Thank you to M80 for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing an additional product for our contest prize. All opinions expressed are my own.
If you are looking for an atypical holiday movie you can stop your search. Rise Of The Guardians is the one. Dreamworks did a fantastic job of creating a modern and exciting story involving many of our most beloved holiday characters.
At first I was skeptical (I always am regarding animated holiday movies), but after watching the first few minutes of Rise Of The Guardians I knew I was going to enjoy it. The movie is fresh and exciting, offering just the right balance of humor, suspense, and action.
Although the movie leans towards Christmas, it is not a Christmas movie. In fact, 5 of our most favorite yearly holiday and legendary characters, Santa Claus, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and Jack Frost are represented in the movie and we get to learn a great deal about them and their stories.
What makes the movie so clever, is the fact that our most beloved fantasy icons are portrayed in more fun and alternate ways . . . as heroes and protectors of all children. Santa with sleeve tattoos and swords? Check. The Easter Bunny as an action hero who fights with boomerangs? Check. Jack Frost as a fun-loving and adventure-seeking teenager? All there. Don't let my descriptions panic you, it was all done very well. Never in my life would I have been okay with Santa having “Naughty” and “Nice” tattooed down each arm while fighting shadow demons with broadswords, but I saw it….and LOVED IT.
I can really rave about this movie and go on and on, but so much that I want to say here would spoil it for you. The overall message is that Rise Of The Guardians is an out of left field story about characters we all think we know. Dreamworks did such a wonderful job of expanding upon their lore in ways that supremely entertain us, while keeping our images of them intact (mostly).
The kids loved this movie, my wife loved this movie, and I loved this movie. Between the 5 of us, there were countless moments of out-loud laughter throughout the movie. There are a few moments younger children may find scary but nothing that would prevent them from seeing it with mom or dad sitting beside them. Our six year old twins did just fine. This DVD also has an hour of new bonus content following the movie.
Although not specifically a Christmas movie, Rise Of The Guardians - Holiday Edition would make an excellent family night movie for this holiday. It is always good to see Ole’ Saint Nick kicking some evil booty before Christmas! The Holiday Edition packaging, which includes a wind-up marching elf, makes this DVD (also available in a Blu-ray/DVD combo) a perfect Holiday gift or stocking stuffer! To learn more about this film, visit www.RiseOfTheGuardians.com.
Good luck in the drawing!
***Please Note: We cannot guarantee that the prize will be delivered by 12/24/13.*** This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. A random drawing will be held shortly after the contest closing. The winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.
