but Pitch Black wasn't truly evil. All of the other guardians were special to children and interacted with children.
To me Pitch Black is a Guardian for adults, or you could think that he helps adults find their purpose and their core.
Jack Frost had powers, but no purpose. It was Pitch Black who helped him find out how strong he was and how tough he was in a fight. It was Pitch Black who helped one of the tooth fairies give him his memories and find his origin.
They say you should do something every day that scares the hell out of you, that you should follow your fear and it will help you grow. It wasn't until Jack Frost followed Pitch Black that he became a Guardian, and found his purpose.
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u/Obversa Apr 26 '23
In the Guardians of Childhood book series by William Joyce, which was the basis for Rise of the Guardians (2012), Pitch Black gets an extensive backstory. You're correct that he wasn't truly evil - instead, he suffered the same fate as Artorias the Abysswalker from the Dark Souls franchise, in that he was corrupted by the Abyss ("the Dark") after trying to fight it.
Kozmotis Pitchiner - later known as Pitch Black - was once a hero and knight in shining armor of the Golden Age of space exploration, long before recorded human history. He lived small moon in the constellation of Orion with his wife, Lady Pitchiner, and his daughter, Emily Jane.
He once fought against the forces of Darkness, proving to be a great general for the Lunarian race, which combated evil across many galaxies. However, after his wife was murdered by his enemies, Pitch slowly became consumed for his quest for revenge, and ended up being corrupted and possessed by the Abyss itself. Meanwhile, his daughter, Emily Jane, became the entity known as Mother Nature, who sought to reign in her father's darkness.
Pitch Black is the Abyss/Dark possessing what is left of Kozmotis Pitchiner's body and soul. He possesses many Fearling spirits, similarly to the demon Legion in the Holy Bible.
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u/Klin24 Apr 26 '23 edited Apr 26 '23
Rotten Tomatoes says it's middle of the pack...
/VroomVroom
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u/CanadianLemur Apr 26 '23
And I would agree. It's a fine movie, but it's definitely not better than Shrek or Kung Fu Panda
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u/rockingmonkey Apr 26 '23 edited Apr 26 '23
Road to El Dorado, the HTTYD trilogy, Megamind and PiB 2 are all also better movies
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u/Craavensworth Apr 26 '23
Movie articles 101.
“Take old movie that was given mediocre reception by both critics and audiences and proclaim it lost masterpiece”
Aaaaand GO!
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u/hungry4danish Apr 26 '23
Not me thinking this was the CGI owl movie. but that was Legend of the Guardians from 2010.
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u/SnatchingTrophies Apr 26 '23
All of the Tumblr twinks who spaffed over the white haired dude for the last decade will be so pleased.
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u/Sashaband Apr 26 '23
My son was born in 2011 so to say we have seen this movie a few times would be an understatement. Loved it.
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u/ayumanuran Apr 26 '23
I started sobbing when he saved his sister. I don't if it was my age(11-12), the voice acting , the animation or some real world connection (probably a mix of all).but that scene hit me hard.
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u/tyfromtheinternet Apr 26 '23
My kid loved this movie when it came out! He watched it a bunch and finally I sat through the whole thing. It is pretty great.
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u/jigsawjo Apr 26 '23
I feel this is a good place to share that sometimes "Now that's a bag of choppers" pops into my head for no reason.
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u/brandondash Apr 26 '23
I mean... like what you like I guess.
I just googled "list of dreamworks movies" and picked out 14 that were all better to me. :
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u/Significant_Scarring Apr 26 '23
I love this movie so much. I can’t recommend it enough. Everyone needs to watch it.
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u/daisies4me Apr 26 '23
We love this movie!! We even bought it in 3D a couple years back. We still watch it once a year.
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u/krazykatkaretaker Apr 26 '23
Finally someone else agrees with me that it is one of the best films!
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u/plutoforprez Apr 26 '23
Wait, what? I can’t believe this movie didn’t do well, it’s so unique and beautiful.
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u/harbourwall Apr 26 '23
I really liked this and the other one of his 'Epic' that Blue Sky made. But that didn't do very well either. Personally I felt they both had really flat titles that didn't represent how rich and engaging their worlds were. A bad title can really hurt a film.
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u/PhD_Egg Apr 27 '23
As a kid I saw this in theatres, but I remember finding it absolutely boring. I think the issue was it was aimed at children, but the themes really didn’t hit me, and I left feeling like the entire film was mundane.
It’s better as an adult, same with movies like treasure planet, but as a kid I hated this movie. Maybe that also led to its failure, wasn’t marketed at the right market
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u/im_absouletly_wrong Apr 26 '23
Never heard of it lmao
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u/Timbits06 Apr 26 '23
You should definitely give it a watch. It's basically a cult classic at this point. The movie only 'flopped' due to bad marketing from what I heard. It's basically the Holiday Avengers with lots of charm, stunning animation, and great character designs.
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u/balthisar Apr 26 '23
Don't know why the early downvotes; I've never heard of it either, and I thought I was on top of all of the Dreamworks films, because I rather enjoy them.
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u/Delicious-Tachyons Apr 26 '23
I was confused when Guardians of the Galaxy was slated to come out and thought it was this movie
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u/Damonatar Apr 26 '23
DreamWorks is my favorite animation studio, they should be the ones in charge of the Minecraft movie. They keep pumping out banger after banger
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u/Burgoonius Apr 26 '23
I never heard about this movie until my 4 year old wanted to watch it one day and holy smokes I was kinda blown away at how good it is
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u/albusdumblederp Apr 26 '23
Have a soft spot for this movie because it got SO SCREWED by that stupid owl movie existing around the same time. And its great - watch it with my wife around Christmas. (its about Jack FROST its a Christmas movie!)
But at the same time, we're really stretching the definition of "one of the best" if we're including Rise of the Guardians as one of the best for Dreamworks. The studio made the HTTYD trilogy, the Kung Fu Panda trilogy, Puss in Boots 2, some excellent Shrek movies, freaking Megamind....like there's a lot of absolutely all-time great animated movies that came out of Dreamworks.
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u/RedditorsAnus Apr 26 '23
My son absolutely LOVED this movie and it's "gangster Santa" lol
I've seen this movie more times than I can count.
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u/No_Introduction_8697 Apr 27 '23
I totally thought this was talking about Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.... but I was wrong.
Wtf is Rise of the Guardians?
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u/ForceDisturbed Apr 27 '23
This is a staple with my teens and I every Christmas and Easter. I fell in love with this movie and the characters ❤️
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u/twilightswimmer Apr 28 '23
It’s a fantastic film and the animation is sublime. My kids and I watch it all the time.
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u/lordkuruku Apr 26 '23
Glad people remember it. We all worked real hard on it.