Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
Directed by	Zack Snyder
Produced by	Zareh Nalbandian
Based on	Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Kathryn Lasky
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Country
Language	English
Rating	(Australia)
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$140.1 million

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is a 2010 film based on the books of Guardians of Ga'Hoole produced from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. It was animation studio Animal Logic.

Plot

Soren, a young barn owl, lives in the Tyto Forest with his family: his father, Noctus; his mother, Marella; his older brother, Kludd; his younger sister, Eglantine; and Mrs. P, the family's nest maid, a kindly blind snake. Soren enjoys listening to the 'Legends of Ga'Hoole,' which are mythical tales of warrior owls called the Guardians who fight against the Pure Ones. Kludd berates his brother's dreams, having grown tired of listening to the stories. When their father teaches them the first steps to flying, Kludd becomes jealous of Soren's natural branching ability. Later, when practicing branching while their parents are hunting, Kludd pushes Soren off a branch which forces them both to fall to the ground. They are attacked by a Tasmanian devil (who scars Kludd's face) but are saved, and then kidnapped, by two owls, Jatt and Jutt.

Along the way, more owlets are revealed to have been kidnapped. Soren meets Gylfie, a young elf owl who is also kidnapped. At St. Aegolius, the owlets are greeted by Nyra the general of the army and mate to the Lord High Tytoo, who says that they will be divided into either soldiers or 'pickers'. When Soren and Gylfie protest, they are sorted as pickers while Kludd, who betrays Soren, is sent to be a soldier. Soren and Gylfie avoid being 'moon-blinked' (a catatonic state induced by sleeping under a full moon), while the others do not know and become moon-blinked. They are forced to 'pick' through owl's pellets, scouring for bits of metal 'flecks', which are being used to build a superweapon. They are spotted by Grimble, a boreal owl, who reveals that he works under the Pure Ones only to keep his family safe and that he isn't really a Pure One at all. He teaches them to fly, but Nyra finds out whilst coming to invite Soren to become a soldier. Kludd decides to remain with the Pure Ones, despite Soren's pleas for him to come with him. Grimble and Nyra engage in a battle, but Grimble is eventually killed. Following his instructions to seek the Great Tree of Ga'Hoole and warn the Guardians, Soren and Gylfie fly out. Along their journey, they meet Twilight, a great grey owl, and Digger, a burrowing owl, and rest with them in their shared hollow. Soren is reunited with Mrs. P who is brought in by Twilight, having captured her for dinner while she searched for Soren and Kludd. She agrees to go with them to find the Guardians.

Meanwhile Kludd along with the other new soldiers are presented to the Lord High Tytoo A scared Eglantine is there too and Kludd was given recognition for his dominance over the other soldiers. The band flies towards the sea of Hoolemere where a flock of crows chaotically guides them to the legendary shrine and gateway of the Guardians, kept by an oracular echidna, who provides comic, but accurate, descriptions of the quintet and guidance to the object of their quest. He sends the owls out to sea to find the island of Ga'Hoole. En route, the band encounters a fierce storm and Digger's wings freeze, causing him to nearly drown in the sea, but they are saved by Boron and Barran, the king and queen of the Guardians who lead them back to the Tree of Ga'Hoole. The band are in awe, especially Soren. Later, Soren and Gylfie tells the Guardian council about the Pure One's plans. While the Guardians are skeptical, they hear their case nonetheless. However an elderly screech owl named Ezylryb is convinced by Soren's sincerity. Boron sends a great grey owl Allomere out with two scouts to investigate St. Aegolius.

The band is shown refuge at the Tree of Ga'Hoole, guided by a young Guardian-in-training named Otulissa, a short-eared owl. Soren develops a crush on her, to Gylfie's annoyance. She explains to them their basic training they will go through as becoming a Guardian takes years. Once they have found their specialty they will be fit with their position at the tree. They are sent to attend different classes to learn about the different skills called 'chaws'. Soren and his friends train hard together and enjoy it there. Meanwhile Kludd is proud to be in the army of Metal Beak who tells his soldiers and sons they will take back what is rightfully theirs. Eglantine soon begs Kludd to take her home and while trying to convince her that this is their new home, he finally agrees but moon blinks her. At the tree Soren is reading the battle of the Ice Claws, when Ezylryb asks Soren what he thinks of it, Soren says that this was nothing like the story his Dad told. Ezyryb tells Soren to rest up as tomorrow they are going to learn how to truly fly. During the lesson in the middle of a rainstorm, Soren grasps a brief hold on gizzard-flying (flying purely with instinct) by flying into a swirling rain cloud, but loses control and falls towards the sea. Ezylryb rescues him and invites Soren back to his hollow. There, Soren learns that Ezylryb is, in fact, the Lyze of Kiel; the legendary leader of the Guardians who fought and defeated Metal Beak, the ancient leader of the Pure Ones, and Nyra's mate. But Soren is disheartened when he learns that his hero is a battle worn veteran who scoffs at his own past. Allomere returns from his scouting mission with news that his two wingmen were killed in an ambush. He brings back with him two moon-blinked owlets, one of which is Eglantine. Seeing the evidence, the Guardians arrange for battle and fly out towards St. Aegolius. Before leaving, an anxious Soren begs Ezylryb to let him come, and while he seems to allow it he instructs Soren to take care of his sister. While tending to his sister with Mrs. P, Soren talks to Eglantine about how their Da's stories of the Guadians, the Ga'Hoole tree and even Lyze of Keil is all real. When she finally comes out of her trance, Soren and Mrs P. are so happy she is back. Eglantine tells Soren that it was Kludd who moon-blinked her and gave her to Allomere (she wasn't rescued like they said), and Soren realizes that Allomere is a traitor and that the Guardians are actually flying into a trap. The band then follows the Guardians by taking a quicker path, along the way they find hints where the Guardians went, they soon notice some smoke and follow it to where they find the Guardians subdued by the flecks, contained in a machine operated by bats. Metal Beak plans to use bats to kill them as they are unaffected by the flecks.

Twilight, Gylfie and Digger fend off the bats sent by Metal Beak to kill the paralyzed Guardians. This causes Metal Beak to distrust Allomere, and, believing he lied to him about bringing all the Guardians, so has him dragged away by several bats, and is seemly killed in the darkness, despite the deal they made. Meanwhile, Soren flies through a forest fire, igniting a lamp of oil, and manages to disable the fleck trap. Freed and recovered, the Guardians fly into battle and Ezylryb goes straight for Metal Beak, who with Nyra begins to overpower him. Soren flies into the battle after spotting Kludd, but he attacks Soren, throwing him into the forest fire. The two brothers briefly fight while Soren tries to talk some sense into Kludd by pointing out what they were doing to the owls but he calls Soren weak which Soren states is not true. When asked why he sided with the Pure Ones, Kludd replies that the Pure Ones believe in him like no one ever has, and that Metal Beak has instilled in him the belief that the strong will triumph, the broken will be put out of their misery and that honor is just another word for weakness before he leaps onto Soren, causing them to fall down a tree. Injured, Kludd tries to trick Soren into helping him up, but as he attempts to do so, Kludd attacks him again, only for the branch Kludd is holding onto to snap, causing him to fall into the fire and disappear, seemingly killed. Furious and shocked at Kludd's apparent death and betrayal, Soren grabs a flaming branch and attacks Metal Beak, but the evil warrior easily gains the upper hand on Soren. His over-confidence proves his undoing, however, and as he dives at Soren, the younger owl manages to impale him on the branch, killing him. Nyra, shocked at her mate's death, retreats with the remaining Pure Ones. Ezylryb tells Soren he did the right thing and now they can amend the chronicles

When they return to the tree, Soren and Eglantine are reunited with their parents, who have just arrived. The band is then welcomed and initiated as new Guardians. Some time later, Soren tells the story to a group of owlets, revealing that Nyra is still out there with a contingent of Pure Ones. He also reveals that Kludd's body was never found. Meanwhile, back in the smoking remains of the canyons, a shadowy figure with glowing red eyes (most likely Kludd) is shown looking at Metal Beak's body and mask. The movie ends with Ezylryb and the band flying off into another storm.

Voice cast

• Jim Sturgess as Soren
• Emily Barclay as Gylfie
• Ryan Kwanten as Kludd
• David Wenham as Digger
• Anthony LaPaglia as Twilight
• Helen Mirren as Nyra
• Geoffrey Rush as Ezylryb / the Lyze of Kiel
• Joel Edgerton as Metal Beak
• Hugo Weaving as Noctus and Grimble
• Adrienne DeFaria as Eglantine
• Miriam Margolyes as Mrs. Plithiver
• Sam Neill as Allomere
• Essie Davis as Marella
• Abbie Cornish as Otulissa
• Richard Roxburgh as Boron
• Deborra-Lee Furness as Barran
• Barry Otto as The Echidna
• Angus Sampson as Jutt
• Leigh Whannell as Jatt
• Bill Hunter as Bubo
• Gareth Young as Pete

Release

Home media

The 2010 Region 1 DVD includes a documentary featurette about owls, entitled True Guardians of the Earth, featuring ornithologists and conservationists, and presented by child actor Rico Rodriguez and character Digger the Owl (voiced by [David Wenham). The cartoon Fur of Flying is the second special feature.

Video game

Main article: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (video game)

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released a game based on the film, as well as including some elements from the books, for the Wii, Xbox 360, [PlayStation 3, and Nintendo DS platforms on September 14, 2010. The game was developed by Krome Studios] for Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 with the Nintendo DS version developed by Tantalus Media.

Reception

Critical response and box office

In the US it took in $5.5 million on opening day, ranking third at the box office in the US. It ranked second on Saturday, earning $6 million, and was No. 1 on Sunday, earning $4.6 million (US). Overall, it earned $16,112,211 on its opening weekend, reaching second place at the box office behind Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in America. This makes Legend of the Guardians Zack Snyder's first film not to reach No. 1 on its opening weekend in the US. In its second weekend, the film slipped 32% to $10,887,543 and held on to second place, this time behind The Social Network, claiming the title of the biggest second-weekend hold for an animated feature in 2010. The film ended its run in February 2011 with a $60.5 million domestic (US) gross. In the wider market, it grossed over $120 million from its international release, bringing the total to $180,073,390.

Rotten Tomatoes] reported that 50% of 122 sampled critics gave the film positive reviews and that it received a rating average of 5.7 out of 10. It reported the critics' consensus as "Legend of the Guardians' dark tone and dazzling visuals are to be admired, even if they're ultimately let down by a story that never lives up to its full potential."

Accolades

Group	Category	Recipient	Result
38th Annie Awards	Animated Effects in an Animated Production	Sebastian Quessy	Nominated
	Music in a Feature Production	David Hirschfelder	Nominated
	Production Design in a Feature Production	Dan Hee Ryu	Nominated
	Voice Acting in a Feature Production	eoffrey Rush	Nominated
Visual Effects Society Awards 2010	Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture		Nominated
	Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture		Nominated
Satellite Awards	Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media		Nominated
Saturn Awards	Best Animated Film		Nominated
AACTA Awards	Best Visual Effects	Grant Freckelton	Won
	Best Sound		Nominated

Snippets of the film were shown when the company behind the animation, Animal Logic won the Byron Kennardy Award.

Soundtrack

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
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WaterTower Music released the film's official soundtrack on September 21, 2010. The album includes thirteen score tracks composed by David Hirschfelder. The soundtrack also includes the song "To the Sky", recorded by Owl City exclusively for the film.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"To the Sky" (performed by Owl City)	3:39
2.	"Flight Home (The Guardian Theme)"	3:51
3.	"Taken to Saint Aegilious"	5:37
4.	"Welcome to the Pellatorium"	4:51
5.	"A Long Way to the Guardians"	5:57
6.	"You Know We're Flying"	2:37
7.	"A Friend or Two"	5:18
8.	"The Boy Was Right"	4:04
9.	"Sharpen the Battle Claws"	6:22
10.	"Follow the Whale's Fin"	5:11
11.	"Into Battle"	5:07
12.	"Hello Brother"	2:51
13.	"My Soldiers, My Sons"	3:27
14.	"More Baggy Wrinkles"	3:19
Total length:		1:02:11

In popular culture

In the 30 Rock episode "Double-Edged Sword", Legend of the Guardians is the in-flight movie on the aircraft piloted by Carol (Matt Damon), who claims his passengers "...think that $300 and a photo ID gives them the right to fly through the air like the guardian owls of legend!” In a 2014 episode of Simpsons, "Specs and the City", Bart gives Nelson an "Owls of Ga'Hoole"-themed Valentine, showing disdain for Nelson by giving him a card referencing what he considers to be a bad movie.

Trivia

• Due to the amount of books that were released, the filmmakers had to find a way to fit everything into one film. While several of the characters from the books did appear in the film, many of them were not included.
• Despite the owls being primarily from North America, the actors who portrayed them were from Australia.

External links

• Official website
• Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole at IMDb
• Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole at Metacritic
• Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole at Box Office Mojo
• Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole at Rotten Tomatoes

Template:Ga'Hoole

Zack Snyder

Films directed: Dawn of the Dead (2004) • 300 (2006) • Watchmen (2009) • Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010) • Sucker Punch (2011) • Man of Steel (2013) • Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) • Justice League (2017)
Films produced: 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) • Wonder Woman (2017) • Wonder Woman 1984 (2019)
See also: Cruel and Unusual Films • Deborah Snyder