Every breed of owl, every color and feathered couture of the species makes an appearance in this film, but these stunning creations do little more than look good, making this into yet another good-guys-versus-bad-guys saga.
Owls languish at the top of their food chain but the filmmakers completely undersell their status and, instead of resolutions evolving from the fabled owl wisdom, violence is used, which might well lose Warner Bros its target audience and as it’s nowhere near intelligent enough for adults, this lavish 3D offering could make it to the DVD graveyard in record time.
Soros and Kludd live with their sister and parents. Their father often waxes lyrical about the Legend of the Guardians, who were winged warriors and fought a great battle to save all the owl kingdoms from the evil of the Pure Ones. No one has ever seen them and no one knows if they are fabled or real.
One night, Soros and Kludd practice their flying skills, stray too far from home and are kidnapped by owls from the Pure Ones clan. The owlets soon discover they have been stolen to be trained as soldiers, in preparation for an impending attack on the Guardians.
The first problem with this yarn is that the Guardians are supposed to guard the owl kingdom but the Pure Ones have been kidnapping and training owlets for yonks. In fact, they’re so owled-up they’re nearly ready to attack, yet the Guardians have no clue anything is afoot until Soros wings it across a lot of sky to tell them. Some guardians they turned out to be.
The second flaw in this story is in the actual set up and, with no foundation on which to grow, is fatal. The Guardians are referred to simply as a legend, and in no way impact on the owl world and most certainly don’t rule. Therefore when the Pure Ones reveal their plan to usurp the Guardians, there is no sense of danger as their intentions are never explained and ‘evil’ is a pretty vague word.
Does it mean that, once in power, the Pure Ones will impose a Perch and Pounce tax, and owls will have to start paying dues? Or does it mean the regular owls will be allowed to hunt only for insects and grubs, even if it means starvation, and the meaty stuff, like the rats and frogs, will be left for the fat cats at the top to snag?
If the latter is true, the economy will eventually go into decline, but the owl rulers will still do OK for themselves as, having adopted Bush-style Capitalism, they can continue to gorge themselves on frogs and anything else they fancy.
And if, in the meantime, China moves in and buys up the ailing kingdom’s debt, creating a new and dangerous international food chain, so what? Why would any of the fat cats give a hoot?