About.com Rating

From the makers creators of How to Train Your Dragon comes an interesting animated film that explores what the lives of some of our favorite mythical beings, Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, Jack Frost, and the Boogeyman, might be like.

Although the film was only considered a modest box office success, it is definitely worth viewing on Blu-ray, and comes in several packages, including both 2D and 3D versions.

For this review, I was sent the 2D Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. To find out if it is worth your consideration, keep on reading...

Description

Studio: DreamWorks/Paramount

Theatrical Release Date: 11/21/2012

Blu-ray/DVD Release Date: 3/12/2013

Running Time: 97 minutes.

MPAA Rating: PG

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Animated

Principal Voice Cast:

Chris Pine - Jack Frost (Jack)

Alec Baldwin - North (Santa Claus)

Isla Fisher - Tooth (The Tooth Fairy)

Hugh Jackman - Bunny (The Easter Bunny)

Jude Law - Pitch Black (The Boogeyman)

Executive Producer:Guillermo del Toro

Producer: Christina Steinberg

Director:Peter Ramsey

Discs (Standard 2 Disc Blu-ray Edition): 1 Blu-ray (50GB) and 1 DVD.

Digital Copy: Standard and Ultraviolet Digital Copies.

Video Specifications: Video codec used - AVC MPEG4, Video resolution - 1080p, Aspect ratio - 1.78:1 (original theatrical ratio is 1.85:1) - Special features and supplements may be in various resolutions and aspect ratios.

Audio Specifications:Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (French, Spanish)

Subtitles: English, English SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing), French, Spanish,.

Bonus Features and Supplements

Legendary Features:

Behind the Magic - A four-part presentation on the planning and production of the film that can be viewed individually or all at once: Dreaming Up the Look, Naughty & Nice: Designing Memorable Characters (includes interviews with the voice cast), Enchanting Effects, Creating An Epic Score.

The Man Behind the Guardians - A featurette about how DreamWorks Animation worked with original book author William Joyce to bring his stories to the big screen.

Dreamers and Believers - A profile of the cast and characters of Rise of the Guardians.

Sandy's Dream Guide - In this interactive guide, the Sandman helps interpret your dreams, based on key symbols that may show up.

Commentary - Director Peter Ramsey, Producers Christina Steinberg and Nancy Bernstein.

Previews - Trailers for The Croods and How to Train Your Dragon (Riders of Berk), Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Madly Madagascar, and the Rise of the Guardians Video Game. Also, if you click on the Sneak Peek tab on the main menu, you will also be able to see an additional trailer for an upcoming animated film: Turbo.

World of DreamWorks Animation - Popular music video clips from Shrek, Madagascar, How to Train Your Dragon, and Kung Fu Panda promoting their Blu-ray and DVD collections.

Note: Most of the above features are also included on the DVD version, with access to some additional features requiring playback via a PC-DVD drive.

Blu-ray Exclusives:

Jack Frost Snowball Showdown - Use your remote to duck, dodge, and throw snowballs.

Rock, Paper, Scissors with Sandy - An interactive version of the popular game with the Sandman as your opponent.

The Story

Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman are the immortal guardians of the Earth's children. However, unexpectedly, a past evil, named Pitch Black (aka "the boogeyman"), is back to weave nightmares and fear into children's minds, and it is soon apparent that the Guardians need to bring someone new into the fold in order to combat Pitch. However, although Jack Frost, an immortal loner with untapped superhereo potential who settles for just being a mischief maker, may be just the equalizer that the Guardians need to counter this threat, he is reluctant to take on this important responsibility.

What follows is a fantasy adventure that explores the "true" personalities, secrets, and superhero powers of the Guardians, as well as the worlds they inhabit, culminating in a decisive battle between light and darkness to attempt to save the hopes and dreams of children around the world.

Blu-ray Disc Presentation - Video

The 1080p Blu-ray transfer is excellent, with no signs of over processing, such as edge enhancement. The animation is extremely complex and detailed, with vibrant color and well-defined gray tones and deep black levels.

What impressed me the most about the visual look of the film, as translated to Blu-ray, was the production design, in which several distinct enivronments (or lands) were created (such as the North Pole, the Easter Bunny land, Tooth Fairy land, and small town USA).

Also, the character design is very well detailed, from the (mild spoiler) "naughty and nice" tattoos on Santa Claus's arms, to the feathers and fur on the the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny.

Also, there is a lot of snow and ice in this film and though it is animated, it has a lot of detail and texture.

However, even though the film is very colorful and detailed, the production designers and animators did a great job presenting the shadowy, gray, environment and characters associated with Pitch Black (the boogeyman) - which provides a distinct counterpoint to the rest of the color and production design of the film.

Also, even though I did not see, or review, the 3D version of the film, the visual presentation provided on the 2D Blu-ray package shows a lot of depth via the appropriate use of perspective, textures, and shadows.

Blu-ray Disc Presentation - Audio

The soundtrack for Rise of the Guardians was originally mixed for theatrical presentation in 64-channel Dolby Atmos and Dolby Surround 7.1, as well as Barco Auro 11.1 Channel 3D Sound. The Dolby Surround 7.1 mix was used for translation to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel mix presented on Blu-ray disc.

Needless to say, even though the original Dolby Atmos and Barco mixes can't be experienced in a home theater environment (at least, not yet), the 7.1 channel mix is excellent, and certainly gives you a strong sense of what the Dolby sound mixers were aiming at.

The result is fantastic, with excellent balance between all the channels with active use of the surround channel for maximum effect, especially during the action sequences.

Dips when sounds moved from channel to channel were not noticeable, and both subtle and loud sound effects had excellent detail and clarity, with more precise directional placement than most soundtrack mixes you might be used to. Vocals were especially clear, and were mixed well with the additional background and effects sounds.

Also, the special effects and subwoofer LFE effects were appropriately loud and dramatic where needed, but they did not overwhelm the rest of the soundtrack.

All in all, Rise of the Guardians provides an excellent listening experience to complement the visual presentation.

Final Take

On the technical side, Dreamworks and Dolby definitely deserve kudos. Rise of the Guardians, won the 2012 Hollywood Animation Award and was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Animated Film. However, there are some elements of the story that may put off some very young children as its darker segments in spots may be a little scary. Also, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Sandman are portrayed in a very non-traditional way and some may be confused with them being addressed by their personal first names, rather than their titles (ie: Santa Claus is usually referred to as "North").

On the other hand, I personally enjoyed the film and the Blu-ray Disc presentation. In addition to film, the bonus features, although not extensive (there are no deleted scenes presented and the games are rudimentary), do provide a good look at the film's design, casting, and production.

Rise of the Guardians has definitely secured a spot on my shelf for future holiday viewing (great for Christmas or Easter), and will be used as test demo disc for picture and sound in upcoming Blu-ray Disc Player, TV, and video projector reviews.



Also Available:

3-Disc 3D Blu-ray/2D Blu-ray/DVD Package - Includes Digital and UltraViolet Copies

2 Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack - Includes Two Hopping Eggs -

1 Disc Easter DVD-Only Pack - Includes Two Hopping Eggs -

Components Used In This Review

Blu-ray Disc Player: OPPO BDP-103.

TV/Monitor: Vizio E420i LED/LCD TV (on review loan).

Home Theater Receiver: Onkyo TX-SR705

Loudspeaker/Subwoofer System (7.1 channels): EMP Tek E5Ci center channel speaker, four E5Bi compact bookshelf speakers for left and right main and surrounds, and an ES10i subwoofer - Two Klipsch B-3 Bookshelf Speakers added for full 7.1 channel setup.

Audio/Video connections made with Accell interconnect cables. 16 Gauge Speaker Wire used. High Speed HDMI Cables provided by Atlona.

The review copy was provided by Dolby Labs.