Charming, fun, predictable, forgettable.

Rating: 5/10 (31 December 2012)

When Pitch aka The boogeyman attacks Earth in a bid to be remembered and feared by the world's children, the Immortal Guardians (North/Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Sandman and Easter Bunny) stand together to fight his onslaught but even united they are too weak and so the man in the moon adds another guardian to their list: Jack Frost. Rise of the Guardians opens with a wink to The Bourne Identity with Jack Frost (Chris Pine) floating in water before springing to life and extricating himself from the frozen lake and spending the next three hundred years wreaking havoc with his talents and generally kicking about the world like a mildly rebellious, bored teenager until called upon by the big boss. It's a fun introduction during which we see some beautiful effects as he frosts windows, freezes trees and causes snowball fights and other snow fun. Then Rise of the Guardians becomes cluttered and looses some of its magic. It's an obvious plot where good must triumph over evil and the reluctant hero must work out what is at his centre (my seven year old niece, Teah, worked that out the moment it was mentioned in the film and a good hour before Jack Frost managed to, which says a great deal about the laziness of the scripting) in order to release the full power he holds. There are some charming moments but largely they are due to the animation rather than the action. In a lovely touch, Sandman is mute and communicates with sandy icons that appear above his head and though physically he is a bland, child-friendly interpretation, the animation of his sandy strings that crisscross around the world carrying dreams to children are beautifully crafted. Likewise, Tooth (Isla Fisher) brings colour and warm beauty to the screen that contrasts fabulously with the nightmarish images that swirl around Pitch. But, important though the animation is, it doesn't count for much if the story isn't there. It is all fairly predictable with a resolution that cheats (without wishing to spoil the plot, a significant character's situation is reversed without explanation) and is lazy (the children are the key) and renders much of what went before as pointless. There were fears that Avengers Assemble would throw too many characters together with insufficient time or material for many of them to have an impact. Somehow Avengers Assemble managed to juggle them pretty smoothly but I'm not sure Rise of the Guardians fares as well. Each character has his/her own plot thread and moment in the limelight but do they really bring anything significant to the film? There is some fine vocal work from Alec Baldwin (North) and Jude Law has fun with his Rufus Sewell impression as Pitch but Hugh Jackman brings nothing substantial to the party as Bunny and at what point did it become okay to swear in a film watched by very young children? Yes, it may be only a couple of barks of 'bloody' but in a children's animated film? Really? It's not offensive or shocking but it is unnecessary. More problematic for the audience was that Rise of the Guardians just isn't terribly good. I'll give the final word to Teah, though I'm overruling her. "I'll give it seven. I liked it but it wasn't the best."