Legend of the Guardians – First Look at Zack Snyder’s Animated Feature!

Books, Movies | Jay Tomio | March 4, 2010 at 6:13 am

legend of the guardians

I kind of forgot about this, which is odd since I’m such a huge fan of Zach Snyder. Legend of the Guardians is a feature animated film from Warner Bros directed by Snyder, based on the Guardians of Ga’Hoole novels by Kathryn Lasky. Lasky, a Newbery Medal award winning author, has written 15 books in that series, the last being 2008′s War of the Ember (the 15th book in the series-wow!). USA Today has offered up a first look at the film, featuring a group of images that we’ve posted below. Legend of the Guardians is based on the first 3 novels: The Capture, The Journey and The Rescue. The article calls the series “a cross between Watership Down and The Lord of the Rings.”

Featured in the film are Jim Sturgess and Emilie de Ravin, who are joined by Deborra-Lee Furness, Hugo Weaving, Helen Mirren, Ryan Kwanten and Richard Roxburgh–great cast there!

My question upon hearign about this project was how “kid’s safe” is it, as Snyder has made his reputation by very visceral. While I await a rating to come (and we will update!), Snyder was quoted by USA Today:

“not as hardcore. We wanted a beautiful, computer-generated, 3-D world the kids had never seen before.”

I would suggest that Snyder’s claim to fame isn’t in violence or necessarily visceral films. I’d say he’s excellent at adapting material he’s given, and we will have to see if it holds true for what seems to be more toned down source material, written for a YA audience. Warner Bros. is looking at a September 24th release.

What’s Legend of the Guardians About?

Acclaimed filmmaker Zack Snyder makes his animation debut with the fantasy family adventure “Guardians of Ga’Hoole,” based on the beloved books by Kathryn Lasky. The film follows Soren, a young owl enthralled by his father’s epic stories of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a mythic band of winged warriors who had fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones. While Soren dreams of someday joining his heroes, his older brother, Kludd, scoffs at the notion, and yearns to hunt, fly and steal his father’s favor from his younger sibling. But Kludd’s jealousy has terrible consequences-causing both owlets to fall from their treetop home and right into the talons of the Pure Ones. Now it is up to Soren to make a daring escape with the help of other brave young owls. Together they soar across the sea and through the mist to find the Great Tree, home of the legendary Guardians of Ga’Hoole-Soren’s only hope of defeating the Pure Ones and saving the owl kingdoms.