Rise of the Guardians (2012)

I hate winter.

Now that I've got that out of the way, I can explain why I did not hate "Rise of the Guardians" as much as some of the other critics appear to have hated it. And I think it's because the one thing the film managed to do to me was make me like the most unlikely of characters: Jack Frost.

In an unfortunately predictable script by pedigreed playwright David Lindsay-Abaire (based on the children's books by William Joyce), "Rise of the Guardians" is the essentially the story of how Jack Frost redeems himself, evolving from an ice-throwing prankster with a name not known by children who nonetheless enjoy his handiwork to a full-fledged, Avengers-like hero who has, at the urging of Santa, "found his center."

Santa (called "North" in this film and voiced inexplicably with a Russian accent by Alec Baldwin), is the one who reminds Jack (a compelling Chris Pine) that the work of the legendary Guardians revolves around protecting the goodness of childhood and the spirit of children. He tells Jack that his job as Santa is to maintain a sense of wonder in children. He is joined by Bunny (of the Easter variety, voiced by Hugh Jackman, who is given license to go full-blown Aussie with it), Tooth (of the fairy variety, voiced by Isla Fisher), and Sandy (the sandman, who is both mute and perhaps the most exciting and loveable of all the film's characters).

Jack's problem is that he's all about mischief. In one of the film's moments of true adult-reaching depth, North realizes that although the other Guardians are charged with the protection of children the world over, they are too busy to actually spend time with them. Only Jack, as it turns out, has spent any time near them and with them to observe their natures and behaviors.

But for all of Jack's understanding of kids, he suffers one terrible problem. They don't know his name. And consequently, he is invisible to them. This makes it difficult for the Guardians to understand why the Moon would assign Jack Frost to join them as their newest member.

Jack is forced to figure out his calling quickly, just as the other Guardians are faced with accepting his membership in an instant when Pitch (Black, the boogey man, voiced by Jude Law and drawn quite similarly to Disney's Hades in "Hercules") arrives. Pitch instills fear into the children, turning Sandy's dreams into nightmares and extinguishing the lights on North's globe one by one, the lights that indicate each believing child on the planet. As Pitch replaces beliefs with terror, he vanquishes Sandy's sweet dreams (and Sandy himself) with black dust stallions. He imprisons the Tooth Fairy's "baby teeth," her army of hummingbird-like helpers. And finally, he attempts to forge an alliance with Jack: two under-appreciated forces of nature, neither known fully enough to kids to be able to appear before them.

Despite Lindsey-Abaire's frequent injections of heart and depth, "Rise of the Guardians" defaults to an ending one can see coming from far away, which includes a redemption of Jack that is strangely touching even as it is predictable. The interplay between the other Guardians is mostly annoying. Only Jack is worth following. Fortunately, Jack Frost is central to the plot and the storytelling.

Director Peter Ramsey, a veteran of movie art departments making his feature film debut shepherds crisp, imaginative animation that makes Jack an alluring, Peter Pan-like figure. I could measure the film's success in this endeavor by my son's obsession with Jack Frost since we saw the film. He has spent the last two days searching the house for something he can turn into Frost's staff, used to turn things to ice and temporary collateral damage in the film's penultimate confrontation between Frost and Pitch.

Another problem with "Rise of the Guardians," in addition to the predictable path its story takes and the annoying interplay of most of its main characters, is the speed with which the film flies by. Certainly this is exciting to kids in the audience, but whether it's Santa's sleigh, a kid on a sled at Jack's icy mercy, or swirls of black sand circling the air at Pitch's command, the pace rarely breaths. Even the film's score, composed by the always lovely Alexandre Desplat, surges to uncharacteristic levels of mania. What's sad about all of this is how stunning some of the film's images are, particularly those that involve sand. But the film never pauses enough for us to appreciate or enjoy them.

Ultimately, "Rise of the Guardians" tips gingerly into my "like" column thanks in part to a genuinely affecting back story for Jack Frost, who of course finds "his center" by the end of the film. It's an uneven film of predictable plotting and manic animation with multiple moments of fleeting but resonant emotional depth. I ended up caring nothing for Santa, the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny, though I became an instant fan of Santa's elves, portrayed here as walking triangles. ("They don't really do anything," North admits in one hilarious moment. "We just let everyone think they do." The line goes something to this effect.)

On the way home from the movie theater, my kids asked me a question that pretty much sums up the whole experience. "Daddy, is Jack Frost real?" my son asked. "Is Santa real?" I replied. "Of course," he answered. "Well, then..."

★ ★ 1/2