Legend of the Guardians (September 24 2010)

The Common Room Other Animation
#85

Well, it’s nice to see that the slow motion rain clip of awesomeness has some sort of point, but I think there’s something missing. It’s probably just a lack of context that’s stopping it from working perfectly.

Note to thedriveintheatre: that is not your cue to post the context of this scene (assuming it is in the books) in minute detail, taunting me with spoiler tags that shall mock me until the 30th of September. :wink:

Music choice is interesting, but I’m imagining this as building on some musical theme (probably Soren’s main theme, if he has one) that would be established earlier. HTTYD was great with this (I swear I pick up a new callback to an earlier track every time I listen to it), but without this in the clip, it’s striking me as just… there. It’s the problem with viewing clips in isolation.

Haven’t yet gotten around to checking out the revised website, so I can’t comment on Hugo Weaving (for me, Hugo Weaving and voice acting still equals disturbing subtext with Starscream) reciting the Guardian Oath.

#86

If you’ve been on the official site the past week before they revamped it yesterday, you woulda heard a sample of the soundtrack. Basil also mentioned Amazon has linked 30 second samplers now, but I’m refraining from reading the track list. But yes, the music does sound pretty enticing. I have a feeling in my gizzard it’s gonna be as good as HTTYD, but we’ll all know for sure come September 24th.

Note to nintendofreakgcn: No worries, I’ve only read up to the end of ‘The Journey’ (the second book; the movie will adapt the first three). I’m not sure if the scene in the movie is from the third book, cos’ there is a pretty similar scene in the second, but I’m not sure whether they have taken that from the second book and changed the details, or if they’ve taken a scene I don’t know about from the third and adapted it faithfully. If you understood what I mean, don’t worry, cos’ I certainly don’t. :wink:

And no spoiler tags or minute detail! I win! :stuck_out_tongue:

I hope they have specific cues like they did for HTTYD, instead of overlapping ‘generi-themes’ like TS3.

Haha, don’t worry, he sounds pretty awesome this time. If you recall his roles as Noah the Elder and Elrond the elf-lord in Happy Feet and LOTR, this is along those lines.

#87

The poster for the Japanese market has been released:

534×755 119 KB

If anyone can read Kanji, I’d be eternally grateful to know what the copy means! :slight_smile:

On GreenBeanTeenQueen, the lovely Ms Lasky was invited as a guest poster to give her opinions. Notwithstanding the plug for the movie at the end, she does make some interesting insight into her character-archetypes and story themes.

And on Moviefone, you can ask a question to Zack Snyder, Jim Sturgess and Ryan Kwanten (the latter two are the voice of Soren and Kludd respectively) on anything about the movie. If you’re lucky, Moviefone might just pick your question to be asked in the interview! But you gotta be quick, entry closes before Friday (though they didn’t state a specific time). I’m sure most of you would know who ‘Andre Tango’ from Sydney is… :wink:

#88

Great info, TDIT. Thanks for sharing! Owl City’s full music video for “To The Sky” was just released today. It shows a couple new clips, but most of the shots from the movie are ones we’ve seen before. You can watch it here: youtube.com/watch?v=ukgvTE3A0Ic

[spoil]The Adam is now Owls![/spoil]

#89

I’m trying to pick up the books tomorrow, at our local American Book Store.

Can anyone educate me about which one I must get first?

#90

Oh my glaux! Now THAT’s what I’m talking about! :smiley: I love it, love it, love it, love it, love it! I missed those days when they used to have film music videos like ‘Go The Distance’, ‘If I Never Knew You’, ‘Someday Out of the Blue’ and the most recent one, ‘Life is a Highway’.

Nowadays we get a half-version which has settings which ‘hint’ at the theme of the movie, but don’t actually have footage integrated in; like Never Knew I Needed and Darling I Do. This is a wonderful return to those glorious memories of my childhood. <3 I really hope that the actual film itself will be able to evoke a similar emotion!

Thanks Basil! This made my day.

Badger: The first book is ‘The Capture’. I recommend you start with that first, although Ms Lasky is kind enough to recap the plot at the start of every book like J.K. Rowling does in the Harry Potter series. But yeah, it’s best if you start from the very beginning. :slight_smile:

Current Mood
#91

Omg, I love Owl City! His music is amazing and this no exception :smiley:

I’m still not planning to watch this though since I didn’t like Happy Feet (though, the animation’s gorgeous).

Yeah, I totally agree with the film music video thing ^^ Gahh, the animation in LOTG looks sooo **

#92

While I think it’s not entirely fair to judge a movie based on its predecessors (Animal Logic has only produced one animated film so far), I do share your concern about story (I assume that’s the aspect you didn’t like about HF?).

I really hope they go for a ‘Watership Down/Secret of the NIMH’ plot as they say they’re doing as opposed to a ‘creepy-out-of-nowhere’ final act like they did for Mumble The Movie. And of course, that they keep to the Ms Lasky’s original vision as much as possible, which is amazing to begin with (I’m looking at you, Mr ‘Watchmen’ Snyder).

#93

I’m going to check it out, but some of the scenes from the trailers are getting on my nerves. For example, when Soren says, “You mean they’re real?”… I dunno. It just annoys me now, how he’s all dramatic. As much as I wanna see the movie, I’ll be glad when it finally comes out - I gotta say, these numerous ads are getting old.

#94

Uh, you DO know that keeping the movie close to the original is the screenwriter’s job, and not the director’s, right? I mean, yes; the director has to do that on the visual aspect, but the story itself is all on the screenwriter(s).

Would you say the line any differently?

#95

Fairy 'nuff. Personally, I can’t get enough of 'em (And strangely there’s little TV spots or public advertising here. Only ‘point-of-purchase’ displays at the cinemas. This is a Sydney-based animation studio, where’s the love, Aussies? :frowning:)

I guess Pixar has spoiled me with the impression that directors have ambit over the entire film-making process. Or quite recently, James Cameron. Which is the way it should be. Any great film would have a great sense of auteur-ship; the director’s fingerprints should be all over everything from visuals, story direction, and casting. But I’m also aware part of the onus is on the scriptwriters, who deal with the nitty-gritty details of it.

…

TrailerAddict has released a new interview clip of Hugo Weaving, the voice of Noctus and Grimble. You might want to skip 1:25-1:50 as he mentions some spoilers regarding Grimble’s character.

Sydneysiders might also want to check out the “S” section of the Sun-Herald in the Movie Reviews section. Some interesting factoids I found out:

  • The voice actors recorded their dialogue a year before the animation team created the characters, which is the opposite of what most animation studios do.

-While there were no actual motion-capture involved (which could be a good thing in a way), a stunt crew had wings strapped to their arms and were filmed performed martial arts so that the animators have a visual guide to work on.

  • The movie is three years in the making. The entire production length for the software alone is equivalent to 100 “person years”.

And just for laughs, this True Blood fan site has this to say about Ryan Kwanten’s character Kludd:

Wise… um… more like deviously sneaky. :slight_smile:

#96

ReelRave has released an interview clip of Abbie Cornish, the voice of Otulissa the prima donna, and her opinion on her character and the movie.

And for curious fans, here’s a video of Emily Barclay, the voice of Gylfie (Apparently she’s born in England, raised in NZ, and famous in Oz).

Personally, I think the casting director did a good job. Abbie and Emily really do look and act like their on-screen counterparts! :stuck_out_tongue:

#97

I ordered the first book yesterday. Can’t wait to read it! 8D

#98

I should have posted this a while back. Anyways the Legend of Guardians has been getting some promos in a site called Gaiaonline. This is a popular anime themed social networking site and has various of features; such as its very own MMO, Forum, Virtual Marketplace and etc, and in the past the site has promoted films such as Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar 2, Coraline and even Toy Story 3! Recently the admins have given out announcements promoting this film to teens and young adults who visits this site daily.

Trailer Promo
Movie Based Quest

This seems to earn the site some good revenue and the users themselves get to engage in special quests which is related to the film. For Toy Story 3, users had to collect stickers of our beloved characters which were randomly placed around the site and would earn the users TS3 based virtual items. They even give out virtual items if users choose to watch the movie trailer. This too acts as good promo for the film and introduces the film to those who may have not heard of it. This certainly is targeting a younger audience to watch the film and seems to be a effective method.

#99

Badger: You’re gonna love it! :wink:

azzstar: Thanks for the links. I’m always fascinated with marketing strategies, especially those film-related. :slight_smile:

…

So more stuff has been added to the official site.

New features are:

Official movie iPad app - For iPad users, you can now download the free movie app, which has a 3D storybook, colouring pages, and the ‘Bouncing Owlets’ game. If anyone does, I’m curious to know what’s it about, especially the 3D storybook.

Soundtrack page - You can now listen to longer samples of the soundtrack than the 30-second version on Amazon (and if like me, you prefer to listen to ‘The Guardians theme’ over ‘Kings and Queens’ in the background).

Sweepstakes page - List of sponsors who are participating in the promotional campaign. Mostly open to U.S. citizens, so if you’re American, you stand to win lotsa prizes!

Who’s Hoo - The character list has been moved to an external window with a slicker-looking interface. Still the same old materials, but some pics have been added to the different characters’ galleries which we have seen in some of the TV spots and trailers. I just like hovering over the animated icons in the dock.

The Guardian Books - A plug for the books that inspired the movie. An external link to the Scholastic site (which conveniently has some banner ads promoting the movie, talk about mutual symbiosis) and a video where Ms Lasky reads an excerpt from ‘The Capture’.

Official Shop - And last but not least, the obligatory merchandise. If you ever wanted a Gylfie plush, a neat-looking calendar or dress like an owl ( ) for Halloween, here’s where it’s at!

…

And for Ms Lasky fans, the author had an interview with Boston’s View to promote the movie. Of note here is her honesty in admitting that there will be changes in the movie (“A book isn’t a movie, and a movie isn’t a book”) and that what matters is the spirit. Other interesting bits were her biggest fear of the movie adaptation (that there would be humans, which thankfully Warner Bros. didn’t include just to lure in the kids) and her emphasis on ‘ordinary heroes’ as opposed to superheroes which are all the rage nowadays.

Also, I like the presenter’s cynicism towards 3D movies and Kathryn’s response.

J.C.: “It is in 3D by the way, what isn’t these days?”

Kathryn: “Yeah, it’s also in IMAX!” :smiley:

8D

#100

Six new clips (I know it says seven, but one’s just the “flying in the rain of awesomeness” clip we’ve seen already).

itsjustmovies.com/7333

Some spoilers within, of course, but in the six I’ve seen (haven’t watched the “Basic training” clip), it’s nothing major.

Soon, I’ll have to start remembering not to come onto this topic until the 30th of September (unless I win tickets to that advance screening on the 26th, but that’s highly unlikely).

#101

Reviews are starting to approach with Friday looming before us, and this is what seems to be the general consensus everywhere I look: the technical aspects of the film (visuals, score, etc.) are top notch, but the script is flawed and poorly paced. I’ve been hearing great things about the books, though… think something went wrong in the book-to-screenplay transfer?

#102

Thanks for the link, nintendofreak!

I’ve seen all except ‘Name’s Digger’ and ‘I’m the Echidna’, but I’ll probably give in to temptation later. My favourite is ‘Basic Training’ (where we first see Otulissa!), though ‘My Name is Nyra’ isn’t bad either (Helen Mirren is amazing as usual, and 00:29 is so sweet of Soren). The character animation is just mindblowing and dareisayit, ‘Pixar-level’. :slight_smile:

Basil: If you’re talking about the two reviews on Rotten Tomato at the moment, tribefan695 had posted it on Wall-E forums and I discussed it at length. I’ll just copy and paste my thoughts on 'em:

Interestingly, there’s also two opposing reviews on IMDB, one from Texas and one from Malaysia. Expect more to come in within the next 24 hours. I’ll probably follow the citizens on IMDB cos’ professional film critics are incredibly unimaginative and skewed towards independent features (which is ironic because although LOTG is being marketed as a blockbuster, it is an indy to a certain extent since it’s been produced by a newbie animation studio).

The same old stuff about ‘this story has been told before’ or ‘i can’t tell this character from that’ or ‘it’s too violent for kids’ doesn’t fly (to use a lame pun) with me. There’s very little original stories nowadays, what matters is the earnestness and passion in telling the tale. The characters are all owls, so of course it would be harder to distinguish than say, the myriad species in the Lion King or Madgascar. And too violent for kids? I’m sorry, but that’s how the books are for you (in fact, I’m not surprised if they actually tamed down the bloodshed), and isn’t the rating PG? :neutral_face:

#103

Interesting thing about that: when I first saw the original trailer, I had exactly that concern of not being able to differentiate characters, but seeing it in action in whole clips, it’s really easy to tell the difference, even between Soren, Kludd and their father (name escapes me at the moment, but that happens with much more well-regarded films, and isn’t a huge issue). It’s the little things, primarily the facial expressions, and especially the eyes. Animal Logic have progressed massively since Happy Feet (which I attempted to watch and couldn’t finish, because the eyes were so dead it was creepy). It’s way easier to tell the difference between characters than it is in the obvious (and repeated) analogy of Watership Down, where I still struggle to tell the difference between characters even after seeing the film multiple times and reading the book.

Of course, in regards to LotG, it also helps that they’ve got a group of voice actors which, although not amazing in their own right, are at least distinctive from each other. This is also something that Pixar do really well - there aren’t many voiceover performances in their films that I’d say are amazing, but they’re all sufficiently different, and Snyder seems to have come up with a similarly varied group.

#104

I agree! I thought Happy Feet was incredible when I first saw it, but something unsettled me about Mumble’s eyes. It was when I researched the ‘Uncanny Valley’ for an essay and rewatched it that I finally realised what it was. :slight_smile: And I’ve read halfway through WD and watched the whole movie, so yes, compared to Ga’Hoole, it’s much harder to differentiate between the characters. Ms Lasky did a great job in that respect making each character a different species, while the character modelers and concept artist succeeded in designing them as uniquely as possible (they look better than the illustrations on the inside covers of the books, IMO).

Yes, I think this is like a dream cast that Australians can be proud of (I’m not to speak on the Aussies’ behalf, but it is quite the achievement, isn’t it?). And then you’ve got Brit talents as well like Helen Mirren and Jim Sturgess. Like I said, it may be marketed as a Hollywood blockbuster, but it is anything but. :wink:

Speaking of ‘voice talents’…

…

Here’s your ‘behind the-scenes’ look at the actors recording their lines.

Legend of the Guardians’ B-Roll I
Legend of the Guardians’ B-Roll II

It looks like they’re really bringing their A-game here. I like how they ‘shadow-fight’, and Hugo-Weaving’s delivery of The Guardian Pledge is just spine-tingling (right before he bursts into laughter :stuck_out_tongue:).