by Andy Gibbons

I was invited by Warner Bros. to take a sneak peak today at some footage from their upcoming family animation Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole – and I have to say I was mightily impressed. For those who don’t know anything about the film, here’s the official blurb from WB:

‘Acclaimed filmmaker Zack Snyder makes his animation debut with the fantasy family adventure “Legend of The Guardians” 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 favour 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.’

We were treated to 21 mins of 3D footage, all of which was introduced on screen by Snyder, and while I’m still a little unconvinced about certain aspects of the plot, the design and overall look of the film is stunning. One scene we saw that really stands out sees Soren being taught how to fly in a storm by wise old owl Ezylryb; the pelting rain, soaked feathers and raging sea looked fantastic as Snyder allows the camera to swoop around the characters and really get involved while the 3D gives everything on-screen palpable depth. Australian animation house Animal Logic, the guys behind the visuals, have done themselves proud.

As a filmmaker, I have to admit that I’m not the world’s biggest Zack Snyder fan – I loved 300 yet hated Watchmen – but from what I saw today he may well have made one of the best looking films of the year and I can’t wait to see Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole when it hits UK cinemas on October 15th.