Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)
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A young barn owl must escape a brainwashing academy and rally a legendary order of warriors to stop an evil empire.
The story
Soren, a young barn owl living in Tyto Forest, grows up listening to tales of the valiant Guardians of Ga'Hoole who fought the evil Pure Ones. His life changes drastically when he and his brother Kludd are kidnapped by the Pure Ones and taken to the St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. At the academy, owlets are subjected to a brainwashing process to become soldiers or metal-finding 'pickers.' Soren befriends a fellow owl named Gylfie, and together they resist the indoctrination. After escaping the facility, the two set out on a perilous journey to find the legendary Island of Ga'Hoole to rally the Guardians for war.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Soren, a young barn owl in Tyto Forest, is kidnapped by the Pure Ones and taken to St. Aegolius Academy. While his brother Kludd becomes a soldier, Soren and Gylfie become 'pickers' but resist the 'moon-blinking' brainwashing. They escape with the help of a boreal owl named Grimble, who is killed by Queen Nyra. They meet Digger and Twilight, and eventually find the legendary shrine of the Guardians, where an oracular echidna helps them find the Island of Ga'Hoole. After surviving a snowstorm where Digger's wings freeze, they are saved by the Guardians, King Boron and Queen Barran. Soren learns that his teacher is actually Lyze of Kiel, who defeated Metal Beak. They discover that Allomere, a Guardian, is a traitor who has brought moon-blinked owlets (including Soren's sister Eglantine) to the tree. The Guardians fly to St. Aegolius, where they are captured in a magnetic field. Soren navigates a forest fire to neutralize the trap. In a final confrontation, Kludd attacks Soren out of rage, breaking his wing and falling to his death. Soren then stabs Metal Beak to death, causing Nyra to retreat. Soren and his friends are initiated as new Guardians, though a shadowy owl resembling Kludd survives to claim Metal Beak's mask.
- First release year
- 2010
- Runtime (minutes)
- 97
- Production countries
- Australia; United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Zack Snyder
- Writers
- John Orloff · screenplay; Emil Stern · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Helen Mirren · Nyra; Geoffrey Rush; Jim Sturgess · Soren; Hugo Weaving; Emily Barclay · Gylfie; Ryan Kwanten; Anthony LaPaglia; Miriam Margolyes; Sam Neill · Allomere; Richard Roxburgh; David Wenham · Digger; Joel Edgerton · Metal Beak
- Genres
- animated; fantasy; action-adventure
- Themes
- bravery; freedom; brotherhood; sacrifice
- Tone and mood
- dark; dazzling; sinister
- Premise and plot tags
- fantasy; adventure; talking animals; based on book series
- Source material / true-story basis
- Guardians of Ga'Hoole book series by Kathryn Lasky
- Franchise connections
- Guardians of Ga'Hoole
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its dark tone, animation and voice acting, but criticized the changes made to the source material.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 52% · scale: positive reviews · review count: 133; Metacritic · score: 53 · scale: 100 · review count: 21
- Awards and nominations
- Byron Kennardy Award · animation · win
- Production trivia
- The film's animation process took place at Animal Logic's headquarters in Sydney, Australia.; A team of over 500 artists, technicians and support staff were amassed to design and animate 15 unique species of owls.; The animated end credits sequence shows the adventures of Soren, Gylfie, Digger and Twilight as told by the young owls as if they were putting on a shadow play performance in the Great Tree.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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