Ga'Hoole Movie Rant and Prologue

Poster for the 2010 movie

Considering Kathryn Lasky’s Guardians of Ga’Hoole is a fantasy series about owls, and I am the Crazy Owl Lady, we all know this review has to happen. The problem is I don’t even know where to begin with it. There are fifteen books in this series, each of which I believe is vitally important to understanding the world of Ga’Hoole. I just don’t feel like I can only review a few of them or skim through all of them at once without giving them justice. There is also the movie version, which I really feel deserves my attention even though I don’t normally review movies.

If I was going to give each and every Ga’Hoole book (and the movie) the justice I believe it deserves, this would be one crazy long review and I’m just not going to subject you guys to all that text at once. (Seriously, it could probably be a book in and of itself.) So I’ve decided I’m going to divide this series up to three reviews: one for a sort of “prologue” and movie review, the other two for the books, cutting off after Book Six (The Burning) for the first part. This is because I think the first six have a certain dynamic to them before taking off in a different direction in Book Seven (The Hatchling). The atmosphere also gets considerably darker at that point. Granted, Ga’Hoole as a whole has a dark feel to it (and not just because the majority of it happens in the nighttime due to our wonderfully nocturnal characters), but after Book Six, it becomes a great deal more so. Yeah, and from the comments I read on IMDB, some people couldn’t even handle the movie—which now brings us to my movie tangent.

“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” was animated by Animal Logic, the same company that worked on “Happy Feet,” and directed by Zack Snyder, who’s more well-known for “300,” “Watchmen,” and “Dawn of the Dead.” Now, I haven’t seen any of those movies, but it definitely looks as though “Guardians” is quite different from them. Needless to say, the cute and fluffy raptors, even in their crazy, slow-motion battles, are nothing like the blood-splattered field of soldiers and some guy yelling, “This is SPARTA!” (I don’t think I need to explain why I haven’t seen that movie.)

I haven’t thoroughly looked into it for the sake of keeping my view of the movie mostly untarnished, but “Guardians" didn’t fare too well in the box office and, like most movies, has both good and bad reviews. However, I did take particular notice of a post in the IMDB forums about it, in which a mom complained about the complete lack of blood and gore in this movie, at the same time complaining that it was too dark and the parallelism of the evil Pure Ones to Nazism was not an appropriate theme for her children. (Really? Yes. Really. How I wish I was joking. We’ll get back to her in a few.)

Naturally, since this is a movie based off a book series, there are no doubt a ton of book fans screaming about how terrible it is because “they changed stuff.” Luckily for you, I won’t be joining these ranks. If there’s one thing I should really add to my list of pet peeves, it’s book fans—or should I say “purists”—who like to nitpick every little thing that gets lost in book-to-movie translation, thus automatically ruining any book-to-movie experience they will ever have, not to mention ruining it for the rest of us who want to enjoy the movies for what they are.

NO DUH they change things when making a movie out of a book! Do you have any idea how boring it would be if they left it exactly the same? Film is an entirely different medium of entertainment than written literature, so of course the stories will never translate perfectly. Also, if the original author worked on the writing team—which she did—I like to add an extra helping of “Shut the heck up!”

That being said, I like this movie. I happen to own this movie. I initially received two copies of it for Christmas 2010; that is how much I proclaim my like for this movie. Certainly, the story was rushed through, but that’s what happens when they try to cram three books into one movie. The storylines of Kludd, the Pure Ones, St. Aegolius Academy, and Ezylryb were altered, as well as the properties of the dangerous flecks, but for the sake of making this movie work, I really don’t think I can blame them.

“Guardians,” like in the books, focuses on the young barn owl Soren, who’s a bit of a dreamer, eating up his father’s stories of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole and Lyze of Kiel. He and his jealous older brother, Kludd, fall out of the hollow one night and are snatched up by the Pure Ones, who at this point already control St. Aegolius, according to the movie version’s lore. The Pure Ones, as you may have inferred by now, are barn owl (Tyto) supremacists bent on taking over the owl kingdoms. Kludd joins them but Soren escapes with his new friend, an elf owl named Gylfie. They later meet Digger, a boisterous burrowing owl, and Twilight, a tough great gray, who is way more awesome than the vampire novel of the same name. The four of them become “the Band” and determine to find the Ga’Hoole Tree and warn the Guardians of the menace that is the Pure Ones.

The animation was absolutely beautiful, even in 3D and I normally hate 3D. I also appreciated that the battle scenes didn’t show us any blood or gore—thank you, Zack Snyder, for whatever prompted you to refrain this time. Furthermore, as a book fan, I believe the movie for the most part stayed true to the characters and captured the basic essence of the story, which are really my only criteria for a good book-to-movie translation.

The only problem is, the essence of the book series is complex in and of itself. As much as I enjoy “Guardians,” it gives the story a mask of simplicity. Friends of mine who haven’t read the books claim the story is unoriginal, “like any other fantasy story but with owls.” I can see their point: there’s an evil brother, an evil organization that wants to take over the world, and a fantastical place that no one believes in except the child. (Narnia, anyone?) Then of course there’s the Dumbledore-crossed-with-Yoda mentor Soren finds in Ezylryb, the crazy old screech owl. Finally, the good guys really only win because of lucky guesses, not actual competence. So yes, the movie is basically your average fantasy story, only with brilliantly animated owls. It’s much, much simpler than its book counterparts, though to non-readers some details will be confusing because they felt like throwing them in without properly explaining them. It’s much lighter, too. All the same, I can’t help but love it.

Ga’Hoole really is, at least in my opinion, multifaceted. It’s adventurous. It’s cute. It’s funny. It’s also emotional, philosophical, and theological. Obviously, the Fascist themes show up as well. This is why I don’t blame the moviemakers for not capturing all the layers of Ga’Hoole. I don’t think it all could be captured on film. Other IMDB commenters have said that the books aren’t even kids’ books due to the deep and dark content they say is more appropriate for grown-ups and I suppose that’s—

Wait a minute! Just why is a book series not appropriate for kids just because it’s deep and dark? And yes, now back to the irate mother—you know, the one who said, “It’s not gory enough but it’s too dark for my kids.” Well, there’s no way for me to react to that without being offensive, so I’ll just say it. This woman is an idiot. Do I even have to explain why you can’t put those two complaints together? I don’t think so! I’m not going into the lack-of-gore complaint either because that one ties in better with my Hunger Games review, but I definitely have to argue about the themes being “too dark” for kids.

It seems any time a good writer wants to give our kids meaningful stories with actual intelligence and required thought, a great deal of people want to go on a rampage about how they’re too scary and depressing for children. Some might say they’re taking their children too seriously, but I’m actually saying they’re not taking their children seriously at all.

They don’t think kids have the emotional or intellectual capacity to process these stories and themes, and quite frankly, I find that insulting. If I was still an elementary-aged child, I’d be doubly insulted.

Do you want to know some of the books I read as a kid? The Chronicles of Narnia (SPOILER: Everyone dies in The Last Battle), King of the Wind, Little Women, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Where the Red Fern Grows—none of those are happy little tales of wonderfulness (at least not through the whole thing) and my childhood hasn’t been scarred as a result. Granted, I also read garbage like The Babysitters’ Club, but honestly, the difficult books like those mentioned above positively contributed to my intelligence and my whole person while the simple stories about junior high drama...just didn't.

Goodness, people, give kids a chance! Take them a little more seriously. You’ll be surprised what all they can handle. For screeching out loud, quit listening to pop culture. According to that, kids need mindless tripe like Sponge Bob and Hannah Montana. Also, vampires make great lovers.

My rant is over and it’s time to come to a close. We’ll see how well my series split-up works or if I’ll have to alter it. And remember: if you think the fantasy genre is supposed to be pure escapism or a story about owls is going to be light and fluffy, then Ga’Hoole will rock your world.

Guardians of Ga'Hoole, "Legend of the Guardians" and all related characters belong to their rightful owners...not me. Copernicus and Wesley are mine, though.

And yes- if you want to know what kind of owl Wesley is, then you are an owl Nazi and should be ashamed of yourself. ;) Haha

Violence in the Media: Revisited (The Hunger Games)

Most of you agree with me when I say violence is unacceptable. We hate hearing about it on the news, especially when it involves children. A lot of us avoid watching the news because of all the violence and negativity attached. It’s just another reminder that the world is a sick and twisted place.

In our entertainment, however, we love it and we can’t get enough of it. It’s hard to find a movie below a PG rating nowadays, even below PG-13, and most of these movies earn these ratings through language, sexual content, and violence.

Ironically enough, I had to write an essay on this topic in high school and now The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (NOT to be confused with Stephenie Meyer) is forcing me to revisit it and possibly even argue with my fifteen-year-old self.

This novel is set in a futuristic world where North America fell apart and a new country, known as Panem, replaced it with the oppressive Capitol as its…well…capital. The thirteen districts at one point rebelled against the Capitol and failed. As a result, the Capitol destroyed District 13 and punishes the remaining twelve with the Hunger Games, an annual event in which a boy and a girl (ages twelve to eighteen) from each district are forced to fight to the death and everyone is required to watch. It is noted that the Games are highly entertaining for the residents of the Capitol, but, as is understandable, much more traumatizing to the districts whose children are in the arena.

The story revolves around Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to replace her twelve-year-old sister as District 12’s “tribute.” She certainly thinks the Capitol’s ways are sick and wrong, but once she begins preparation for the Games, she mostly seems to focus on her own survival. To increase her chances, Katniss must win the audience’s favor by playing the love interest of her fellow tribute, Peeta. Because if there’s one thing the audience eats up as much as a good bloodbath, it’s a good love story.

The Hunger Games is a beautifully written story with the exception of several run-on sentences that caused me unnecessary confusion. It sucks you in and then it disturbs you out of your mind—well, almost. Towards the end, it left me demanding the overthrow of this evil, evil Capitol. Only there is no Capitol—or is there?

This disturbing form of government doesn’t exist, at least not yet, and God forbid we ever allow it to. But how much would it take to get there? The problems Collins has presented are nothing new, nor are they all that different from anything in human history. Collins probably just took the twisted, violent human nature to the next level.

Anyone who knows anything about world history knows about public executions and especially the Roman Coliseum, where people watched people die for entertainment. Maybe you’re familiar with the phrase “bread and circuses” in reference to Rome and their “games.” (“Panem” is actually Latin for “bread.”) The phrase refers to the citizens trading their freedom and values for food and entertainment. Popcorn and theaters, anyone?

We watch fake violence. Instead of watching people die, we’re watching people pretend to die. Because visual effects keep getting better and better, there really isn’t a difference anymore, except that our beloved performers are still available to appear at red carpet events after the fact. It’s what sells, so it’s what the movie makers keep giving us. (Along with sappy love stories!)

Alright, the fake violence we watch is morally acceptable compared to the alternative. In fact, I’m glad that if we must see blood, we’ve got a far better option nowadays than literally spilling the blood. Also, as a writer, I understand completely that any good story needs some good conflict, and that usually involves violence. A story just isn’t interesting to read or watch without some amount of it. Violence especially should be written about if you’re Suzanne Collins and you want us to think about the point you’re trying to make.

Unfortunately, the more violence we watch, the more desensitized we become to it. How long will it be before it’s real and we don’t care? Then again, this may already be happening. Only a few years ago, Saddam Hussein’s public execution was broadcasted on the news—and who can forget the death of the child who replicated what he saw? Some might jokingly remark that some dumb genes were removed from the pool, but that doesn't make the situation any less horrific. It doesn’t change the fact that a child died from an idea he got from the television.

Within the last two years, I've watched the news discuss several instances in which kids beat each other up and posted it on the Internet. Disciplinary action was taken each time, but for whatever reason, some other kids thought it was cool and decided to copy the violence or take it to the next level.

Have we already stopped caring?

It seems as though we’re becoming more and more desensitized to violence, especially the younger generations. I’ll admit it’s even happening to me, and I don’t like it. I get very squeamish when it comes to blood, but I’m covering my eyes a little less lately.

Reading The Hunger Games reminded me of when I was forced to watch Gladiator in my high school sophomore history class. I was probably at my most squeamish back then and looked away through most of it, focusing on the emotion behind it more than anything. I took in the pain of these slaves who were forced to fight to the death for everyone else’s entertainment.

This was around the same time I had to write the essay on violence in the media. I concluded that violence could be alright depending on how it is portrayed, remembering my emotional reaction to Gladiator and feeling the movie condemned the violence as entertainment. The writer in me still agrees to an extent. Presentation is key when it comes to morally questionable subjects. How the writer presents such things indicates whether she endorses or condemns them.

However, now I recall most other people in my class relishing every last bit of gore in that movie. Now I wonder—does it really matter how it’s portrayed? Will human bloodlust overlook the true message behind the presentation and cheer for more brutality instead? Does it matter whether Collins wrote her novel to provoke our thoughts about the human condition or just to sell us something? I may never have a good answer to these questions.

Ironically enough, there is a film version of The Hunger Games on its way. Soon, just like the citizens of Panem, we will watch twenty-four teenagers hunt each other to death.

The book itself receives a B from me (the grammatical issues were, sadly, distracting enough to cost it the A). As for our society, I’m still in the middle of grading.

Now it is your turn to ask these questions. It is your turn to decide: Is this acceptable?

The Hunger Games belongs to Suzanne Collins.
And yes, Thena's eye shadow is somewhat of a "tribute" to the Capitol's ridiculous use of makeup + Katniss' fire. :)

Mr. Toad Syndrome (Wind in the Willows)

This review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

A few months ago I discovered The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame in my bookshelf. Realizing I never actually read this children’s classic in all the years I apparently owned it, I decided to finally do so in my spare time. Now, I normally review more contemporary books, and The Wind in the Willows was actually published in 1908. I was also planning to review The Hunger Games next, but upon completing this book, I feel that it deserves a review from me so my tackle of that other happy tale of wonderfulness will just have to wait.

Disney fanatics might be more familiar with the 1949 cartoon The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad or even the Disneyland ride based on that. Yes, the Mr. Toad-centered portion of the show is based—however loosely that may be—on The Wind in the Willows. (Now isn’t that interesting, a ride based on a cartoon based on a book?) There are also several film adaptations and even a play based on this story.

The novel itself has been quite successful, even when first published, surprising me because most classic authors I’ve researched ended up broke and never became famous until after they were dead. (Hemingway actually killed himself in Idaho, but this review is about Grahame’s work, not Hemingway’s. I apologize for my rabbit trail.)

In my opinion, this book was okay. It’s not bad by any means, definitely not on the level of terribleness that is Twilight and Hemingway’s works—it’s just okay. As a classic, I think it’s highly overrated. Why would I say such a thing, you ask? Well, for starters, this is the first book I've had to look up in Wikipedia to find out what it was about AFTER I read the darn thing. Again, it’s not nearly as terrible as Hemingway; at least it has a plot, but it was a bit confusing.

The summary on the back of my book was misleading to say the least. According to it, the main character is Mole, who makes new friends in Ratty, Badger, and Toad. Then the evil weasels take Toad’s home and the four friends have to fight them to get it back. This gave me the impression of a battle between good and evil, adventure, and the loyalty between friends. Unfortunately, this so-called plot doesn't really happen until the last two chapters, thus smashing my dreams of the good and evil fight, minimizing adventure, and focusing mainly on friendship. Basically, there was a whole lot of playing around and building up to the conflict, but very little conflict.

The story begins one spring as Mole, a shy homebody, ventures out from his underground home and meets the Water Rat, more fondly known as Ratty, by the river. The two become instant friends and spend a great deal of time in Ratty’s boat and eating together. Soon after this meeting, Ratty introduces Mole to the rich and conceited—though quite friendly—Toad. Not too long ago, Toad was just as obsessed with boating as Ratty, if not more so, but now he’s moved on to a new fad: horse-drawn carts. The three of them go on a road trip together, only to nearly get hit by a motor car. Sure enough, as soon as Toad sees the car, he loses all excitement for his cart and wants one of those “machines” instead. I suppose if you’re as rich as Toad, you can afford to jump from expensive fad to expensive fad, but all the same, he is quite the ridiculous and shallow character.

A great deal of time goes by. It is now winter, and Mole is curious about Ratty’s other best friend, Badger. They venture into the Wild Wood, and a few clumsy pages later, they find his home. Shivering, tired, and hungry, they take up shelter with him for the night. As for Badger, he is older than the other characters, having been friends with Toad’s father first, and logically possesses the voice of reason in this group. He has a cynicism toward society, though he is kind and enjoys the occasional company; he just seems to thrive when he has his alone time. (He’s the poster boy for introverts!)

For about a page and a half of this visit, the three discuss the level of ridiculousness Toad has reached with his cars. Apparently he is a horrific driver, crashing every one he owns, earning himself the new record in fines and three trips to the hospital. They decide that a drastic intervention is in order but not until next spring, because during the winter most animals are just too tired (or lazy) to perform such strenuous activities as dealing with stupid friends. (Alright, guys, let’s just hope he hasn’t died or gone to jail before then...)

A whole lot of wandering around and one homesick Mole later, spring comes along and the three head over to Toad Hall to very forcefully implement their intervention strategy on a hysterical Toad, who thankfully hasn’t died or gone to jail while his friends were eating and sleeping. This, of course, changes rapidly when Toad escapes his friends and steals a car—yes, he STEALS a car. Then the inevitable occurs and he’s arrested and put in jail.

What’s interesting about this novel is that not only are we in a world where humans don’t think twice about talking, clothes-wearing animals, they hold the animals to social responsibilities as well. Therefore, for stealing a car and evading the police, Toad is sentenced to twenty years in a human prison.

Of course, Toad escapes, and ends up committing a great deal of tom foolery, including dressing as a washerwoman, stealing a woman’s horse, selling it, and then stealing the exact same car again. He finally runs into Ratty and boasts of these actions, only to have Ratty break the bad news to him: the evil Weasels have overrun Toad Hall.

Interrupting Toad’s adventures, Mole and Ratty take part in what the Nostalgia Chick from ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com might refer to as "Big-Lipped Alligator Moments." Both of these moments involve the two doing what they do best—hanging out and wandering around. The entire time, they seem to have forgotten about how Toad gave them the slip, committed crimes, and ended up in prison. In fact, it’s almost as though they forgot he existed. Both events were never mentioned again, and both left me asking the simple question, “Why?”

Once Toad is reunited with Ratty, we learn that his friends really didn’t forget about him, for Badger and Mole have been beaten rather brutally by the Weasels in trying to defend Toad Hall, and the friends now plan to help Toad get his home back.

Basically, Toad finally realizes what great friends he has and what a jerk he’s been, so he tones down the ego…at least for the time being. I’m all for character development and believe that people change, but with Toad there are a couple of constants: He’s conceited and he’s wishy-washy, saying and doing whatever he thinks is most convenient for him at the time. I predict that after a while, once he’s gotten nice and comfortable in his home again, he will return to his old ways and cause stress to his friends once more. (When they’re not getting distracted by their Big-Lipped Alligator Moments, that is!)

The main theme, as I mentioned before, is friendship. There are some good friends in this story—well, at least okay friends. They certainly got easily distracted from their goal of helping Toad, and their idea of helping him involved trying to talk some sense into him, and when that didn’t work they shut him up in his room and wouldn’t let him out until he “admitted his folly.” That, children, is called holding someone against their will, and it isn’t legal, but it was “for his own good” so I guess it was okay. When he breaks out of jail and meets up with them again, the issue isn’t so much that he broke out of jail but that he’s so boastful and ridiculous about it and now it’s time to get his house back. (Um…what about the fact that he’s supposed to be in prison, guys? Hello? Escaped convict?) Well, easily distracted aside, the friends come through at the end, zealously defending his reputation and property. Perhaps not very good law-abiding citizens, but they’re pretty decent friends.

There are the good friends and then there’s a very obvious bad friend. Toad’s the character that gets the most attention from the audience, whether in this book or in films. You’ll notice the Disney version specifically has his name in the title, not any of the other characters’. This is because, no matter what era you live in, bad friends always receive far more attention than they deserve. Toad simply demands this attention because his antics involve so much hilarity. They’re terrible. They’re annoying. But they caused many laugh-out-loud moments on my part.

Toad is the most recognizable character because we all know him in real life. Everybody either has or observes a bad friend. Everybody knows such a person, whether we easily identify them as a “bad friend” or not. This kind of person is usually on top of the latest fads and holds an exceptional social presence, loving to plan events and invite people to them. Whether we realize it or not, they enjoy blowing their own horn and showing off their stuff at these events. (The obviousness of such a trait tends to vary depending on the bad friend.) This kind of person may also be the type that lives entirely in the moment and only thinks of himself or herself rather than the consequences, and if it comes down to it, they will leave you in the dust, feeling like a fool, in favor of their own advantage. If you combine all of these traits and exaggerate them a little, you have Toad. Don’t lie to yourself; you know you have a victim of Mr. Toad syndrome pictured in your head and maybe you’re even laughing a little on the inside. It’s sad, but in our world full of flawed humans, it’s just the way it is.

Whether the bad friend is actually our friend, we simply go to their events for our amusement, or we look on from our corner of outcasts, we know who they are, and that makes Toad a great satire. All the more entertaining is watching his good friends try to get his stupid little head to see reason—when we’re not yawning over their wanderings and Mole’s somewhat lovable naivety, anyway.

And now we come to it. The one aspect I would rather avoid, but it’s such an elephant in the room that I can’t—Grahame actually based Toad’s character on his young son. This was very loosely, Toad’s stubbornness really being the only thing based on the child, but still. Basing such a character on your child, even that loosely, is pretty, well, mean of you, Grahame! Especially considering the nature of the boy’s demise years later, it’s not very funny at all. I’m not going to tell you. You’ll just have to research that one yourself.

This book has a great theme about loyalty and an amusing enough satire about trying to help a bad friend, but when it comes to the story, I’m afraid there was far too much “story fat” and not enough story. I recommend it because it’s a classic (shame on me for not reading it sooner) but as far as classics go, it’s only okay. Again, it’s highly overrated.

Note: Extra research courtesy of Wikipedia.org. This is a great site to go to if you want basic information out of curiosity, but don’t try to use it in an uber-important research paper or dissertation or anything like that. Your grade will suffer for it.

Also, “Big-Lipped Alligator Moment” may or may not belong to Lindsay Ellis or someone else from thatguywiththeglasses.com. If it does, please don’t sue me! This phrase is genius and I’m giving you guys credit for it!