As a visual experience, this film shines: colorful, detailed, fast-paced, etc., set to a playful and rousing original score. Otherwise, it is by and large a failure, often as boring and inert as its generic action-movie title. First, it is not a Christmas film, despite the presence of Santa Claus (portrayed here as a rather cold and intimidating Eastern European muscleman, a misguided creative decision which frustrates throughout). It is set on the eve of Easter and has none of the nostalgic, even romantic warmth one expects from a Christmas film. It is far more concerned with nonstop action, which is its second and perhaps most significant flaw. This film moves and moves and moves; one melancholic scene revealing the origin of a key character stands out as the best because it such a relief amidst the crushing, hectic motion of a film desperate to avoid boring children even for one iota of a second. Despite a strong cast, including Jude Law as the antagonistic Pitch, none of the vocal performances are too memorable. No Ellen in Finding Nemo caliber comic magic here, just an easy payday for a handful of film and television stars. In general, I just found this to be an uninteresting chore: never did I become invested in the characters or transported and moved by their magical adventure. Pity.

C

Really enjoyed it. The animation was gorgeous and I thought it was very sweet and well-performed by all voice actors. It was also pretty dark for a family film which was a welcome change (though it could be a reason behind the somewhat lackluster early box office). It was a bit strange that it wasn't set around Christmas, but it didn't bother me too much. B+

Disagree with David, agree with thompsoncory. B+

I actually thought this was rather enjoyable, nice effort from Dreamworks.

BJs Grade:

B+

A fine effort, to my surprise it got quite the emotional response out of me.

The second mes animated film of the year, and definetly the most underrated.

A

I was suprised how dark it was, but I liked it. Better than Ralph.

I haven't seen this, but I'm puzzled as to why Jack Frost looks so much like King Joffrey.

Definitely!

It's nothing special, but it's sufficiently entertaining and surprisingly serious for a DreamWorks Animation film.

B

Beautifully animated and mostly heartwarming, Rise of the Guardians is mostly entertaining but isn’t quite as interesting as its fun premise would want.

Maybe not right forum, but I remember how hyped people were for this film's box office. It's The Avengers with mythical characters for kids! No, not it wasn't. The Avengers was The Avengers with mythical characters for the kids lol.

I don't remember much of anything about this film, but I gave it a 2.5/5 on lettrbox.