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| Poster for the 2010 movie |
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
