Legend of the Guardians - Nostalgia Critic

[@ChannelAwesome]

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[@spencercarroll6363]

Happy Father's Day, Channel Awesome!!!!

[@davidarmstrong894]

Well done folks 👏 👍

[@MySqueezingArm]

Viva La Fair Use!

[@silverscreenslasher1490]

Congrats on beating that STUPID copyright strike!! Been waiting patiently for this one.

[@deshawnedwards6412]

Review DreamWorks Monsters vs Aliens.

[@ComicalRealm]

Fun fact: For this movie, the animators went to an owl sanctuary to learn how to properly depict owls in flight and the ruffling of their feathers, as well as owl behavior and their dietary needs.

[@ralphintheshadowrealm7002]

Not meaning to be a dick but that just sounds like basic research

[@simple-commentator-not-rea7345]

And somehow they still got it wrong by giving them eyeballs. You ever wondered why Owls cosplay as The Excorsist? It's a result of their evolution, because technically they can't look around themselves. They have tubes and cylinders, not eyeballs. EDIT: Okay, okay, that's a lot of replies. I was just joking, and also partially wanted to share a fun trivial fact about owls in general. I get it now, and you're right, it IS better the way they did it. Expression over realism is in this case a good idea. I apologize. Now, how many agree that Doug should talk about 300?

[@millennialmatt7]

Yeah it's called being dedicated to your craft.

[@SuperSylar]

@@simple-commentator-not-rea7345 Of all the things, I think is fair this one wasn't done perfectly cuz it could look weird if, like, they needed to "roll their eyes" and instead they made an arc with their heads.

[@Gretchluver1]

Screech Owl Sanctuary in Cornwall. Wonderful place.

[@xxTC-96xx]

man the CGI still really holds up for this movie

[@dannygreen5477]

Yea..And it's soOooO kEwL for that..

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

I mean i would hope so the film is from 2010

[@expendableindigo9639]

Roger Deakins as cinematographer does that.

[@shawnwarrynn8609]

Well it is one of the better animated films from the era. If you want something really off, question why Critic/Doug didn't mentioned how, Pure Ones and their ideologies were a representation or allagory for real world Nazis and Nazism as well as having ties to Death Eaters and Wizard Supremacy as that to has ties to real world Nazism. Cause serious this seems like something he would have enjoyed critiquing, especially on how very convincing and mature the depiction of the Nazism allegory is here and how they indoctrinate individuals and get them to fight for their sinister cause.

[@expendableindigo9639]

@@koneheadcokehead4981 have you seen video games from 2010?

[@ImAFatNerd90]

Zach Snyder: "We need this movie to be completely focused on owls and we need a band for the soundtrack." Production Assistant: "We could get Owl City." Zach Snyder: "Perfect!"

[@TheSchaef47]

I also did a double take when i heard that clip. Talk about on the nose.

[@DeaconTaylor]

oh god. i forgot that was the name of the band. that makes it even worse.

[@MicaAnneArts]

For real though, this was one of my favorite songs for a while. I used to be the biggest Owl City fan.

[@ImAFatNerd90]

@@MicaAnneArts I loved them too.

[@AngieCarr]

It’s crazy that they chose “OwlCity” outside of the obvious name connection. The trailer I remember seeing in the theaters had Kings and Queens from 30 Seconds From Mars and it was pretty badass if you ask me.

[@waterdragondelta]

Fun fact: Kludd was evil incarnate in the books compared to the movie. He didn't fall out of the nest with Soren, he kicked him out of the nest while he was asleep.

[@johannesseyfried7933]

And did it all because he found Nyra so pretty. It's honestly kinda f*cked up, if you think about it: This....Child tries to *murder* his own Brother because he fell in love with an adult Woman who is the Lover of a Warlord- who Kludd then later kills. The Guardian Books were weird. And sometimes almost a little uncomfortable.

[@minisarge2619]

@@johannesseyfried7933 weirdly enough that was the detail they carried over. Also yeah the books were messed up the Pure Ones were a literal Yatzee allegory, with the subgroups and all

[@hayleybartek8643]

I had no idea there were books. This seemed like a movie that would be based off of books but I never did a lick of research. Damn. Now I might.

[@angelsdevil4100]

Not to mention Kludd became Metal Beak, instead of being two different characters. Nyra was the main leader of the pure ones. Kludd rose up in the ranks so fast that he became leader along with Nyra. They also had a kid later on, Nyroc/Coryn

[@boboboy8189]

@@angelsdevil4100 actually at the end of movie, kludd became metal beak.

[@NarutoLover6219]

So this film is actually what made me decide to become an animator, I sat in the theatre, in my last years of high school and said to myself “I wanna make stuff like this”. And here I am, in 2022 working at the very company that made this film 😄

[@scaryari1403]

Wow, that's really beautiful! Good for you for achieving your dreams! 😄👏

[@ahreneverist143]

That’s dope!

[@Charely1925]

Dude! That is so amazing! Are you a mid animator?

[@NarutoLover6219]

@@Charely1925 yep a mid level animator

[@Charely1925]

@@NarutoLover6219 Dude that's amazing! Do you have a linkedin? Do you mind if we connect? I'm an animator too.

[@tux75]

Can we acknowledge for a second that this movie looks FUCKING BEAUTIFUL? A movie that in terms of visuals has Pixar, Dinsey and Dreamworks taking notes. I want a 4K release of this and I want it now!!!

[@chasehedges6775]

💯💯💯💯

[@joeelliott4820]

It was WB not Dreamworks

[@SgtScorpious]

I want a 4k steelbook with all the original bonus + more

[@Jarod-vg9wq]

My thoughts exactly! The visuals and lighting of it are beautiful.

[@mortthepirate6318]

My wife and I saw this in 3d in theaters, and the scene were they are flying through the storm is still one of the most breathtaking animated things I've ever seen

[@MusicDecomposer]

Similar to Avatar, I don’t remember much of this movie’s plot or characters, but it looked really good in 3D. (Especially that slow-motion scene in the rain.)

[@pika_dusk]

@Aziria Shingen Eh, they never learn. All of the sudden I reminded of the Series of Unfortunate who stuffed three books into one movie. I swear the more books they try to use for a movie the more a movie suffers. Some things are better as tv series.

[@leehustedt1990]

@Aziria Shingen though I never finished the full series I at least remember the first book well enough to know exactly what you mean, I especially prefer how the books handled mind control elements.

[@leehustedt1990]

@@pika_dusk I have to agree with you, book series work far better as a TV series rather than a movie, they almost always end up losing the spirit of the original when trying to make the story fit into a movie

[@leehustedt1990]

@Aziria Shingen I'd totally forgotten about the game

[@nyxshadowhawk]

@@leehustedt1990 The game is fantastic. I love it so much. I think it's one of my favorite video games, though I don't talk about it because no one else knows a thing about it.

[@thenerdbeast7375]

Some owls actually do keep small "pet" snakes in their nests, they eat insects that might try to settle in the nest such as ants and termites.

[@bandotaku]

Your pfp is perfection!

[@timothymarzelli3874]

Huh. So basically what the nestmaid snakes do in the books. At least, the ones not at the great ga'hoole tree. I never knew that.

[@NoraIconiq]

So theres some weight to the whole snake living with owls thing thats interesting.

[@krealyesitisbeta5642]

yep!

[@nodorog448]

Large burrowing spiders, like tarantulas, keep Microhylids(a "small frog" genus) as pets. The frog's skin is toxic to the spider, so they won't eat them. But the frog eats ants, that are drawn to the spider's eggs. Win-win. Spider gets to keep a clutch of eggs, frog gets easy meal of ants.

[@yeetthebeatout6906]

3:40 Actually, screech owls have been known to keep small snakes to eat anything that could endanger their eggs and hatchlings, like mice or bugs.

[@gameplaysolotheblade]

15:04 I'm surprised you didn't talk extensively about the fire scene. It's one of the few CGI films where the fire was excellently rendered because in animation, water and fire are usually hard to animate. Also, this scene is stunning, from the visual of slow motion with fire rendered beautifully to the use of Death Can Dance's The Host of Seraphim theme playing in the background for such deep emotional effect.

[@minisarge2619]

It took me almost 10 years and multiple youtube searches to figure out that was NOT part of the OST.

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

That’s amazing,that they used a Dead Can Dance track.

[@lunerblade13]

15:14 fun fact: these contraptions in the books are known as “devils triangles”. Basically if you gather enough magnetic material (ie the “flecks”) into large enough piles and place them at three specific points they would generate a field that would heavily disorient an owls navigational sense. In the books ezylryb was left in one of these fields for months and was expecting to die a slow death incapable of finding a way out if not for Soren and company finding his location and burning the piles to drop the field.

[@senritsujumpsuit6021]

That's dope being attacked by having your very sense of awareness magnetized

[@ThisAdamGuy]

I haven't read the books and I always thought they were just magnets that pulled their helmets and claw gauntlets to the ground.

[@metanightmare4454]

To be fair, I don't remember any crazy energy beams firing out of them though. Maybe it's just because I finished the book series like a year or two before this film came out and my memories are faded, but I remember it being pretty a low-magic fantasy world. One where most of the fantastic things like flecks, moon-blinking and firesight exist in kind of a nebulous grey area. Like, it might or might not just be the characters' medieval understanding of the world tricking them into believing that they're seeing magic when it's really just natural phenomena that they don't yet grasp the science around, the same way a lot of real-world myths and folklore came to be.

[@spiritrunner76]

@@metanightmare4454 generally, animations add visual effects where there shouldn't be to help the audience understand wht is going on. It lets beople physically see when they should and shouldn't be affected, and offers a dramatic tool to reveal the severity and danger.

[@johannesseyfried7933]

@@metanightmare4454 Which....then later kinda got ruin when they introduced Heggsdemons and some kind of Shapeshifting Spell. (It's been years since I read the Books, but I remember being very confused by it.)

[@femkev.5245]

I recommend this movie PURELY for the visuals. It is hands down one of the most gorgeous CGI animated films I’ve ever seen and holds up really well 12 years later.

[@lunerblade13]

And if you want to better experience the e story I recommend the books. This movie may have been to ambitious pushing three books worth of content in a less then two hour movie.

[@MovieFan1912]

@@lunerblade13 At least it’s not as bad as The Last Airbender, where an entire 20-episode season is crammed into one movie.

[@lunerblade13]

@@MovieFan1912 yeah twenty episodes where in nearly every one they are always moving. In hindsight whose idea was it to make the avatar story condensed into a movie, it’d be better if they made a movie of a specific arc with movie scale quality. But on the other hand at least that had the focus of the story no matter it’s execution. Artemis fowls movie on the other hand dropped the ball completely.

[@MovieFan1912]

@@lunerblade13 Ha! Artemis Fowl. That movie is certainly more foul than this movie, which has actual fowl in it.

[@dinodare1605]

Maybe this is just me but it's really hard to sit through a movie just for visuals. I do remember watching this movie and enjoying it as a young kid though, so while I don't recall the plot it's probably not too boring.

[@ThemeParkAvenue]

The visuals are honestly mindblowing. It looks better and less dated than the oh-so "revolutionary 2019 Lion King.

[@expendableindigo9639]

Roger Deakins will do that.

[@geoffreybassett6741]

@@expendableindigo9639 Yup every animated film he touches (WALL-E, How To Train Your Dragon, THIS) is visually stunning.

[@benberlin57]

Agreed CGI photorealism does not automatically equal quality. Ga'hoole though, while by no means "perfect" used CG effects to great results.

[@YuniorGamboa]

The animation for this movie still holds up after 10 years. Some of the scenes look damn right gorgeous.

[@eyelove_owlcity]

I remember listening to the theme song of this movie. It was the song that introduced me to my favorite music artist of all time: Owl City.

[@playertree8413]

I thougth your favorite music artist were the one from "tEll mE whyYyYYyY" 😂

[@pwnorbepwned]

@@playertree8413 Within Temptation??

[@lainiwakura1776]

@@pwnorbepwned Backstreet Boys "I Want It that Way." Pleb. For meme's sake: Darude "Sandstorm."

[@nancayleena]

I always get jealous when people's first experience with Owl City is something other than Fireflies. (I do love the song, though.)

[@ThePorygonBoi]

I feel like they had him do a song for the movie for the sake of a pun and nothing else.

[@Emunah_]

I read the whole book series as a kid in middle school and I remember being a bit disappointed by the movie because they tried to cram so much lore from the books into it, so a lot was changed or cut out. However, I am still mind blown by the visuals and the different portrayals of the owl species. Would have been amazing as a series, but I don't ever regret watching it.

[@colbyjones7816]

Same

[@HelghastTrooper]

The biggest character-butchering I have a problem with in the film is Ezylryb, where they made him a bit of a fighty-yet-wise individual who seemed giddy at the prospect of waging war on evil-doers and his old enemy. He was a great warrior in the books, but watching his mate's death in one such battle traumatized and disillusioned him to the point of swearing off violence and choosing to remain a pacifist for the rest of his life by the time we first meet him; a vow he successfully adhered to until his death. That's not to say he was against the concept of fighting to defend, protect and preserve, or against training owls to become better warriors, he just never personally fought offensively in war again. On the other hand, Kludd's characterization was better here as a corrupted youth instead of being a born-evil monster as he was in the books. It adds a believable sense of tragedy to his villainy.

[@bigmoe9856]

Same. Was really surprised it got a film

[@cjwrench07]

This is the same as other adaptations. Ender’s Game has the exact same problem of cut down & shortened storylines from the book series. Plus, the same hope of a movie sequel for a few years afterwards.

[@CadDriftarus]

I'm pretty sure the only reason that song was included is because it's by Owl City. I'll always regret never getting to see this in theaters.

[@minisarge2619]

Yeah....I think so too.

[@Shiny_Misty]

So, my sibling owns ALL the books, and when the movie was airing in theatres, we went to go see it. (At the time, I hadn't read the books). They were frustrated beyond repair over how butchered the movie was compared to the books. After watching the movie, I read the first three books (the ones the movies were based on) and...yeah. I totally get it. Holy shit. the hour thirty minutes this movie had was WAY to short. It DID require more time. It DID leave out a lot of important information and development. You mentioned their time as prisoners seemed to short, and that was because it WAS! They were prisoners for almost the WHOLE first book, if I remembered. Not to mention they dumbed a nice bit of the story down to fit the PG Rating. Spoiler alert, Sorin's parents were given a happy ending in the movie. People often point to this movie and say "And THIS is why we don't have a Warriors movie!" (Warriors being the other popular animal based young adult books at the time, centering around wild cats, which is STILL GOING ON TODAY!) Because most of what happens in these books are a LOT more PG13, and also would do MUCH better as a Series. (We were TOLD the series was getting a movie adaptation...back in 2013. But we've heard NOTHING since). And...seeing how Netflix canned the Wings of Fire series recently (A series in the same vain as Ga'hoole and Warriors, but with Dragons) I don't see ANY of these books getting ANY adaptation anytime soon. And, before anyone yells at me, Ga'hoole, Warriors and Wings of Fire are three COMPLETELY different stories, so comparing them is like comparing apples, oranges and peaches together. Yeah, they are all fruit, but each fruit is completely different. But the similarities are there.

[@durrangodsgrief6503]

this should be a series than a movie then or at least one with multiple parts

[@matthewmuir8884]

My sister was the same. She had read all the books, and when she saw the film, she couldn't figure out which of the books the film was adapting (the answer is the first three books) because it strayed from the books so much.

[@Dragonmoon98]

More time prisoners? Shit, Soren fledged a slave! Meaning, in the books, they were there long enough to grow from older owlets to owls capable of flight.

[@rangerfanboy1710]

You said it

[@Korricat]

I'd rather never see a Warriors movie. I know how first saga goes and ends, I'd be disappointed seeing it on big screen. Now I do want to pick up Guardians books somewhere.

[@dirkthewrench]

I was reminded of this movie by a Reddit thread, they really nailed hyper realism in animation for awhile there didn't they? I wish they continued, the animation is really good, like, could you imagine a Redwall movie with this animation team? That would be awesome

[@itol2201]

I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS! I *NEED* a Redwall movie.

[@cherryr9285]

animal logic does the most gorgeous hyperrealistic rendering, they also worked on the lego movie!

[@rock21611]

I genuinely love this movie. I grew up on the books, they were one of my favorite series as a kid, and while I know it's not perfect, the fact that they nailed the look and atmosphere as well as they did dropped me right in the middle of them. It took my breath away, I felt like _I_ was flying.

[@seandewar47]

Loved this movie when I was little 3:43 Funnily enough, Some owls are known to keep small blind snakes in their nests, as they'll eat the ants that can pose a threat to their chicks. Also that wasn't a rodent, it was a Tasmanian Devil, which are Marsupials

[@patientnr.0409]

--------------* The More You Know

[@DanGamingFan2406]

What I want to know is how there are North American owl species in Australia.

[@seandewar47]

@@DanGamingFan2406 Legend of the guardians takes place in a fictional world where owls from different parts of the world coexist

[@undertakernumberone1]

@@seandewar47 not quite... it takes place in our world... after the end when Homo Sapiens has long been extinct... i think at one point Madame Plonk has a tea service of Queen Victoria? Queen Elizabeth I.? Queen Mary? I think some english queen...

[@garreonlefay6703]

​@@seandewar47 Some people speculate it may be terraformed Mars

[@cowboyquebecanimations3068]

This is definitely a movie that could've been another great series. Also critic a lot of the mythos of the movie is explained in the books ene saying " yeah there were these weird tall fleshy creatures in the beginning that disappeared"

[@BestOneEver247]

like *Harry potter* or *Lord of the rings*

[@YamiSpyroX]

Cowboy Quebec Animations So there's no humans in Ga'hoole than? I might actually like those books better than Wings of Fire than. I love that series but considering that human civilization still exists in a dragon-dominated world (For thousands of years) is more than just silly! Netflix was still wrong to cancel it but that was a serious problem Tui Sutherland made that I don't agree with.

[@undertakernumberone1]

@@YamiSpyroX The series takes place an unspecified time in a post apocalyptic world where "The others" (humans) have long been extinct... Then again, i think it'd been overall better served without those trappings (though sometimes playing a role in the stories) because they even reference real personalities... yet the whole thing is rather... hard to place if one wanted to use a real map.

[@MarioPokemonShadow]

Yeah, there was a character (I know it's not an owl, but I don't remember exactly because it's been a long time) that collected eyes from old human paintings, and she was trying to find red or purple eyes for her collection.

[@cowboyquebecanimations3068]

@@MarioPokemonShadow that was the blacksmith Bubo ( possible reference to the Owl from the original Clash of the Titans)

[@Primus1243]

The 'blue magic' is thought of as magnetic fields that are more powerful than regular Earth fields. The 'flecks' could be magnetic rocks and, when birds get close to a powerful field, they are affected and throw off their balance and sense of direction, almost like vertigo for us humans. The only reason they did it blue lightning in the movie is for us to see it as magnetic fields are obviously invisible. But yeah, something like that on the ground and in flight would be akin to us getting sick to our stomach and not able to move around properly.

[@sadwittlebean]

I was a huge fan of the book series by Kathryn Lasky in school. When I went and saw the movie initially, I hated it. It went waaaayyy off from the original book series and brought in The Pure Ones waaayy too soon. But when I got older, I began to appreciate it much more as a stand alone thing. The animation is amazing. But there are so many things I wish they added in. Like how when the academy for orphaned owls tried to force them to be moon blinked by isolating Soren and Gylfie. Putting them in direct moonlight, standing back to back and tilting their beaks up to the moon. And their way of resisting the brainwashing and becoming sick, is to tell each other the ancient stories of Hoole and the GaHoole tree. And yea, they do stay at the Orphanage a very long time. It was greatly cut down in the movie. They do cure Eglatine in the wrong way as well. Eglantine was cured by a piece of ancient glass shining in her eyes. Theres an owl I believe that collects human items that were left behind from ancient times. Humans are extinct in the books. Theres just so much lore in the book series and I highly recommend them even to adults. Theres also a lot more death and gruesome depictions in the books lol.

[@sporkles7427]

FINALLY!! I've been waiting for NC to review this for years! This movie and especially the book series hold a very special place in my heart. I know this movie isn't perfect, but damn, the visuals are legendary and from a fan's perspective, they stayed as faithful to the first couple of books as they could. The music score is beautiful, and some of the scenes are burned into my mind, especially the rain flying scene, and seeing it in theaters in 3D was something I'll never forget. It's a shame that the movie didn't do well but honestly, I'm just glad it exists.

[@nyxshadowhawk]

I disagree about its faithfulness (Allomere? Really?) but I otherwise agree with you. It's a good film for what it's worth, the visuals are amazing, and I'm also glad it exists.

[@DanGamingFan2406]

I was surprised to learn years after watching this movie, that some owls actually do keep blind snakes in their nests to keep insect larvae under control.

[@healerofthewaters6508]

This movie is 12 years old and the score is still phenomenal. The visuals are flawless. I'm not even mad that it strays from the books completely. I just love this film. If someone told me to pick a movie on the spot to watch this would be one of the first to come to mind.

[@mattway18]

Yeah, I would have trouble doing because I have such a wide range in taste that I’m not sure if someone like a certain genre or not.

[@runamerone5492]

I was in film school at the time so I was being extra critical of this movie as a 3D theater experience...and only it and Avatar have had really great 3D cinematography. Many movies have phenomenal 2D cinematography (how they control your eye motions and draw your attention during the scenes as well as the imagery within), but only Avatar and Legend of the Guardians has also managed to control and manipulate my focus forward and back. Underrated gem, here. And the animation quality/detail is unmatched to this day.

[@molcatz9634]

The song owl city did for the movie was pretty great too

[@runamerone5492]

@@molcatz9634 I agree wholeheartedly. it actually made me tear up a bit and I still listen to it today when I need a pick-me-up

[@orangeslash1667]

@@runamerone5492 This movie feels like the Secret of NIMH, but not as well written, yet still interesting.

[@JSPena]

I personally think that this is Zack Snyder’s most underrated movie and I don’t even think he realizes it. Also this was an unexpected upload.

[@800Ms-k6n]

Pretty sure from all Zack Snyder movies, this is the movie that doesn't get enough talk. Snyder's most forgotten movie

[@rams3955]

@@800Ms-k6n as someone who like Snyder I almost feel like this movie flies under the radar because no one absolutely loves it or hates it its legit is most mainstream movie and because of that It just doesn't get talked about at all and tbh i didn't even see it until a cpl years ago lol

[@800Ms-k6n]

@@rams3955 kinda true and it's an animated movie. It's hard to hate on it when the movie was made for kids. Even then the visuals still looked amazing

[@donnguyen1107]

It’s interesting because Tyto is the genus for Barn Owls and their relatives. Plus the owls aren’t all generic like in some movies so we got screech owls, burrowing owls (a fave of mine), grey owls and barn owls. Interesting science behind the world building.

[@ladyalmathea7610]

I swear, this movie was one of my childhood favorites. The book series was my shit, (eat your heart out, Warrior Cats), and this only fueled my love of the fandom. Also, I'm surprised he hasn't reviewed Happy Feet. I feel like he'd rip that movie to shreds... That, or he'd unironically like it. Either way, I'd love to see his reaction to it :3 *Edit: I'm so happy I predicted this a year ago. He's done it now, and he seems to like it*

[@avivastudios2311]

Yeah, Warrior Cat sucks. The characters just aren't sympathetic to me.

[@joshuamerriweather2861]

You can't deny that the animation looks incredibly amazing especially when Soren slow motion flys

[@cracop4808]

And the battles, visually stunning and as brutal as it can be

[@nicorozner7417]

"To The Sky," while arguably misused in the film, is an absolute head banger that I still listen to today. Not only is it elegant yet catchy, it was also made by a music group called Owl City. It's just... so... perfect. Also, in case you wanted to know more about the lore, well, it's complicated. So complicated that I barely understand it after having read the wiki and the prequel books. But here's what I remember. One brazillian years ago, there was a big war where some evil giant crows called the hagsfiends and the evil crow wizards called the nachthexen tried to take over the world. They invaded the early owl kingdoms, who used ice for weapons, forcing several to flee across what I assume is the Atlantic Ocean (impressive) to the Beyond, (presumably North America) where wolves live. The wolves came there across the Bering Land Bridge to escape the last ice age and live in a perpetually warring feudal society where they cast out anyone with a disability and make art by gnawing on the bones of their enemies. The crown prince of the owl kingdom, still an egg, was hidden away in Siberia, and there was something else about a polar bear from what I remember but I can't recall the specifics. Anyways, there was a collier named Grank who had the ability to magically see into bits of coal or something. He met a pacifist friend and they invented metallurgy and then he tricked his friend into making battle claws, metal blades attached to an owl's claws which were good at stabbing stuff. The prince hatched and was named Hoole, which is actually the wolf word for owl. Grank and Hoole rallied the owls to defeat the evil crows. Along the way, he saw a tree that grew ridiculously fast and said it had Ga, which is an owl word for "great spirit" or something. They also found a cool ember in a volcano which had limitless magical power inside it and so they hid it in a volcano in a ring of volcanoes in New Jersey and told the wolves to keep it safe. They called the tree Ga'Hoole and they called the ember the Ember of Hoole because they're not creative. Then a while later, uhh, something something Coryn, something something Guardians of Ga'Hoole, something something ember... I really don't remember that much. I read this like 6 years ago.

[@nancayleena]

I was waiting for someone to comment about the movie song was done by Adam Young AKA Owl City! I will always love that little piece of trivia.

[@nicorozner7417]

@@nancayleena Once again, perfect choice for this movie. And what a great song! I still have it on my wholesome music playlist.

[@louisduarte8763]

Oh dear I've gone cross-eyed.

[@thevarietychannelofyoutube4769]

Also, the books have owl Nazis in them. And they're written by someone descended from holocaust survivors

[@dulcimerrafi]

I agree wholeheartedly.

[@BugsyFoga]

No better way to celebrate Father’s Day than by looking at the time Zack Snyder directed an animated bird movie .

[@DavidInsome]

Lol

[@matthewmuir8884]

Well, apparently he did direct it because he wanted at least one film he made to be something his kids could watch.

[@claymathewselevator8121]

@@matthewmuir8884 like how George Lucas made Strange Magic for his daughters

[@matthewmuir8884]

@@claymathewselevator8121 I suppose; I don't know anything about Strange Magic (I've heard the name mentioned before but I know nothing else about it).

[@MovieFan1912]

@@matthewmuir8884 Maybe because it failed critically and financially.

[@N-GinAndTonicTM]

"I've neve thought what combat between armoured owls would look like, because... I'm not drunk" That made me laugh way harder than it should have done.

[@tabithaalphess2115]

I know he didn't read the books, but I wish he did some cursory research on them, because the movie and books are very different. The reason things feel rushed and underdeveloped is because this movie combined plotlines from the first three books (plus a few details from later ones like Ezylryb being Lyze of Kiel). The books were actually FAR darker, like the portion about the owlets being kidnapped, brainwashed, and enslaved encompassed all of book 1 and they went into far greater detail. The pellet picking was basically described by the narrator as hell, as there were thousands of enslaved owlets picking pellets. The flecks they found in pellets were actually natural magnets that in large quantities created a magnetic field that disoriented owls and caused them to fly straight into the ground or to their deaths. They also kidnapped hundreds of eggs from across the owl world, brainwashed them into forgetting their names and replacing them with numbers, and some of the officers at St. Aggie's were cannibals who regularly ate owlets on missions or eggs from the hatchery. Questions of any kind weren't allowed and would be harshly punished with physical and psychological torture. Some owlets were stripped of their ability and desire to fly via bloodletting. There was even an adult owl who had a physical deformity that made her look like an owlet named Hortense who rescued eggs from the hatchery with the help of eagles, one of which had their tongue ripped out by the owls of St. Aggie's. In the book, Hortense was caught and fell to her death while Soren and Gylfie could only watch. And when they made their escape, they were caught during a lesson and Grimble was nearly ripped in two. And that's just St. Aggie's. The Pure Ones were much worse. They even excluded the detail about Kludd being the one to push Soren out of the nest in the movie; he was never kidnapped by St. Aggie's. Instead he joins the Pure Ones and became radicalized by them, believing Tyto owls to be the superior species. When Soren and Gylfie met Twilight and Digger, they bonded because Twilight had escaped being kidnapped by St. Aggie's and managed to survive until adulthood on his own, and Digger was running from St. Aggie's officers who cannibalized his brothers. Later books were even more messed up.

[@manuelroubos2800]

You know your stuff man. I would like a 16+ version of this movie. It would do great I think

[@tabithaalphess2115]

@@manuelroubos2800 Thanks. It was one of my favorite series as a kid, and the St. Aggie's plotline really stuck with me given how brutal is was. The books are definitely written for kids, but it never sugarcoats the brutality and darkness present in it's characters or it world. Even its spinoff series "Wolves of the Beyond" kept to this original spirit, and its protagonist is a disabled wolf who was thrown out of his pack for his deformity, raised by a bear, and then when he tries to rejoin wolf society, he's thrown into the lowest cast and even ostricized and sabotaged by other deformed wolves. A true adaptation of The Owls of Ga'Hoole would be incredible, but I think the biggest problem is the books were marketed to kids, but a screen adaptation would bring the written word to a horrifying reality when put to sound and visuals. I dunno, maybe if they did it the same way the makers of The Hunger Games film did, it could work and be marketable. Marketing would definitely be the biggest problem for an adaptation like this, and the structure of the novels doesn't fit very nearly into how big budget films usually format themselves

[@manuelroubos2800]

I totally agree, there is something about dark and brutal fairytales that always keep stuck in my head. That feeling. As a young kid I couldn't look away with darker tales because of the tension that built up. Most movies lately need to be sold well with marketing. This adaptation would be a difficult one, because how are they presenting an fully animated movie about owls for adults. Make it gory and brutal I guess. Maybe a bit more drama. Drama sells so... But I must see I could watch a 3 hour movie like that in a trilogy series of films.

[@Depth217]

Was VERY surprised at some of the cast here. Young me was mind blown that one of them was Sam Neil. Honestly this is more along the lines of what the Lion King remake should’ve looked like. You can still do stunning photo realism while having non-uncanny valley animals.

[@MusicDecomposer]

5:57 Grimble: “And cookies, too! Cookies need love like everything does.”

[@joshuatewolde1837]

“Evil Has Been KNOWN To Have…’Cupcakes’?”

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Have A Cookie

[@Snailirific]

This one, along with Tron legacy, are my favourite movies. The stunning visuals, great music and entertaining characters makes it a very easy movie to watch.

[@TechySpeaking]

12:14 music fits perfectly. After all, it's literally Owl City.

[@minisarge2619]

No, it really doesn't. That was absolutely producer shananagans

[@seriouspurrsahead7445]

This an example where the artists and animators pulled the team along while the writers took short cuts. I didn’t really understand the movie but it made me want to see more because the animation is so stunning.

[@DanGamingFan2406]

I saw this in theaters as a kid, and the thing I remembered most about it was how often they mention gizzards. I now know it's a metaphor for "listen to your gut" but it's still kind of odd how much they bring it up. I have to agree, though that this movie looks good and is pretty okay.

[@bryanegelhoffsanimationtec257]

A Noagalgia Critic episode on Father's Day. Pure joy!

[@ryanmorejon5813]

Agreed 💯

[@Danthenuggetman]

N o a g a l g i a c:

[@anthonycerulli5524]

Yes!

[@abrahemsamander3967]

It’s funny. I saw the trailers to this as a kid. And I thought it looked stupid. But eventually I caught it on tv, and I really liked it. I actually ended up reading the book series cause of it. I’ll admit, it’s cliche and not perfect. But it’s very competently crafted.

[@thevarietychannelofyoutube4769]

I know that the fictional Nazis thing is a cliche but the author is descended from holocaust survivors so she had a personal reason for doing this

[@abrahemsamander3967]

I’m mainly talking about the movie as a whole(I still love it, cliche has become a dirty word, but it’s not always a bad thing.) I honestly liked the pure ones in the movie, they were simple and devious, wish there were more villains of that nature in kids films nowadays. And I think they were very well done in the books, where their social hierarchy was more fleshed out.

[@thevarietychannelofyoutube4769]

@@abrahemsamander3967 The pure ones beliefs and social hierarchies are very well fleshed out in the books. It's a very well written example of the Nazi allegory in fantasy trope

[@nat6u445]

I remember that I loved this movie when I was a little kid. I adored the animation, and even if it was a cliche, I enjoyed the story. I also think that this movie was the reason why I became a bit of an owl fantastic growing up. ( Fun fact: I remember that my childhood friend and aunt both knew that I loved this movie so much that they got me a DVD copy for my 11th birthday. Little did they know that I had already begged my parents to get me a copy. So I suddenly found myself with not just one but three copies of Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.)

[@HashimThaDream]

As a fan of the original book series, this movie was based off of, I was the first pretty mad that they tried to lump three books into one movie and strayed so far from the source material, but I still look back on this movie. very fondly. I keep hoping that someone will pick it up as a Netflix series or something where they can flesh the story out properly, but I know it’s wishful thinking.

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

I think this film kind of shows how when Zack Snyder really wants to make a compelling story and honestly put a lot of effort into and doesn't half ass it makes the story so much better which it should be, and in my opinion when Zack Snyder wants to really put in his all and actually wants to make something big he is great at it, but also i think when movie companies and big time upper class executives and management want to step in it kind of throws him into a loop and he kind of feels frustrated and as a result because of that Snyder kind of half asses it to try and prove a point to executives not to get into his way

[@yoda908]

Exactly. Snyder was asked if he was planning a justice league 2 movie and his response was he has no interest. So I think as great a director he is; he still has reservations against WB for getting in his way of creating a film. Don't blame him honestly. So I think the only reason why he pushed for the Snydercut is for the fans only. And it was a chance to show he had a better movie planned than what was released. Show WB they were wrong in getting in his way of his vision.

[@bartholen]

That's because Snyder had zero input on the script. This is an established pattern: whenever Snyder is working on previously established material and has zero input on the script, his movies tend to be way better. Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen and this are all liked a lot more than stuff like Army of the Dead, Sucker Punch and his DC movies.

[@thecabbageman1]

@@bartholen ​ @Tuomas Vanne That's not completely true. The true pattern is how free he is to make his movies. His most divisive movies, sucker punch and BvS got heavily meddled with by WB. And his other two DC movies aren't nearly as controversial as some people make them out to be due to their association with BvS and their issues with that movie. Army is the only outlier here.

[@tritonk1759]

@@yoda908 Correction; Snyder WANTS to make his Justice League Sequels, it's WB who's got a stick up their ass and won't let him.

[@tritonk1759]

@@yoda908 Correction; Snyder WANTS to make his Justice League Sequels, it's WB who's got a stick up their ass and won't let him.

[@Sebastian-B-Sellebjerg]

The Adventures Of Tintin: Secret Of The Unicorn - Nostalgia Critic next please

[@Mattheman09]

Omg yes!!!! Loves that movie!!!!

[@ForemostCrab7]

Get ready for 2 hours of nothing but praise.

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Great movie

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

To quote the late great Norm Macdonald and something i'm sure Hugo Weaving might be thinking a lot about right now is “You’re trying your best to make people laugh; then if you fail, they hate you. But your intent’s the same. It’s not like you’re trying to do evil to them.”

[@OnizukaAllMighty]

Among most underrated movies in my opinion, animation is stunning and characters are great

[@YodaOnABender]

If I could wish for any movie to get a sequel it would be this. The animation looks leagues better than the generic 3D calarts style stuff Disney makes nowadays

[@rorysainsbury6816]

I just watched this film with my Mom on either Wednesday or Tuesday, and it wasn’t so bad. I remember once going to the movies when I was a kid and my sister said she wanted to see the film when it was coming out.

[@felixhaberbosch6765]

in my opinion, the song "to the sky" fits pretty well with the themes of the movie. I think that the reason it still feels a little of is that it was poorly integrated and interspersed with random phrases, that diminish the scene a bit.

[@jacksonseyl1063]

I think it would be a better end credit song.

[@moxxiedemongamer3019]

truly an underrated animated movie from the mind of Zack Snyder that gave us Justice League (of the Snyder Cut)

[@eggsbenedict7711]

*Fun fact:* Birds have a natural sense of magnetism in their bodies. This helps them fly and migrate by orienting themselves by detecting the Earth's magnetic fields. Now in Ga'hoole, this shiny blue metal things are able to disable the owls, so basically these metal things have so much magnetic force that it is able to weaken the owls by completely taking over their magnetoreception ability. And also, this is why the bats the pure ones use are not affected by this magnetic force since bats localize themselves with sound and hearing and not by magnetism like birds do.

[@Higesgirl]

I remember reading the books in school and I thought it was really good. Then I saw that movie was coming out and asked my mom to take me to it. she watched it with me cuz she loved owls. Thought they turned the plot kinda generic compared to the books but the animation still holds up.

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

Now i really want to see a movie where Hugo Weaving just does a lot of weird impressions

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

I really loved this movie when I was a kid. It was kinda tonally inconsistent, but it's beautiful as hell and it had the balls to be a lot darker than most kids' films, and I still have a soft spot for it. I would rank in highly in Snyder's oeuvre too.

[@simonbriggs203]

I've waited years for you to review this. So glad you found something to enjoy out of it. Believe me when I say it, the lore and setting are explained far better in the books. This film is based in the first 3 books, though it scraps a lot of the important and impactful stuff like Hortense, and Finnie (they have their own character arcs in the books). Katherine Lasky was planning to make a more realistic setting like Silverwing did (which has its own animated series that would spawn a couple thousand furries), but instead she decided to make a fantasy setting that would later on introduce magic and hagsfiends. And I really enjoyed that. The most disappointing part of this movie for me was how they did Otulissa. Her being a different species aside, her talkativeness and hints at scholarly ambitions are true to her character. But she came off as snobby in the movie whereas in the books the details describe her as a rebellious trash-talking atheist. And she is my favourite character in the books. But the movies animation is so great. I wonder how they would have done the Striga, or Coryn. I've also played the videogame which follows the tale of another owl named Shard on a campaign separate to Sorens. And while I admit the gameplay is fun and the flight system is handled well (I especially love how it feels to fly around its big open maps), I feel like it could have added so much more like the ability to land (boy are my wings tired) expendable items (such as throwing knives and medicines) to spend shinies on (they can only be spent on armour sets and there's a limited number of them making the currency obsolete after a point), the challenges are also well balanced. The story of the game has a different fate for Allomere, and it's more generic (but the gameplay is so fun that I don't care), however the game does describe the lore more professionally than the movie (even if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense). It does have potential. I am just a fan of this series in general. If ever anything new comes out for it, I'll go see it.

[@Pyromaniacalsquirrel]

In the Books Soren and Gilfey where there for a whiiile. Soren was too young to fly, and at one point even had his flight feathers plucked so they had to wait for them to grow back before they could try to escape

[@roxvyrov7417]

I remember watching it a while ago when I didn't know directors and re-watched it recently with a friend that's a big fan of the early DCEU stuff and we were both saying "this slo-mo is so Snyder" and then the credits hit "directed by zack snyder" and our minds were blown. I had no idea he worked on any animations. Also, the 3D in this is incredible!

[@joshuatewolde1837]

This movie bring back memories and despite some mixed up reviews it was the best nostalgic movie since it’s Academy Award-Winning Predecessor ‘Happy Feet’, that I can remember back in my childhood!

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

What a great Fathers Day present for all the Owls and People out there

[@ZarMationStudios18]

I read the books back in elementary school and absolutely loved them! This was the first book-to-screen adaptation that I had some heated opinions about XD But as a stand-alone movie, it was a solid go and the passion for the animation can be seen in every owl feather.

[@GrumpCatMara]

I’d say I was around 10 when I watched this movie. I remember liking it as a kid but the biggest thing I got out of it was a love for the the band “Owl City” they’re the ones playing “Bird’s eye view” I was demanding my parents get me more of their music lol

[@oiaponie]

I did watch this in 3D cinema a long time ago... The best 3D film for me. The wings of the owls popped and the fighting at the end looked so cool. This movie stayed with me in my head because it was 3D made right... Nowadays we don't miss 3D shows anymore.

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

Man Owl from Winnie the Pooh backstory is a lot more darker than what i thought it was gonna be

[@TimothyBH123]

The visuals combined with 3D are amazing, really enhancing all the flying sequences and environments. Even more so with the slow motion sequences, such as the storms with water droplets, stunning. Amazing on 3D OLED.

[@storywala88]

I like the movie, the story is good enough to enjoy and the visuals are so stunning, even by today's standards. The visuals enough warrant you watching it many times or even buying it. Wish, they would do more with the same visual quality and style.

[@markeyiszra]

I remember all of my friends we're talked about this movie when it's premiere,and they talked how amazing the animation, character,the fantasy,and Owl City songs. And some said this movie Will change the animation.

[@pedrogabrielduarte4544]

Dude i wish he can do happy feet

[@bigmoe9856]

To explain the Magic Prison, in the books, it's something close to an electromagnetic field that screws with a bird's sense of direction. At one point a triangle was set up to cover a zone and some characters got stuck in it for weeks if not months.

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

You know it's a good week when two NC videos drop in that same week

[@AtlasGmng]

Ah yes the movie that introduced my brother into his unironic quest to name his child Egglantine. Also Owl City is cool

[@patientnr.0409]

How the fuck is the mother supposed to agree with ^that?

[@Deactorr]

Owl City. Got it?

[@Quinna5537]

Ironically he was the one who sung that first pop song "To the Sky"

[@AtlasGmng]

@@Quinna5537 I'm aware. That's why I said Owl City is cool.

[@razorfox01]

Coincidentally placed dad joke

[@undertakernumberone1]

The movie was "OK", the game was pretty good for a movie tie in... The novels... are pretty effin good! And actually quite grown up considering the target audience! The movie unfortunately made it so much more childey, especially with Soren's parents surviving, Twilight and Digger being turned into more comic relief... and a whole lot of other stuff... Like, Twilight in the novels is a quite powerful Warrior (wannabe-)Poet, using rhymes etc. to insult and provoke enemies (or to glorify himself)... Digger is rather philosophical... And Metal Beak? IS KLUDD HIMSELF! Fromt he get go! And instead of him being captured with Soren, Kludd pushed Soren out of hte nest to KILL him as initiation rite into the Pure Ones. Soren then got kidnapped by an unrelated group... who in the movie were thrown together with the Pure Ones.

[@patientnr.0409]

To be fair putting multiple evil factions into such a short movie is pretty much impossible (see Spiderman 3) so they had to write around it somehow.

[@undertakernumberone1]

@@patientnr.0409 then again, they could've just started with Saint Aggies and used the Pure Ones as a cliffhanger if they ever got around to making a second movie.

[@lunerblade13]

Twilight was never really a poet but more of a rapper whose chants in combat were made legendary in Ga’Hoole.

[@undertakernumberone1]

@@lunerblade13 He certianly wasn't a rapper, and while Warrior Poet might be a bit too high of praise for him, it's closer than "rapper" in that it was still applied poetry.

[@seanMmaguire1]

the original author did like how they combined St Aggies and the Pure Ones into a single organisation and how metal Beak was written

[@logancole5101]

I was a child when this film came out, maybe 8, probably 9. It's one of those films I enjoyed watching, but couldn't remember the name to find it again. But it gives me this strange nostalgic feeling. I grew up watching movies way older than me but this one is one of the ones "from my time" I don't mind. You just can't forget it.

[@CivBase]

That random pop song was by Owl City. OWL City. They almost definitely included it just for that pun, even though it didn't fit the tone.

[@shadowstorm3.098]

You know, I saw this movie when I was like 6 years old. I was recently wondering if you’d ever review it. This is awesome!

[@ChannelAwesome]

Hope you enjoyed it!

[@RYMAN1321]

It wasn’t too intense for you? Granted I was 15 when it came out and thought while it was good that it would be too intense and frightening for young children (my theatre had many young children and a few screamed a bit in a few scenes but overall were fine)

[@drdewott9154]

@@RYMAN1321 I mean a lot of childrens entertainment is more intense than one might think. I mean even with the slavery and brutal battles in mind, this movie is still pretty light in tone compared to a lot of family movies out there. Like, ever wanted to see an innocent bullied 6th grade kid get murder threats amidst dealing with violent bullies, his crush committing suicide, his crush being his best friends sister, experiencing his violent uncle beat up the bullies to the point of losing their teeth, and working around a weird psychopath substitute teacher? Or how about this? A kid in a Thai Sweatshop being murdered by the toy tycoon who owns it, and an ancient ninja spirit coming down from the sky and teaming up with a bullied kid in the tycoons country of origin to avenge the murdered kid? Oh and part of the plan to stop the tycoon involves getting drugs to sneak into the guy's suitcase! Or the sequel where the tycoon has been arrested by Thai police, but has bribed his way out, and paid musclemen to get rid of all evidence, going on a murder rampage to murder all the witnesses, leading to the spirit coming back to stop the guy and teaming up with that kid on a trip through Thailand involving gangs, white collar crime, explosives, and attempted murder multiple times, and guns? Because these are actual movies. Seriously look them up they're called Terkel in Trouble, and Checkered Ninja 1 & 2. They're by the same studio that made Help I'm a Fish.

[@shadowstorm3.098]

@@RYMAN1321 ya know, I don’t remember thinking it was too insane? I enjoyed it for what it was. I think the CGI helped lessen the impact.

[@thedisneynerd7866]

Ladies & Gents....this is the moment we've waited for!

[@elizabethlevesque6978]

The books are suuuuper dark for children’s stories. Like I’m talking kidnapping, hypnosis, murder, child murder, cannibalism, literal owl n*zis, tons of battles and wars, very descriptive imagery that I remember being super drawn into as a child. If I remember correctly there’s also child gr**ming because the female owl Neyra it’s heavily implied she’s been gr**ming Kludd to be her perfect mate since he was very young when he joins the Pure Ones. And SPOILERS like someone else mentioned, Kludd was always metal beak, his role within the pure ones was insane. This book series was hella intense. Idk if the books would still hold up at 23 but I kind of want to reread them now and see if I still enjoy them as an adult.

[@Lou-ei4su]

fr, I actually reread the first one a while ago and I forgot how messed up the St.Aggies part was omg

[@thekaiser3815]

For the 80s, they're called it cute.

[@strixsoren6847]

As someone who read the original book series this film was based on, I thought this was a pretty great adaptation of the first 3 books. And the animation is absolutely phenomenal.

[@Shadowkey392]

Actually the plan of the evil supernatural owls is quite easy to follow: owls, like all birds, orient themselves using the Earth’s magnetic field. Somehow their gizzards are used for this. The flecks are bits of magnetized metal, and when gathered together emit their own magnetic field, causing the owls to become disoriented and incapable of flight. Bats, however, aren’t affected, and so are used to attack the owls.

[@magicnathan6545]

They got Owl City for the soundtrack. Wonder why?

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

Honestly i'm pretty sure a Owl with a gun would make any of strongest bravest guys to wet themselves

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

This strangely needs more Bobcat Goldthwait talking as a tree

[@Freak_gurru]

12:14 Without even checking I can tell that's Owl City meaning they put a random pop song just because the group had owl in the name

[@xBloodxFangx]

Thats such a lazy reason to put a song in the movie. It's like if during the Trex escape scene in Jurassic Park they played Everybody walk the Dinosaur, cause the song says dinosaur in it.

[@antonakesson]

I had a blast as a kid watching this. Loved the visuals, music and the darker tones of the movie. I liked the characters and found myself engaged. But then I heard that it was based on books and heard it did them dirty, or rather made the stupidest decision when making an adaptation. Cramming to many books into one movie. Reverse Hobbit if you will. Personally I find this movie is still good as is but I would be lying if I said the story wasn't overly simplyfied, it is, or that the pacing ain't going way to fast, it is. But as a flick I still greatly enjoy this movie.

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

Honestly i gotta say Zack Snyder nowadays feels like that guy you want to blame when anything doesn't go right and makes a subpar film because of that

[@demon4256]

I grew up with this, a sequel would have done great for fleshing out the story and it just deserves it because it looks so GORGEOUS!

[@RRRandomRecordings]

It's so awesome that you finally reviewed this one, thank you! I LOVE this movie, mostly because of the simply stunning animation and the fact that I did read all the books. Fun fact about the cast; Hugh Jackman apparently was going to have a voice role in this movie! He might have turned it down in favor of a cameo in Happy Feet 2. Some sources say he was replaced by Sam Neill for Allomere, but I think him playing either Noctus (Soren's dad) or Grimble makes more sense as both ended up being played by Hugo Weaving.

[@shelbysmith1137]

This was the first movie I ever watched as a child where it felt very apparent that…there were gaps. Very pretty movie, especially for the time, but lacked character development…

[@boboboy8189]

90 minutes movies with more than 10 character names that you need to remember. if WB is smart, thy should make it 2 hours to give characters to breath

[@SaitohYatate]

This movie ties eerily close to another "animal only cast" story called "Shooting Star Gin", an old-school manga in which a hunter's hunting dogs team up to fight an evil bear to death. Rather than being anthropomorphic, the characters are normal dogs who are just given dialogue and human personalities, kind of like "The Plague Dogs." This movie is very similar, except for the fantasy setting.

[@FFSteF09]

As I watch this film way back in 2019, I felt this movie was so rushed, that it never slows things down. its goes to the next scene quick. the scenes the slow motion flying in the rain was a nice shots also with slow motion flying in flames too. its based on books and yes Twilight does sing in the books. the pop song was so not fitting.

[@coolfinel]

I think the reason it feels rushed is because it tried to cram 3 books into one movie. At the time the film was in production, there were 15 books, plus 3 one-off books, and a guide book. There are now 16 books, 3 one- offs, two guide books, a 6-part spinoff, and two spinoff trilogies, with the last book being published just a few years ago.

[@FFSteF09]

@@coolfinel you're right. 3 books into one film don't work. it should have been like harry potter books into films one after another

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

Hugo Weaving needs to voice the Red M&M as Agent Smith

[@edenmckinley3472]

I remember watching this movie as a kid, and boy, was I bored with the story. But I fell in love with owls. Still officially one of my favorite birds. And the cinematography in this movie is stunning. Watching clips of it for the first time in years, and it puts every single CGI movie to shame.

[@bird7909]

C'mon critic, 3 seconds of research. The pop song is by owl city. It would have been illegal to release this movie without it

[@popoutstudios5227]

11:52 the band who actually did That pop song was actually owl city. The song is called to the sky. And I actually found it catchy, they played at that moment and the credits. And it actually does feel like a pun, get it?? OWL city???

[@rjmckenzie4706]

I own this film and the books even I didn't see it on the big screen when it came I love it. I'm a sucker for animated fantasy movies like this. Honestly this is like the owl version of lord of the Rings.

[@gutt2528]

Fun fact: owls do actually take snakes as care givers for their young. It's actually a win win. The snake keeps the nest clean and rids it of parasites and in return the snake gets protection from predators.

[@JacksonLane02]

I feel this proves Zack Snyder can do animated films and I honestly wouldn't mind if he did more in the future

[@anubusx]

I would like that as well.

[@northwindkey]

Honestly, his hyper stylized approach would probably fit better animated. Hell, a lot of modern anime creators have cited Snyder as an inspiration, with Attack on Titan’s creator being the biggest example.

[@nickioleary8577]

Fun (or not so fun?) fact: the whole indoctrination scene is waaaay more extensive in the book. They start with the Moon Blinking, but also make younger owls chant their names for hours on end so they loose any importance of it and instead respond to whatever number they’re assigned, when Soren tries to question the members he gets his wing feathers pulled out in front of the other owls being indoctrinated, they’d be introduced to adults who would talk about how great their lives were every couple minutes to convince them to feel the same, they were assigned a guardian owl who would be the only one who was kind to them (even allowing the kids to call them Auntie or Uncle) so that owl would be their only support and they would rely on them for everything including “reliable” information and what they should do in any situation (always to the benefit of the cult), and so on. Soren also isn’t a “teen” owl like he is in this, he’s still really young, maybe the equivalent of a 7 year old human. And this is all in the first book. For kids. Honestly I respect how dark the author was willing to go and how much research into actual brainwashing techniques was implemented