It's gorgeous, it's entertaining, it's fresh. It's a must-see!

Rating: 8/10 (1 December 2012)

I very much enjoyed watching Rise Of The Guardians. It's a wonderful computer-animated film. It does play like The Avengers (2012) for the kids, but its intelligent story and humor make it a fun time for the whole family. The animation here is gorgeous, surpassing most efforts by Pixar and Disney. And the influence of Japanese animation greats like Spirited Away (2001) is more obvious. The film has an interesting fresh take on each of the five Guardians, who are beautifully designed. When they do battle they have a variety of skills to thrill with. The antagonist, Pitch the Boogeyman, is a complex character just like the Guardians who, it turns out, has some similarities with the protagonist Jack Frost, the Guardian of Fun. The excellent voice cast features Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher and Jude Law. Rise Of The Guardians is an entertaining fantasy-adventure by director Peter Ramsey, but it's still a well-meaning film from which children can learn a good deal. The icing on the cake is that it makes excellent use of 3D. I highly recommend watching it, and I won't be surprised if it becomes a holiday classic.