Film Review - Rise of the Guardians (2012)

Rise of the Guardians is a Dreamworks animation production and stars the voice of Chris Pine as Jack Frost, a young boy gifted with great ice powers but is not believed in by children, then one day he's summoned to the North Pole where Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) and the Sandman must band together to fight the Boogeyman (Jude Law) and they'll need Jack's help to stop him.

I really enjoyed Rise of the Guardians, I thought that it handled the characters very well, the mythology around them I thought was well done and it had me interested and I also felt that it actually did feel like it was about children in a way that many animated features aren't and that it handled them in a way that wasn't stereotypical or gimmicky or done for cutesiness which is so often the case when it comes to the use of children in animated films.

I also liked the voice actors for the most part, Jackman and Fisher delivered in their roles and part of me had a bit of a film geek out when Baldwin and Pine were sharing a scene together given that Baldwin did Jack Ryan in "The Hunt for Red October" and Pine is to take over the role in Ken Branagh's reboot at the end of the year.

But sadly however there was one weak link and it was big enough to almost do away with all the good work the film has going for it and that was Law, frankly he is completely miscast in the role and every time he was on screen I kept wishing it was Tom Hiddelston in that role as he would have brought some menace and charm to the part that was lacking, it also would've made that character much more interesting to watch whereas with Law it felt like one celebrity voice too many and it almost killed the film for me.

But hey, the Guardians does deliver the goods and it will be a good watch for families, 3 and a half out of 5.