Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole: Difference between revisions

 

 

The story follows an owl named Soren. He and his brother, Kludd, are kidnapped by evil owls and taken to a sinister realm called St. Aggie's, where Kludd is recruited into a [[Legion of Doom]] and Soren is put to work in a massive owl sweatshop putting together pieces of a superweapon. At St. Aggie's, a villain named Metal Beak is building up his forces, an army called the Pure Ones, with the intent of conquering the world of owls.

 

Soren and a friendly elf owl he meets escape and go on a quest to find the Tree of Ga'Hoole, the legendary home of a race of warriors: the Guardians, who are sworn to fight evil.

* [[3D Movie]]

* [[All-Star Cast]]: [[Helen Mirren]], Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving, Sam Neill, Richard Roxburgh, Joel Edgerton, Anthony LaPaglia, Miriam Margolyes.

* [[Aloof Older Brother]]

* [[Angrish]]: Nyra does a couple of these.

* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: Nyra, who flies into the final battle without a helmet or steel talons and downs more birds than any other Pure One.The Pure Ones value strength above anything else. So it stands to reason that the Queen of the Pure Ones would be strong. It might be that [[Asskicking Equals Authority]].

** Ezylryb.

* [[Bat Out of Hell]] / [[The Swarm]]: With blades on their wings!

* [[Battle Couple]]: Nyra and Metal Beak are an evil example.

** By the time the fight in the forest fire happens, you can tell Kludd's had his pushed ''way'' too many times.

* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Twilight.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Compared to other recent talking animal films.

** [[Lighter and Softer]]: Compared to the original books.

''' {{spoiler|Grimble}}''': You're ''not'' my queen! }}

* [[Disney Villain Death]]: Implied to be Kludd's fate after he falls into a forest fire. {{spoiler|He gets better}}, but that doesn't stop his screaming while {{spoiler|seemingly}} falling to his death from being any less creepy.

* [[Evil Laugh]]: Metal Beak has a wonderfully disturbing chuckle in the back of his throat that is made of pure creepy.

* [[Faceless Mooks]]: The Pure One owls. Not only do they wear face-concealing helmets, but while the Pure One initiates are being addressed by Metal Beak, one guard has a helmet that covers his face completely, no eyes at all.

** There is a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Pq_HdVDBA deleted scene] that has owls being enslaved, bats implied to cut a owl's wing (or at least its flight feathers, which is equally creepy) off, and a violent battle wherein a owl gets a talon sliced off in clear view of the camera.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: And ''how!''

** [[The Dragon]] / [[The Dark Chick]] - Nyra

** [[The Evil Genius]] - Kludd

* [[Five-Man Band]]:

** [[The Hero|The Leader]]: Soren

** [[The Chick|The Heart]]: Mrs. P

*** [[Lampshaded]] in the movie by the Echidna, who refers to the group as "The Band" at one point and gives them the above labels.

** When Soren figures out that {{spoiler|Ezylryb}} is {{spoiler|Lyze of Kiel}}, the latter tells him:

** When Soren and Gylfie are learning to fly Glyfie as trouble because of her small wings. Their teacher tells them that Lyze of Kiel had small wings. He is the smallest of the Guardians that we are introduced to.

* [[Good Scars, Evil Scars]]: Kludd and Grimble both have them. Kludd has evil ones, Grimble has good ones.

* [[Gory Discretion Shot]]: Several major character deaths are done in this way.

* [[Idiot Hair]]: Digger's [[Idiot Hair|Idiot Feather]]

** Soren's name sounds an awful lot like Soarin'

** "I FORETOLD YOU SO!"

** Digger's dialogue is full of these.

'''Digger:''' That's right! Owls hoo! }}

** And again later:

'''Digger''' That's right! Owl! }}

** Let's not forget the first exchange that set off the warning bells:

'''Digger:''' They're a hoot! }}

* [[It Got Worse]]: Well, after falling from the nest, Soren and Kludd are attacked by a Tasmanian devil. Two owls come to their rescue. However...

* [[Mentor Occupational Hazard]]: {{spoiler|Grimble. Averted with Lyse who Metal Beak was going to kill in front of Soren, but he escaped.}}

* [[Misplaced Wildlife]]: The mammalian life is quite obviously Australian, but the owls are from all over the world.

* [[Never Found the Body]]: {{spoiler|Kludd. [[Oh Crap|Because he's still alive.]] And may become the new Metal Beak, if they decide to do a sequel.}}

* [[The Obi-Wan]]: Grimble.

* [[Owl Be Damned]]: Subverted in that owls are on all sides, but Metalbeak and Nyra play the creepy owl factor for all it's worth.

* [[The Owl-Knowing One]]: Similar to the above, only one owl out of the cast is ''wise'', but we do spend the latter half of the movie hearing him wise at Soren.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Right before his [[Moral Event Horizon]] crossing, Kludd releases a small bird that he and the other Pure One initiates were trying to catch.

* [[Playing Possum]]: Metalbeak does this once.

* [[Pragmatic Adaptation]]: Although there are enormous differences between the books and the movie, most fans agree that the changes are true to the books' general spirit, and make it a very enjoyable film to watch whether you're a fan of the original or not.

** The Pure One [[Mooks]] get these.

** Nyra's eyes are initially normal, befitting her projected appearance of a beautiful, reasonable and trustworthy authority figure, but the more furious she becomes, the redder her eyes get. At one point during battle, her eyes are as red as any other among the Pure Ones.

** {{spoiler|When Kludd is revealed to be alive at the end, his eyes glow a sinister red as he looks upon the fallen Metalbeak's mask.}}

* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: Averted with Mrs. P, a snake that acts as a nursemaid.

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: Boron and Baran, the rulers of the tree.

* [[Save the Villain]]: Sort of. {{spoiler|Kludd becomes a full member of the Pure Ones and turns completely against Soren in the end, attacking and attempting to kill his own brother without remorse which would classify him as a villain. After the fight that leaves Kludd with a broken wing and pleading of Soren to save him, Soren tries to, but just barely manages until Kludd tries to attack him again, accidentally sending himself plummeting into the fire.}}

* [[Scenery Porn]] / [[Scenery Gorn]]: The Guardians' Tree? Breathtaking. The Pure Ones' base? Terrifying.

* [[Sequel Hook]]

** Soren and Otulissa {{spoiler|who isn't even Soren's mate, according to the book canon}}.

** Gylfie seems to have a soft spot for Soren and doesn't take too kindly to Otulissa.

** [[Hot for Teacher|Kludd and Nyra]]. Since, in the books, {{spoiler|they become mates and produce two eggs,}} this makes sense.

** Yes, [[Vomit Indiscretion Shot|owls do regurgitate mice in that manner.]]

** More like they read the book...

* [[Sibling Rivalry]]

* [[Sleep Cute]]: Gylfie and Digger fall asleep against Soren on a tree branch.

** Both sides are made up of owls, but only the bad guys use trained attack bats. And probably as an artifact of their need for pureness, most of the antagonists are barn owls.

** Indeed the Pure Ones consist entirely of owls from the Tyto genus (aka barn owls). Lampshaded by many characters but notably Kludd in the line "Because we are Tytos!" in answer to Metal Beak's query of why the Pure Ones are superior. 'Lower species' are reserved for the grunt work alone but do 'stain' their feathers as a sort of uniform or show of loyalty.

** The bats are evil.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: A song by ''[[Owl City]]'' playing in the background as they explore the tree, anyone?

** There's a very subtle one in the bird-chase scene early on. The bird they're chasing is an ''Indigo Bunting''. That means that the would-be Pure Ones were...bunting baiting.

* [[The Dog Shot First]]: The outcome of Soren and Kludd's fight.

* [[Those Two Bad Guys]]: Jatt and Jutt. They even have a discussion on the best use of (rather silly) intimidating looks.

** During their fight,{{spoiler|Kludd}} breaks his wing and begs Soren to pull him up. He may have been trying for a [[Mutual Kill]], but it was still a really stupid decision when there's a ''forest fire'' going on beneath them.

** The trailers billed the movie as an epic quest wherein Soren becomes his ideal (a Guardian) through many trials while trying to reach them. At least, to those that never read the novels.

* [[Training Montage]]

* [[War Is Hell]]: Hammered home by Ezylryb.

* [[Warrior Poet]]: Twilight likes to think of himself as one, though he's arguably better at the "warrior" part.

* [[Who's Laughing Now?]]: {{spoiler|Kludd}}'s "reason" for joining the Pure Ones.

* [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit]]: [[Your Mileage May Vary|Possibly]] employed by Kludd in the burning forest, just before he falls into the flames.

* [[You Killed My Father]]: Soren's reaction in a nutshell at {{spoiler|Kludd's "death"}}

* [[You Shall Not Pass]]: {{spoiler|Grimble. He manages to hold off both Nyra and two other Pure Ones, and even when Kludd made his [[Face Heel Turn]], he still had enough fight in him to ensure that Soren and Gylfie managed to escape}}.

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[[Category:Animated Films]]

[[Category:Animal Logic]]

[[Category:Animal Title Index]]