Rise of the Guardians

Hundreds of years ago—as the story goes in this animated feature—the Man in the Moon appointed Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman as Guardians, to serve as protectors of innocence and wonder. Their sinister adversary is the Boogeyman, who is determined to destroy children's naïve belief in these magical icons. Playful, yet lonely, water sprite Jack Frost (voiced by Chris Pine) is thrust into the fray, much to the dismay of the other Guardians, who are skeptical about this slippery, invisible outsider able to turn water into ice. Known as North, Santa (Alec Baldwin) talks like a Russian, sports tattoos and a thumb ring, and is tended by manic elves and hard-working yetis. Bunnymund (Hugh Jackman in native Australian mode) is joined by fleet-footed, faceless eggs, while the flitting forces of Tooth (Isla Fisher) not only faithfully bestow her under-the-pillow coins but save the teeth they gather. Lastly, the snoozing Sandman silently spins his pixie dust through children's windows at night, begetting the sweet dreams that the Boogeyman, called Pitch Black (Jude Law), is determined to turn into dark, despairing nightmares. Their battle for youthful minds and hearts is waged around two New England tykes: Jamie (Dakota Goyo) and his little sister, Sophie (Georgie Grieve), who stumbles into the portal linking Earth with the Guardians. Amusingly adapted from William Joyce's The Guardians of Childhood book series, filmmaker Peter Ramsey's fairy tale is a bit frenetic, yet beautiful to behold. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Peter Ramsey and producers Christina Steinberg and Nancy Bernstein, a “Dreamers & Believers” voice cast featurette (11 min.), a “Sandy's Dream Guide” interactive segment, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are a “Behind-the-Magic” section with four production featurettes (28 min. total), “The Man Behind the Guardians” segment with author William Joyce (7 min.), the interactive games “Jack Frost Snowball Showdown!” and “Rock, Paper, Scissors with Sandy,” and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a solid family film.] (S. Granger)