230, Rise of the Guardians

Firstly - make no mistake, this is in no way related to the Legend of the Guardians (2010) where a band of warrior Owls battle against dark forces - this kids movie see's Santa (known in this as North), The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy & Sandman face off against arch enemy - the Boogey Man (Pitch Black). 

Our intrepid four heroes lead the way in keeping the kids of the world safe through retaining belief in their existence - North and Bunny with their annual visits and more regular interactions with the Sandman who stops the little kiddiewinks getting nightmares and the Tooth Fairy who, along with her baby fairy's, collect the teeth of the kids which house their very own childhood memoreis - all very cute!  All of this is overseen by The Man in the Moon who's job it is to not only select Guardians - but also help them to find their own inner core's - their reason for being.

So, with the imminetent return of Pitch Black set to destory the kids of the worlds hopes and beliefs, resulting in the dissapearance of our aforementioned heroes its time to enlinst the help of a new Guardian - Jack Frost.  The jovial jester who's role in life is to cause mischief and mayhem when all he secretely wants is to be believed in. 

What a plot!  Definately a Christmas masterpiece in the making, only the problem is - its set at Easter? Which is a bit weird but nethertheless - its got Santa and Snow so its got my vote!

There are loads of quirky little moments in this to keep an eye out for - mainly the Elf's from North's workshop - normally perceived as the brains behind the whole operation of Christmas, in this they are depicted as basically - daft little jokers, no more help than the minions from Despicable Me and just as funny.  So, with that in mind - who is enlisted to help North with his annual miracle?  Well, its the Yeti's.  Big, cumbersome creatures whos 'walrus' style moustaches enlist more emotion and feeling than an entire Chipmunks movie and tell as much about their personality as Gromits eyebrows!  Tie all of that in that in with some slightly 'older' aimed jokes from Hugh Jackman as the Australian Easter Bunny and once more, there shold be something for almost everyone.

Then there is the cast itself - you'd easily be forgiven for not instantly recognising Alec Baldwin as the Russian Santa (its a brilliant accent) although in contrast Hugh Jackman (Bunny), Chris Pine (Frost), Isla fisher (Tooth) and Jude Law (Pitch) are all instantly recognisable.

Being a Christmas kids film its not going to take a rocket scientist to work out who's going to come out on top but whats nice about this is that it ticks off each of our childhood memories and dreams which is something not really covered on-mass before.  Yes, we've had Santa movies thrown at us since cinema began and recent incarnations of The Tooth Fairy & Hop have seen Easter also boxed away so having the Sandman and Jack Frost thrown in for good measure just ads even more depth to what is actually - a great kids movie.

I only saw this in 2D and I think its fair to say, the animation is mind-blowing but I've said this time and time again, with the technology out there - it needs to be!  However there are times when you just know the 3D element would have leapt out at you so if you've still not seen this yet - I would recommend the full blown version if you can.  Hopefully thats it now for me and Christmas movies - I dont think two is that bad? and with The Hobbit & Jack Reacher just around the corner its time to get back to some good old fashioned Blockbuster action - as quickly as possible.