Rise Of The Guardians

Plus, with the "grainy" effect they have, they actually very closely mimic the art style used in William Joyce's books!

I don't know, I like the Sandman's design. It kind of adds to the otherworldliness of his character.

Eh, to each their own I guess. It's not like it's any kind of a deal breaker for me, and to be honest once I get into the movie I likely won't even care.

Funny thing is, it might even be that it just conflicts with the sandman that I was told about as a kid. I'd always imagined him as this sort of wise, doddering old man. Very tall, very slim, heavy robes, very slow moving... but kind and gentle, sort of thing. Like sleep itself, I guess.

... that's sort of interesting, come to think of it. This movie is like pure, universal nostalgia. Even as an adult or an older teen, everybody knows these characters. Everybody can get taken in by them, get drawn into the magic that they knew. I think it's very possible that this movie could be completely universal in that respect... or I might be putting a bit too much stock in it, but hey.

Nah, I think that's pretty accurate.

edited 10th Apr '12 12:16:46 AM by UmLovely

Iwas watching the trailer(Yet again), and It occurred to me that they're giving a lot of presence to the sand effects. They're in a lot of shots, and the title is even made of sand...

And the villains horses seem to be made of black sand...

This is interesting, methinks.

I always pictured the Sandman the same way, myself. But it seems like they're blatantly refusing some of the more "popular" conceptions of these characters, while still staying true to the essence of them.

I wonder how the Easter Bunny being Australian will go over in Australia. AFAIK, they still have a huge invasive-species problem with rabbits, don't they?

Yes, and we have the Easter Bilby

My Australian friend found it very odd, for just the reason you mention.

: I remember reading about that in Ranger Rick back in the day, but didn't want to say anything for fear of it being horribly outdated and/or never that big a thing in the first place.

From what I understand from the article, the EB is merely an "adopted" Aussie in that he merely has a fondness for the place, but yes, it is still a bit unusual. Still, from what the article also says, it sounds like that was a bit of a Throw It In! since Hugh Jackman is playing him.

Adopted nothing, Bunnymund MADE Australia. Story goes that the Earth was originally egg shaped and as a result, it's orbit was close to being thrown off and leaving it to drift into the sun. Bunnymund carved the earth down to it's round shape and created a few landmasses in the process, the primary one being Australia.

Also capable of hopping through time and space and watches the timestream carefully enough to deny anyone time-travelers the chance to alter it. And invented chocolate, which basically acts like Popeye's Spinach for him.

edited 12th Apr '12 8:56:50 PM by FigmentJedi

And he is now my favorite character.

HE'S SO COOOOL.

I have seen this concept before, but it has always been something played for laughs. A such I really, really hope they play it straight for once. That's not to say they can't have fun with it, but the trailer is playing them up as a group of badasses that happen to be childhood icons and that is what I hope it delivers.

This is going to be off topic, simply because my mind's buzzing and won't shut up, but we know the Guardians are a Five Man band, who do you suppose will fill what role? Besides the obvious with Saint Nick as the Hero.

And another side note, I'm going to start counting the stelth or lame puns you can pull from Pitch. He's the lord of nightmares and his first creations we see are horses. Ding! Then again he's also named Pitch, with that whole black sand vibe. Ding! This is going to be a long one if more trailers pop up.

Actually, Jack Frost has more or less been confirmed as The Hero. You just didn't see him in the trailer because they want people to focus on the concept.

I hope they don't go that route with Pitch. Dreamworks has gotten good at doing formidable villains, and this is their chance to make a really, really scary one.

Nah, Jack Frost is more of a Young Gun or Sixth Ranger

edited 18th Apr '12 9:16:28 PM by FigmentJedi

I think that the whole 'nightmare' thing is stretching the definition a bit, and him being called Pitch and having black sand is more a Meaningful Name. I mean, you may as well call the Sandman's name a pun at that point.

Personally, I'd call the Five Man Band breakdown like this:

• Santa - The Big Guy(Assuming Jack IS the hero proper, I wouldn't know myself)
• Easter Bunny - The Lancer(He's got the character for a good one, at least.)
• Sandman - The Smart Guy(Or at least the wise guy - he seems the most serene and level)
• Tooth Fairy - The Chick
• Jack Frost - The Hero(Again, making a bit of an assumption there)

Yeah you're probably right. Maybe pun was the wrong way to put it, but meaningful name does work. Still, nightmare and pitch black just kind of pop at you. I think Saint Nick would get Lancer duty personally. He is the one to send the call to the others with Pitch making his big boast. He has that kind of leadership vibe, you know?

Saw the trailer for this movie at the theater today while seeing Madagascar 3. The direction of Dreamworks' studio has definitely changed quite a bit. It kinda felt more like a Pixar trailer.

I was hoping to see the Wreck It Ralph trailer in a big screen, but they played the trailer for Finding Nemo 3D twice!

First time I've seen the trailer. I'm impressed, in that it looks serious enough (well except for Santa's tattoos, are those a Cape Fear reference??) and the designs are pretty original, yet feel mostly appropriate. Yeah, I'm watching this one too.

edited 9th Jun '12 8:45:50 AM by Sijo

Someone saw an early version of the film recently.

Ouch.

On the upside, the film does have a long way to go before it's released. Plus, I think this might be the same guy who saw How To Train Your Dragon early and gave it a C. So you never know.

Meh, I'm still more than intrigued by this than by Madagascar 3 or even (gasp!) Brave!

Ever since Kung Fu Panda came out, Dreamworks has been just getting better and better at making funny and genuinely sincere genre movies.

Kung Fu Panda, Monsters Vs Aliens, How To Train Your Dragon, Megamind. Heck, even their sequels were good! Puss In Boots, Kung Fu Panda 2, Madagascar3... Their only recent stinker has been Shrek Forever After and I have a feeling that was because by that point, everyone (including the people who worked on it) was tired of Shrek and just wanted to be over and done with.

And this has badass Russian Santa? I'M THROWING MONEY AT THE SCREEN◊!

(It's a shame that, out of all the animated movies that I want to see this year, Brave is impressing me the least. Although this may be leftover resentment from the wreck that was Cars2 and the fact that Pixar trailers are almost never good... So yeah, sceptical on Brave.)

edited 10th Jun '12 12:20:00 AM by PippingFool

I think it's less impressive because Pixar is (almost) always good. Dreamworks Animation is more interesting because you never quite know what you're going to get.