Movie Reviews: Rise of the Guardians
Feckless Jack Frost (voiced by Chris Pine) has a grand old time of it in instigating snowball fights with the kids and causing adults to slip on frosted sidewalks, but Jack is a troubled boy: no one can see him, and no one believes he truly exists. Is it because Jack, unbeknownst to himself, has yet to realise his destiny as one of the Guardians? The rise of the dream-poisoning bogeyman, aka Pitch (Jude Law), brings together Nicholas St North (Alec Baldwin), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) and the Sandman (silent throughout, sadly) as they make a final stand on behalf of the hopes and dreams of the world’s children, but they need Jack to find his true worth, and perhaps even learn to believe in himself. Adapted by David Lindsay-Abaire from William Joyce’s children’s book, and directed by Peter Ramsey, Rise of the Guardians is a hugely enjoyable animated movie that is aimed squarely at a young audience. But while the kids will thrill to the beautiful, pin-sharp animation, the expertly marshalled action sequences and a plot that unabashedly pitches good against evil, adults will find the quietly profound subplots about faith, hope and redemption equally entertaining, and perhaps even touching. Sit back, open your heart and enjoy.
Clint Eastwood made something of a fuss in announcing his retirement from acting with Gran Torino (2008), so must have been a very special script indeed to tempt him back in front of the cameras. Right? Erm, no. A widower and aging baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves, Gus (Eastwood) is losing his sight, and with it his will to live. Dispatched to scout a potential superstar batter in North Carolina, Gus is irritated to discover that his estranged daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams), has taken time out from her pressured career as a lawyer to act as his eyes. Can the pair reconcile? Will Mickey find romance with failed baseball pitcher-turned-scout Johnny (Justin Timberlake)? The great curveball the characters have trouble with, of course, is life itself, which insists on eluding their expectations.
