 |
Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess) leads the owl brigade to the rescue in “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.” |
“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” is one strange bird.
It’s an animated fantasy obviously intended for children, yet it depicts genocidal violence perpetrated by gladiator-like birds of prey locked in death matches high over fiery scenes of destruction representing hell on earth.
Director Zack Snyder doesn’t do his feature any favors, either. He nearly kills this magnificently animated movie by shooting it with bullet-time photography.
You remember bullet-time?
That showstopping device used in “The Matrix” where Carrie-Anne Moss leaps into the air, then freezes mid-kick while the camera swings around to her opposite side before she completes planting her boot into a guy’s face?
Bullet-time riddles “Legend of the Guardians” with owls flying past the camera lens, then freezing. In. Place.
Then zip!
They suddenly shoot out of the frame as if their booster rockets kicked in.
Snyder uses this cool device so often that it loses its cool. Then it just becomes distracting. And annoying.
It’s almost as if Snyder thinks kiddies can’t pay attention to the silver screen for very long, so he crams his movie full of slow-motion, speeded-up motion and bullet-time shots to arrest their attention.
That’s on top of the already arresting 3-D format that didn’t really need any help in holding viewers’ interest. (Read more…)