"The Guardians of Ga'Hoole" is a 16 book series by Kathryn Lasky about owls in a world after humans have gone. The series is about four owls who meet each other fleeing from a school where kidnapped nestlings are brainwashed into doing as they're told. Their destination, the great tree of Ga'Hoole where a band of owls who protect the weak, defend the innocent, and preserve learning through out the four kingdoms. Only, they escape from the pan and into the fire, right into a world against the tyrannical and fanatical Pure Ones who plunge the world into war.

This is a thread for discussing both the book series and the movie, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole.

I'll be honest. I've never heard of the books. But I have just recently noticed the movie they're making of it.

My library has the books, but they looked kinda... lame... so I didn't touch 'em.

But then my dad showed me the trailer for the film, and it looks like it'll be good. I think we'll watch it after it comes out on dvd.

At the least, the CGI looks stellar. Hopefully the story is pretty decent too.

The movie looked cool stylewise, but I don't really like animal movies, and I figured it wouldn't be worth watching anyway.

Never heard of the book or movie. I need to do some research. You all need to stop giving me homework, this girl is busy enough!

If they stay true to the book, it'll be good. It's actually more like a fantasy WW 2 with owls and A bombs.

My brothers would so do WW2 with owls and A bombs.

The Pure Ones are very Nazi-like, and the main leader is the main character's brother who is suspected of pushing the MC out of the nest.

Wow.

They're awesome.

One of my younger brothers is your age Varon, I bet the two of you would get along great.

Probably.

I hadn't heard of the books till the movie came out, and I took my seven year old sister to see it.

WOW! I expected to be totally bored, but we both loved it! She liked the baby owls, and I liked the themes.

And you're right. The Pure Ones are very genocidal and the orphanage reminded me of a concentration camp. *shiver* YIKES!

And the imagery is breath taking. Completely eye candy.

I may consider getting the books soon if they're anything like the movie.

I haven't seen the movie so I couldn't judge. Yeah, it's very much like WW2.

I want to see the movie. I didn't know there were books!

Yeah, there are.

A few years ago I read the first couple of the series... I thought they were pretty good then, so I would like to see the movie too

It reminded me of WW2 as well! Great minds think alike

The film. The full title: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole. Apparently there is a related series of books, but I haven't read them. I watched the movie recently on recommendation from a friend. He described it as: "A WWII film set in Middle-Earth with owls and a Chronicles of Narnia flavor to it." I describe it as: "Not as stupid as it sounds."

With seriousness, the idea of epic battling birds of prey with metal claws is incredibly dramatic on-screen. Fascinating setting. Absolutely amazing animation. The story does have some weak posts (most notably, a tendency to be melodramatic), but it was worth watching.

The film also boasts a high level of morality that was absolutely refreshing. Soren is a true hero. The narrative is clean. War and death are handled honorably. Had the story been smoothed out it a bit, it would have been truly beautiful.

An extended review is on my blog: http://aubreyhansen.blogspot.com/2011/0 ... dians.html Has anyone seen this? Read the related books?

The pure ones totally creeped me out! And I'm supposedly an adult I liked the movie, as did my brothers. We watched it because Varon told us to

Good for Varon! The Pure Ones were effective. Nazi-esque, one friend of mine described them as.

Exactly. *shudders* Those tallon swords were awesome though!

Wow, this sounds cool. I only saw a fleeting poster of this as an ad on telly, but it looked like a fun watch. I saw the books at the state library of Tasmania, and said to myself "Aha!" But I didn't have the time to give them a squiz. I'm guessing they would be much like Redwall?

I've not finished reading Redwall, but it's that concept of animal fantasy, yes.

Well, a friend of mine wanted me to expound on my thoughts about this movie... and I ended up with 8 pages of notes... do y'all want me to share?

Why not? This is the right thread for it!

Warning, it's LONG... I wouldn't recommend reading this if you haven't watched the film. It will probably ruin it for you. And, disclaimer - despite the way this sounds, I actually did enjoy the film!

I'll post it in parts...

***
I thought the opening images of the owl flying over the sky and land were gorgeous and stunning, though the strange slowmo with the loose feather kind of broke the suspension.

The playtime sequence was cute – gotta love Good Big Brother letting Cute Little Sister snuggle up to him. However, the entire passage is very OTN and obvious; you know all of that information will be important later, and you have a good idea of how it will be used. Soren believes the tales and will be vindicated; Kludd doesn’t believe them and will suffer for it. You also can bet on it that you’ll meet Lyze and the Evil King later in the story. I think some of this information could have been delivered more creatively; wouldn’t it of been cute if all of this history were delivered subtly with Soren and Eglantine playing instead of Soren telling the story straight? What if it had started out like a flashback and melded into the kids playing?

Or, perhaps, they could have extended more of Soren’s role-playing into the branching scenes. They already have a bit of it in there, and brining it out would have given the branching scenes more substance. Right now, the first branching scene doesn’t tell us a whole lot, except that the boys bicker and Soren is a better flier. (I’m actually kind of surprised that he is… almost might have been more fitting if Kludd was better, but I suppose this inferiority is what gives Kludd his desire to succeed with the Pure Ones.) I think with a little bit of work, Soren’s obsession with the old tales and Kludd’s disagreement could have been blended together more smoothly, giving the whole opening sequence more weight. All of this information is needed for the inciting incident (where the boys fight and fall out of the tree), but it could have been delivered in a more impacting, cohesive way.

I don’t think the parents’ little talk at the end of the first branching scene added anything to the film. As it stands, it seems a little unrealistic that Mom would be worrying about Soren now, when he’s no doubt been a dreamer for awhile. What if Soren’s role-playing had been extended to the branching scenes, and his goofing off caused him to fall or crash (or get in a fight with Kludd and then crash)? Then Mom might start worrying that Soren is taking this dreaming stuff a little too far. I don’t know if that would add anything to the theme, though, so I’d probably just cut it. “I worry for both of them” was a smart thing for Dad to say, though.

Gross as it is, I think the scene describing Eglantine’s first pellet was well-done. It kept the audience guessing and was educational without being boring, and the animals’ various reactions were realistic. Since they needed to explain pellets for future use in the movie, this was a good way to do it.

Soren and Kludd sneaking out to do more branching is horribly cliché. I just knew, as soon as Soren suggested it, that something inciting was going to happen because of it. Now at least, in this instance, Soren got punished for his escapades, but this literary tactic to get kids in places they normally wouldn’t be is incredibly overdone. It also seems a bit out of character for Soren… unless they were trying to portray him as arrogant. (Ultimately, I’m not sure what Soren’s main character fault was supposed to be, come to think of it…) If Soren had egged Kludd on, or Kludd had suggested it, that might have been more realistic. What if Kludd were out doing it, and fell, and Soren tried to save him? Or what if Soren went out on a limb (I mean literally) while role-playing with Eglantine and fell?

However, it is realistic the way Soren got Kludd to agree to it. It was also very appropriate that Soren would try to explain his fanciful way of thinking about flying, Kludd would get frustrated, and the two would fight and fall. That works for the story. I just think there might have been a more creative way to set it up, one that didn’t scream “They’re going to get in trouble for this! Wait for it!” If Soren and Kludd had had permission to go out, that might have been fine, but because Soren made it sound like they were doing something they shouldn’t…

Once we’ve fallen to the ground, I think it’s pretty obvious that we shouldn’t be here. The characters didn’t need to announce “We’re on the ground” and “We need to get back up.” *grin*

Having the kids get “rescued” by the Pure Ones from that ground animal was a good plot twist. I also think it’s good that they established, briefly, during the fight that Soren was willing to defend his brother but not vice versa.

I definitely think we could cut the OTN and melodramatic dialog during the kidnapping scene, from everyone. There are probably more creative ways to introduce both Grimble and Glyfie, though you do think Grimble is purely evil at this point, which is good. Not sure what to think about the bad guys joking amongst themselves… it’s funny, but it takes away their terror. Kludd falling and having to be rescued was good.

I don’t quite get this “you are now classified as orphans” stuff. No one believes that at this point, so it’s not an effective explanation on the bad guy’s part. It might have been more effective to say nothing at all, or to try something more cryptic that kept us wondering what these guys are up to. I think it’s kind of odd that some of the captive owls start refusing the Pure Ones without really knowing who they are.

I love that Soren is protective of little Glyfie, but I definitely think the whole ordeal could be set up better. It would have been interesting if Soren had been given a reason to protect Glyfie – he saw her abused or something – instead of just meeting on the way over with OTN dialog. Perhaps if Soren had met her on the ground and saw her frightened and alone, that would have been enough to spark his protective instincts and give the audience a reason to identify with the two.

Also, while I understand what happened in the exchange between Nrya and Soren, it would have been more dramatic and clear if Glyfie had done something more obvious, been facing sudden punishment, and Soren had stepped in. Right now it happens rather fast, and nobody does anything extra special (I’m rather surprised Nyra took notice at all, and that Soren and Glyfie are the only ones making objections). All Nyra does is tell Soren not to bother with the little owl, and Soren chooses to stay with Glyfie. Had we developed this relationship a little more, it could have been extremely heroic and dramatic instead of just incidental. And then Nyra’s statement of “Perhaps when you remember your nobility…” would have had more impact. In summary, I think the whole transition happened too fast and should have been spread out more to be further developed.

Everyone seems so averse to being a picker… but do any of these owlets know what a picker is? It doesn’t seem like something they would know about from the outside world. It’s okay if the audience is clueless – we pick up on people’s fear – but it seems unreasonable that everyone else knows to be afraid.

I think the incident that caused Soren and Kludd to divide was very realistic. If the issue with Glyfie had been developed better, this parting would have had more impact as well.

I think it’s kind of unnecessary that Glyfie would tell Soren that he didn’t need to help her. Also, it’s odd that Soren would rant about “I could never be with those Tytos” when we still don’t really know who the Tytos are and what they’re up to. Yes, we’ve gotten that they’re evil, but right now all we really know is that they’re making slaves out of us.

This moon-blink stuff is rather odd. It works, but they simply explain it with some OTN dialog from Gylfie and move on. Had we experienced the dangers of moon blinking more personally, or at least had it explained in a more dramatic way, it would have had more impact.

Now is a really odd time for Soren to suddenly talk about escaping. We STILL don’t even know half of what’s going on! The whole ordeal of “We’ll learn to fly in secret” is cliché, but it could have worked – if we had actually seen it. One thing I think would have been really interesting for this film would have been to see Gylfie and Soren surviving under slavery, with Soren protecting Gylfie, for a day or two, sneaking in flying lessons. That could have been very exciting, and we’d of found out more about these Pure Ones and their plans. (Then we’d know for sure that there isn’t any way out except to fly, and so forth.) What I would have done is have Grimble catch the kids during one of these flying lessons. The audience would be devastated, only to find that Grimble is on their side. That would have multiplied the drama of Grimble’s entrance, which is already pretty good. But, as it stands, all Soren says is “We’ll learn how to fly in secret” and then we don’t see any of it.

CONT.

The magic with the flecks is just bizarre. It works for the Pure Ones’ purpose, but I think the story would have been a lot more suspenseful had they been doing something more organic. Something that was more complicated to pull off (and, hence, more interesting to watch) and, subsequently, harder to undo. As it stands, at the end, the magic pins all the Guardians until Soren shuts it off. Very direct on both ends.

Grimble’s story is nice and all, but hold up a sec – the Pure Ones have been invading other kingdoms? How big is this thing? How come we haven’t heard of this before? Grimble’s story is rather cliché, and it’s slightly dissatisfying because Grimble dies and we never hear anything else about his family. He dies so soon after we meet him that it’s hard to feel the loss too harshly; again, had there been a bit more development with Grimble, a few scenes of sneaking flying lessons perhaps, we would have been more impacted by his death – AND it would have been more enthralling when Soren and Gylfie realized they could fly during the chase.

I like that Krudd fights to impress Nyra and has a bit of a rivalry going with another recruit, but they’re only at it one day (at best) and one scene before Nyra says “Let’s see how much you improved” and “Lord Tyto will be very pleased with your progress.” Again, the transition is very fast. If we had seen Krudd developing (while we watched Soren’s end of the tale developing more deeply), it would have had more impact. It would have also made the confrontation with Soren shortly thereafter more powerful (which was a very good incident, that). The slowmo during the blue bird chase was very unnecessary and stifling.

I think it’s very neat that Grimble and Nyra also fell off the edge right after Soren and Gylfie took flight. I was not expecting that and it was a nice continuation of the fight.

Nyra’s discussion with Krudd after the chase was very revealing and suspenseful… bringing in Eglantine! Ooh!

I love Digger. He’s so quirky and fun. It’s odd that he talks about “scary beasts” out by the sea and all we ever run into are some crows. When did Glyfie get hurt? I missed that. And when did she get better? They rested for like 15 minutes before they were off again!

It’s very convenient that Twilight (I like him, too) would capture Mrs. P. It’s sweet, but I’m not sure what it adds. Mrs. P doesn’t do a whole lot except stay with Eglantine later. And how did she get captured? Was it because she was out of the tree looking for the boys? And since she’s there to remind Soren that he ought to go home, I’m not sure we address the issue well… shouldn’t we go back and get adult help? I’m not going to be really picky on that issue, but if you’re going to bring in the voice of reason in the form of the snake, you need to answer it!

Isn’t it kind of odd that Twilight sings about the “night falling – and so do we. We fall asleep” when owls sleep in the daytime? I’m not sure what that happy scene added to the story, but it was cute.

I was a bit disappointed that Krudd just suddenly showed up with Eglantine. I was hoping there would be a bit of a time clock – Soren’s gotta get back before Krudd gets ahold of Eglantine. And how did Krudd just sneak into the nest and walk off with her, anyway? And why is she just standing there while the new soldiers are presented to Lord Tyto?

The crow chase was nice, but it came on rather suddenly and I’m not sure what it proved – except that Soren is becoming a good flier. If Mrs. P hadn’t of been in danger, I’m not sure it would have had any impact at all. The trip to the sea, overall, was very short with little… challenge.

Somebody tell me what the mystic echidna added to the story, except being mentioned in one of the myths? He gave them some vague directions, which could have been easily in the legend. In fact, it would have been more epic had Soren been forced to rely on what he knew from the myths, to go in the direction even if there was no one to tell him that the tree truly was beyond the mists, to fly out over the sea, not knowing if they’d ever find a place to land and rest their wings…

Digger falling and being saved by a Guardian was a wonderful twist, but the mystical slowmo kinda ruined it. This movie had a tendency to ruin the drama by exaggerating it. Don’t underestimate the power of fast images!

I think it’s interesting that, after Soren believed for so long that the Guardians existed, he had to convince them of the existence of the Pure Ones. They jumped into the council scene without a lot of warning; it might have been interesting to develop this notion a bit longer… perhaps, Soren could have been disappointed that they only sent out a few scouts to check the matter, and had to learn patience to wait and believe… it would have fit with his character, I think. Also, Soren rambles like he understands the extent of the Pure Ones regime, when he never had time to figure out the details of the Pure Ones while he was there. He was kidnapped by them and escaped about a day later! Wouldn’t it of been interesting if Soren had been forced to try and convince the Guardians of the severity without really understanding all that the Pure Ones were up to?

Otulissa was an underdeveloped character – what did she ever do besides attract a few glances from Soren?

The montage at the tree would have been a lot more enjoyable if it hadn’t of been accompanied by an out-of-place pop song. This is fantasy – they didn’t have rock back then! I’m not sure that the montage added a lot to the story. If it had been clear that Soren had learned something important during the montage, had some character development, it would have felt less random.

Why is Kludd standing around watching Metal Beak’s address to the soldiers? Shouldn’t he be training, or be with the other recruits, or be supervised by somebody? Is he suddenly so important that he can wander on his own? His discourse with Eglantine didn’t make sense; it wasn’t realistic. The girl is still standing around doing nothing! It’s unclear why Kludd would want her moonblinked. Perhaps it would have been more realistic if Eglantine had gotten handed over to Nyra and the queen had done the damage.

I could do without the slowmo, weird chanting, and mystic implications in the scene were Soren and the others are training to fly in the rain. But is it just me or does this scene have a bit of a “Peter walking on the water” flair?

The scene were Lord Allomere and the others conduct the ambush is crafty. If you realize Allomere is a traitor, you can pick up on the signs; if you don’t, you’re fooled along with the others.

I think the transition with Eglantine could have been stronger. She does serve a purpose – mostly to relay the information that Allomere is a traitor. It doesn’t make sense that Kludd would let her go, exactly… or Nyra. After all that talk about “bring your sister to me, she’d be useful,” we just send her away? What if Kludd had been angry with Nyra for moon-blinking his sister and had sent her away in hopes she’d get better?

CONT.

I think it’s a strong turn of events that Soren realizes his hero is real – but not as glamorous as he once thought. That impact could have been strengthened; it could have been a turning point in Soren’s character arc. If Soren’s character fault had been dreaminess and believing war was glamorous, the confrontation with Lyze would have been brilliant. It’s still a good twist, but it could have been better.

Overall, though, I think Lyze gives very honorable assessments about war, except for calling it “not heroic.” War isn’t treated lightly or as glamorous or fun, but it’s stressed that we do this ugly thing because it’s right, even if people lose lives. Similarly, I like the way Soren’s defeat and killing of Metal Beak is handled. We don’t kill the bad guy callously.

How does Eglantine recover from the moon-blinking? They’re not really clear how or why that happens.

I absolutely love that Soren doesn’t run off into the battle, but stays according to his elder’s advice. And because he stays, he’s around to hear the news about the ambush – brilliant! When he does go to relay the information about the trap, he takes others (including adults) with him.

Allomere’s betrayal during the battle could have been a bit more obvious and dramatic. As it is, he just flies away and you sort of get that he betrayed them. It would have been fun to have him throw down one of them and be the one to trigger the magic or something.

Soren’s plan is genius, but it’s a little unclear how he gets the idea. Was that pot originally hanging there for a purpose, or is that just conveniently stashed? Flying through the fire was very dramatic, but way too much slowmo and weird music – we lose the sense of urgency. Why doesn’t Nyra and her mate do something more drastic when Soren’s team steps in, instead of just sitting around and watching Soren succeed? Why aren’t the bats affected by the magic? Isn’t it kind of odd that Nyra fights without any weapons or armor? She’s just out there getting shoved around and grunting. I’m surprised that Metal Beak is so clueless and allows Lyze to just run into him. The battles are all very dramatic, but there’s way too much slowmo.

It’s dramatic that Kludd becomes so evil that he’ll go so far as to almost kill his brother, but his motives are very unclear. At the end he says (quite OTN) – “They believed in me like no one ever has.” The transition is so quick, and his motives are not well-defined. He could have been a vicious and amazing character if his arc had been more believable.

Soren’s burning stick sure stayed aflame for a long time… The battle ends very quickly after that; Nyra retreats easily, and we’re left to assume that the Guardians were winning outside.

What about Glyfie’s parents and such? Does Soren ever really grieve for his brother? What about his parents? We keep talking about the Guardian Oath and the fact that the Guardians weren’t exactly upholding it, but we never really develop that fact. That could have been an amazing addition to Soren’s arc, with the way his story finished, if had been made clear that he was the only one to uphold the oath’s heart even if he wasn’t a Guardian in name.

The story is nicely bookended with the “I don’t want to give anyone daymares” concept, but it’s odd – Lyze says that Soren shouldn’t disappoint his audience, and then they fly off? The ending screams sequel, which no doubt worked great in the book (if it were destined to be a series), but I wouldn’t have done it in the movie, personally.

Overall, with the exception of a few logic issues, this movie’s problem isn’t the core plot. The core plot had a ton of potential, but the narrative killed it by the way it was organized. Much of it was underdeveloped, while other scenes were stuck in there with no purpose. The moments that did have high drama were stifled with ill-fitting effects like OTN dialog, slowmo, and weird background music. It’s a neat story, and worth watching – I enjoyed it. But with a little bit of work to the storyline, it could have been amazingly gorgeous.

END.

That's apparently what happens when someone asks me to "unpack" and be more detailed.

I guess it is a bit of an obvious mention to WW2 with the Pure Ones and their belief in that Barn Owls are supreme.

Has anyone read the series and seen the movie?

The series has 16 books and from the sound of it, they compressed the first four books into one movie.

The flecks aren't magic either.

I have not seen this, I saw the trailer and didn't fancy it but as I'm seeing such good reviews of it here, I shall put it on my must watch list!

Wow, 16 books? That's a lot. One of the things I noticed about the film is that the ending screamed sequel, which probably worked great in the book but not so much in the film.

If they're not magic, then how do you define the flecks?

Agreed, it totally screamed sequel.

The flecks are magnetic in the books. The series is very non-magical.

I've also noticed several discrepancies between the books and series already. The biggest is that Kludd pushed Soren out of the tree as a sacrifice to the Pure Ones basically, but Soren got picked up by St. Aggies instead.

They're pretty good.

It was on page three.

Oh well doesn't that just make me like him all the more.

I'm not at all surprised that the movie is different from the book. That happens in the conversion, and it's often necessary. Now whether the filmmakers made good changes... that's another issue.

The story had some weak spots (as expounded by my 8-page dissertation), so I'm curious to read the books and see if these issues are corrected.

See, in the movie Kludd and Soren fall together in a tussle and get picked up by the Pure Ones. Soren becomes a picker; Kludd stays to become a soldier. And the flecks radiate this blue light-stuff that pins the Guardians. Isn't scientific at all, as far as I can tell.

I seem to remember it implying it was magnetic... But I could be wrong. I only watched it once.

I could be wrong too. It just felt so odd and there was all this talk about "does something to your gizzard." Now unless owl's gizzards are affected by magnetism... it just had a mystic feel the way they portrayed it.

I could see strong magnetic pulls like that affecting an owls tiny gizzard... Now I'm going to have to go research it!

In the books, they're magnetic. Humans have a heart, owls have a gizzard. It didn't glow in the books.

I'll have to rent the movie from the library and watch it.

I loved the movie. It gave me gobs of ideas for my Apsaran's (humanoid race with wings instead of arms and prehensile feet) weapons and armor. I was inspired to try reading the books, but 16 books is a big number.

They're small books, about 150-200 pages each, written for middle grade readers probably.

That's good that you got ideas. What also is mentioned is that the world it's set in is our world several thousand years in the future.

Well, I changed my mind and about this film. It's on sale at Target for anyone else that's interested.

XD While trying to figure out whether or not to buy the book for my sis for her birthday, I googled "guardians gahoole christian review." Y'all are hit 11. And not very helpful to me, since I'm looking for info on the book and not the movie, but I think I can fix that with a question.

So. We're concerned about alternate spirituality and negative things being portrayed in a positive light. Reading other reviews, people can't agree on anything. Got anything to say?

I saw it last night. Very pretty but rather dull altogether.

(Didn't really see anything evil about it.)

Well, for alternate spirituality, it's as Christian as you can get when dealing with talking birds after mankind has either died out or left the planet.

Negative things in a positive light, none that I can think of.

Overall, it's a pretty clean fantasy series, like Redwall without the Mother Nature chants and such.

Yeah, Joe, the movie is entirely good. Wanted to check about the books.

Good to hear, Varon. I got all confused when looking at Christian reviews. Wiki said there is a sort of alternate owl religion, and a Christian review site said there was no spirituality in it. Mixed. Messages. Annoying. And the reviews never agreed with each other on message.

You other readers-of-the-books think the same as Varon?

I've seen the movie now, and it was nothing compared to the books.

As in, the books are significantly better? Because the movie is growing on me steadily - I'm really glad I bought it. It's a clean film that I can watch repeatedly without feeling irked about or guilty over content.

The books have more of an impact and the Band learns more and mature a lot more.