How Zack Snyder Almost Changed Animation with Legend of the Guardians 

I love this movie, its sad that the movie that its so criminally underrated, didnt get the credit what it deserves, instead it became so forgotten. I wish more people could see Legends of the Guardians.

The Owls of Gahoole was a film like no other. I think it was especially genius to have this movie about owls be hyper-realistic, something that the lion king for instance could have thought over. Owls have almost human-like faces, with forward-facing eyes, so they were easily animated to emote much better than the animals in The Lion King remake.

Legend of the Guardians also wasn't marketed properly. It was released the same year as how to train your dragon and toy story 3. Very hard to compete with that. I believe that it certainly didn't get the recognition that it deserved. The animation is so ahead of it's time- the fact that this was made in 2010 just blows me away. All in all an amazing movie and books.

This movie made me obsessed with feathered wings and barn owls 😭😭 The animation made them look so soft and graceful. I was 10 at that time and i just watched the movie again and again for the wings

The thing that drives me the most crazy is that there is this universally preconceived notion that animation has to be for kids. Now, I absolutely love the animated movies that we have, don't get me wrong, a lot of my all time favorite movies are animated, but, imagine what kind of animated movies we would get if animation had a little more freedom to do things outside of the current artistic restrictions and if people were a little more open minded! 🙃🙃

The fact that In 2022 (12 yrs later) this movie still holds up (aesthetically), and I mean really holds up to this day is a testament to the hard-work and attention to detail they animation studio took. You could tell they put their heart and soul into the look of this still BEAUTIFUL movie. 🔥🔥🔥

Rango was another mainstream animated movie that completely broke from norms. I didn't particularly like it, but it's worth mentioning in this context.

That's hot take that you think the Lego Movie didn't push any animation boundaries. They built the sets brick-by-brick during the animation process. And a bunch of other cool stuff. Like how everything was made out of Legos know matter what. Which is why all they ever ate was croissants because that's like some of the only Lego food items.

Oh that's exactly how this movie feels! Like lords of the rings with owls! It's obviously very different and the story is only so similar but that's the feel it gives you. Big ideas, heroes, a lost history, epic. I love this movie btw. So underrated and so criminally treated. It is gorgeous. The lightning especially is breathtaking in every single frame.

Some other films that also pushed for this strange realistic style was Rango and Rise of the Guardians. But you'll notice these films are very hit or miss with audiences. There tends to be a very select group of people who actually enjoy these kinds of animations, and I believe it's because the directors tend to be hyper focused on the presentation and not on the pacing of the story which leads to a confused or bored audience. I personally love these films, though.

I'm glad *somebody* still mentions this movie in 2021 :)

I remember watching this book on repeat during long drives as a kid on a little portable DVD player. It was probably my favorite movie, and yet still I somehow managed to forget about it until recently. I just finished reading the books this movie was based on, and they're great. After reading the books, though, I kind of wish the movie followed them more closely.

This movie aged so well I love it so much.

I need to see Legend of the Guardians. I never knew that Zack Snyder attempted to do something dark and edgy pushing animation boundaries like Don Bluth's The Secret of NIMH. Years on, a box office failure like NIMH became a cult classic. With the Snyder Cut well recieved by the public, this movie needs to be shown again as a clear example animation is not an executive label for children's content. Even Chuck Jones at the 1979 New York Film Festival spoke clear to his fans that "they don't make cartoons for children, they made them for themselves, for everyone".

I loved this movie. Pretty basic story telling but it was genuinely enjoyable for it and the animation is still better than most out there today. The scene with Soren flying through the fire was great, it was him distancing himself from his emotions but not in a bad way but just in a focus of what needs to be done.

You shouldn't call animation a genre. It's an art medium and calling it a genre is negating all its history and everything it's done It's literally putting illumination trash in the same basket with Brad Bird films

yess this movie deserves more recognition!! just a small correction, the pure ones believe in Tyto supremacy, barn owl is a common name specifically for the Tyto Alba genre, there are a lot more under the Tyto family!

Zack Snyder should make another animated film, this was awesome!

The Legend of The Guardians is what The Lion King remake wishes it could've been.

The Legends of the Guardians is my favorite movie ever. That slowo battle scene segment you put on while talking about slow mo battle scenes still lives in my head rent free. The way the music cuts and all you can hear is the sound of metal helmets banging together, twilight’s scream as he passes by, the grinding of the battle claws… God I love this movie.

Snyder is returning to animation in 2022 and beyond. He also produced other shorts since Owls but all of them, outside of Superman 75, are adult animation. So Owls will stay unique.

Play this whole movie at my funeral.

I've never tought about Legend of the Guardians trough this perspective, and, in fact, this movie is pretty underrated considering it's animation quality and it's story. I remeber that I watched it when I was a kid, and really loved it, I also wished that there would be a continuation, but some time later, beyond the books of the series (wich I don't remember making a huge success), there were not many people talking about it. I'm totally going to rewatch it (for the third time in my life) and dream about a second movie again! Also, maybe, in future, Disney could use it's efforts in make such a realistic The Lion King remake (that, personally, I don't think were enough to compensate the fact that they didn't bring anything new from the original story and were even able to reduce it) to make a movie with the quality and originality of Legends of the Guardians.

I loved that movie ever since I saw it in theatres. I thought was an interesting reimagined monolithic storytelling with a a little King Arthur and his Knights at the Round Table feel. I could tell it was trying to be it’s own thing 😁. Also the voice actors were awesome this given that a majority of them are live action actors 👍

I remember watching this for the first time on a pirated copy at my grandparent's when I was 13. I absolutely fell in love with it and especially adored the slowmo sequences, I think I watched it 3 or 4 more times when I was there and many more times since. I have always thought that this film was and is incredibly underrated but still hold out hope for a sequel.

This intro alone deserves a like

Haven’t seen the movie, but it sounds interesting the story has an overt anti-Nazi theme after certain readings of 300 being pro-fascist.

Imagine this movie was more like the books, though? It would’ve pushed the boundaries even MORE, considering the books have a much darker tone, a bigger excess of violence and death (Yeah, blood and gore included), and even more character and plot development. Tbh with that, the movie was already kinda dumbed down despite those darker parts.... Tbh, if we don’t get a sequel, I would love to see a rebooted tv series for it more like the books

I love how in this movie there's such tiny little flaws on the owls. Not every feather is perfect or even aligned, unlike in cartoons. Pic an inch on your TV and you'll see something that looks like someone sat there for hours to make pretty. I love this movie and the books and there's no movie today I think it's as pretty as this one.

The Disney/ Pixar cutesy animation is getting tired, they should bring something new to the table, something darker, and new animation, less cutesy.

I think the boldness and lack of conventionalism in 'Legend of the Guardians'' is a trend in animation that is currently thriving, just not in the blockbuster format. There are TONS of indie projects you can find that try to be their own thing rather than just copying the big boys, and not to mention the internet where anyone can create virtually ANYTHING they want and generate their own income, rather than having to rely on the traditional studio system to be profitable. And even in the mainstream, there are still films that, while they are still accessible to the entire family, do set out to create their own identity. One example being Laika studios, with films like 'Coraline', 'Kubo', and 'Boxtrolls'. The unfortunate part is that Laika's films were overall commercial flops. I think a large part of that is that unless it's a big event film like "Endgame" or "Star Wars", most people don't want to go to cinemas anymore in an age where they have the convenience of streaming. That is largely contingent on expectations on the part of the audience to be sure, kind of like so many other big-budget formulaic films that overshadow films that are more risk-taking. None of this is to say that I think animation is a medium that is being disrespected or undermined as being perceived as anything other than a "kids' medium". You can find great works of art if you look in the right places. In the world of streaming, we get access to so many more non-conventional films on so many different platforms, that have less agendas to follow than the likes of Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks. One example off the top of my head is animator Tom Moore, who in the past decade alone, has given us four animated gems: 'Secret of Kells', 'Song of the Sea', 'Breadwinner', and 'Wolfwalkers'. So really, you can find more films like these if you know where to look, rather than just expecting them all to be presented on a silver platter. If the populace are going to just skip to these and stick only with their Pixars, Dreamworks, Illuminations, etc., that's THEIR loss. But for those who are going to share and support the exposure of these gems (which actually is not as small a number as one might think), they are inspiring others to pursue careers in more experimental animation and join these indie studios. And THOSE people, I firmly believe, are going to be the ones who give animation the respect it deserves (even if it leads to hopefully producing a big-risk blockbuster that wins the world over at large, like 'Spriderverse or 'Guardians').

It was a great movie with important message. But I get that people expected something more like Happy Feet taking into account it was the same studio

This guy is well spoken and he made a good assessment on the evolution of animations. Great video man, keep it up 👍

Legends of the guardians inspired me to be a writer...

I don't know who's in charge of picking the director but I want to see Roger Corman sometime. I would watch that entire director's Project playlist. Great video by the way!

Mouse Guard could bring a new style of animation with looks so similar to Legend of the guardians but it got canceled.

I have been reading the books and I think later on in the story there could be pretty good scenes for a movie.

I've been obsessed with this movie since the day it came out to be honest.

the movie made it seem like there would be a second film. i think if Mr Zack made a second movie then maybe just maybe guardians of ga'hoole will get its proper cred

If they can do this with a book series why not do it with warrior cats or even wings of fire both great book series (which I highly recommend you read) it would be cool to see what a animator could do with them bc there is a tone of epic battle scenes you could get from both but would end up in the 12 bc of all the gore involved over all I hope a director picks these up and pushes the animation to new hights unseen and as long as they stick to the story they could have a amazing film on their hands.

I absolutely adore that movie. It's my favourite movie along with How To Train Your Dragon 3 and Kung Fu Panda 2.

Kind of want to make a petition where they make a sequel. bring the same writers and actors and everything well, maybe not everything is the same. But the same as it can be. We need a sequel. Actually wait, we need an entire Quadrilogy, and a series. That would be amazing. So, imma try and make a petition.

This is awesome!!!! I love how you did this. I completely agree that it's turning similar and the way you structured this is fantastic. It's amazing as always! Do you think a studio will use streaming to make a new type of children's movie or do you think the next change will be a studio release.

Yes hands down this was thee best animated film of my childhood, but what exactly caused it to flop so hard in terms of popularity? I think the storytelling is phenomenal for what it is. An open door for animation like you mentioned. Because personally I feel most (not all) kids movies now are absolute crap with bare minimum borderline no storytelling. Although, isn't that what most "kids" movies are now? Bare bones subjected to tons of visual effects and tossed out into the mainstream only to be kicked down the ladder in favor for the new, bigger, brighter thing? If the animation world was to go up in both major categories for animation that would be a really incredible thing to see. Now there just has to be a person or group out there bold enough to take on such an exquisite and expensive project of challenging the norm :>

Feels like you’re low key dissing Raya and the Last Dragon at some points in this video. Not that I mind, I thought it was just okay lol

He is working with Jay Oliva and digital animation on some new animated series for Netflix.

Actually if you see the end of the movie, Kludd (Soren’s brother) survives but wears a helmet to hide his scars. The movie made me have a great love for the lore of Owls of Ga’Hoole to the book series Wolves of Beyond which connects to that world of owl guardians.

the animation is way to advanced from this decade the owls are well made and smooth animation

9 (2009) is also one of the underrated animation movie

The film is absolutely gorgeous but I think the shot composition took a hit because it was intended (or at least heavily pushed) to be watched in 3D, and most people just aren’t going to have a 3DTV or VR Headset to watch it in its best form.

funnily enough, barn owls are not considered "true" owls by science

Good on you for mentioning the shortcomings on the storytelling side. But also, I think it's worthwhile to bring up how similar this animation style was to it's Animal Logic predecessor Happy Feet, which was something the marketing directly counted on.

All of Snyder's films basically are animated films, they use such elaborate cgi.

I sit on the Beach at 5 in the morning hoping to see a barn owl!. I saw one yesterday 10 feet away! And I cried with joy!.

God I flippin loved this movie so much

IDC how different this film was from the books. It deserves way more love and attention.

Just saw this movie last night. I loved it! I was tripping out over the hyper realistic visuals yet how they humanized the characters too. My husband couldn’t believe how old it is but the animation is way better compared to modern shows. It’s like at some point there was a decision with studios to go with quantity over quality.

now im over here wishing for a zack snyder movie adaptation of warriors, I loved warriors and ga'hoole as a kid and even though i stopped reading them they still hold a special place in my heart.

This movie deserves a sequel

8 year old me thought this movie was a dream, and nobody talking about it didn't help

Rango is up there with the underrated gems pantheon.

Zack should make a sequel of the owls with netflix....thats the only way to get this the recognition...

Just a little thing on 4:15. His brother didn’t die but Soren thinks he did. At the very end of the movie when Soren says that he was never found you can see his brother on his feet. I wish that they made a part 2

This is one of my favorite movies. I'm still hoping it gets a sequel one day, even if that's pretty unlikely to happen

The Owls of Ga'Hoole has to be one of my favourite movies if not my favourite movie. I saw it for the first time in 2010 and I loved it ever since. I am really sad that it´s so underrated and would love for more people to see it. I also wish for a sequel to the movie because it was amazing. The books it´s based off have a few more pieces too...but it´s highly unlikely we get one but if we ever do you can bet that I will watch it a lot

I really like the movie, but I dont know where I can watch it again, I only could see it on CN once.

i vividly remember where i was when i watched this movie when it first came out but for the life of me i could not tell you what happened in it ill have to watch it again now that im older

GOD I WISH WE CAN GET A SEQUEL !!😖😖

Interesting. I believe animation reminiscent of Legend of the Guardians would be most appropriate for an adaptation of Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland.

Can be part 2 come ????

Disney tried some new things with Jungle Book and Lion King. One worked und one did not. The scenes in Soul on earth are also somewhat more realistic.

If the warriors cats EVER get a movie or series, it NEEDS to be done by Animal Logic and the guy you were talking about!!!!!!!

This movie reminds me of Rango, another great production with amazing animation

I wish they make number 2

Oh man, for the longest time I thought this movie was a fever dream. I first watched it when I was a kid in Brazil, and my mom bought us some movies from the seller in the village we lived in (they were the kind that were sold just in a plastic sleeve with the cover art printed out and shoved in there as well) for us to watch on a road trip. We watched it in Portuguese and everything 😅 years later I read the books in English and thought "hmmm, this seems familiar but idk why", and then boom. Rediscovered this gem and could not believe something we picked up from a plastic sleeve on a whim had such gorgeous animation. The movie has its flaws but it'll always have a place in my heart (especially the Brazilian dub)

While im saddened to see like others this didnt get much attention, I think a movie that also tried to push for something was 2011's rango. It wasnt going for the stylistic and pretty animation before, but something much uglier and realistic, which I liked about it, while still having a good story. Like how I view this movie.

I always loved owls of gahool. I'm really surprised that owl roleplay and owl girls didn't solidify a strong place alongside wolf kids and cat kids from the warriors books, or the dragon kids from wings of fire. If there was a presence of it I definitely would have fallen perfectly in that niche. I was obsessed with the movie and would pretend to be an owl a lot. I definitely dodged an embarrassing phase in my life but I find it odd that there wasn't a group of individuals for that. As an adult now though, I still absolutely love the films. It's SO underrated and every time I see it I stay stunned that it didn't get the credit it deserved. Not only was it just an enjoyable film, but it's whack seeing people rave about how realistic and detailed Pixar and Disney are beginning to be when it was done all the way back in 2010. If I had watched it only now and someone asked when I thought it was released, I'd say 2017 or so. It's so detailed and I love when films like this exist and as I grow I can rewatch and notice new things I didn't get before. It's cool seeing the little details such as the secondary eyelids blinking before/with the regular eyelids, or metalbeak spitting when he speaks because he doesn't have a beak. Their flying is so natural and the creativity used in showing how they use weapons and tools without hands. Just a great film and it sucks that so many of my favorite movies were so criminally underrated for such stupid reasons that weren't really the fault of the film. I feel this way with rango too. Such good and imaginative movies but I guess since they weren't very appealing to the family demographic, they never got attention until the kids who did watch and loved them grew up and started talking about them.

Just chanced upon this video, thank you for doing such a deep dive into the movie. I worked on this movie and I will say that Zack Snyder did the bare minimum for the movie. He was busy working on Sucker Punch at the same time, and his focus was mainly on that. which was his baby.

Soren's brother didn't die but became new metal beak, least in Movie

One of my all time favorite movies; always wondered why they didn’t do more like it, even a sequel or trilogy (I read the first 4 books and loved them as well)

Guardians of Ga'hoole had no hesitation delving into serious topics, one particular book in the series feels especially relevant of recent, on book censorship. An owl parliament member wants a book to be outlawed. This character is not put in a positive light for this, and a usually refined and near prestigious owl, Otulissia, confronts them on it. I admire how the book portrays this, it's not a calm, talk-it-out situation, Otulissia yells, swears, and aggressively defends the right to knowledge- withholding such is against all conduct of freedom and is inherently damaging- It feels telling, that this is not a request, this is a demand, a violation of the right of knowledge, and should not be taken lightly, likewise we should not meekly request government not ban books, we should demand

Please make a part 2! and part 3 Of this movie! I love it!.

Blame the WB for this underrated masterpiece. Poor marketed

I just wish this movie was true to the book, and didn’t try and adapt 3 books at once, absolutely brutalized the actual story of the books

I am still shocked they didn't make another part. Why? This was a great movie!

Legendary of the Guardians it's one of my favorite movies that I grew up with and honestly I love it the fact that they haven't made a second one still makes me mad

Time 01:27:11 in the movie , check back broth... soren's brother didn't died!.....

I loved that animation and if there is JL 2 and 3 and if it is in animation I would love to see this animation style very realistic and visually stunning

I’ve been rewatching this movie repeatedly since it’s popped up on Netflix and I sincerely hope we get more animated movies in this style and I still wish the guardians of gahoole movie would get the sequels it deserves.

Slow motion done right as usual. But the story was speedrun so some of the characters and parts of the story really suffered. There is hope with adult animation in TV series like Rick & Morty, Bojack Horseman and such

Animation is an amazing form of media. In reality there are limitations, but in animation, you have a maluable world that's limits are your imagination. Animated movies, TV shows, and media in general are always too afraid to tell dark stories and dive into deeper more complex topics. While this movie wasn't perfect, it was groundbreaking in these fronts. I just wish and hope that more animated media will break the norm and live up to the potential that we all know and belive it can be.

This movie tried to push boundaries of animation? The secret of kells, 9, and dragon hunters DID push those boundaries and were quite dark at times

Lots of good movies has that trouble with marketing and distribution. For e.g Steel Giant also wasn't a hit at the box office.

this movie was so good even family guy made fun of it

I touched on this film last year in a video, and found it to be weird, but a good weird. The plot is definitely rather unusual for what is in theory a family animated film, but it somehow works. And the visuals have aged very well despite the not gigantic budget ($80 million, compared to ~$140 mil for How To Train Your Dragon the same year).

The movie feels a lot more watered down but the plot of the books feel honestly like a mix of lord of the rings and WW II/cold war era politics.

I loved this movie growing up. Being older now and seeing how abysmal the last few years of live action Zack Snyder failures have been, it makes me wonder why he didn't just stick with what he was good at. This movie has better animation than nearly everything that has come out since.

the twitter linked in the description doesnt exist

This movie is THE BEST MOVIE IN ALL HISTORY! I just wish that it got more popular and more people would see the books too, it's my favorite movie, and I really like how it's so realistic, its kind of inspired me to write a novel about peacocks, since they are all birds of course, I've seen this movie hundreds of times, but sadly it's getting taken off Netflix, I mean, WHY WOULD THEY TAKE THAT BEAUTIFUL MOVIE OUT?!!! It just makes me sad to know that my favorite movie is now gonna be off Netflix in a few days😭😭😭. Im trying to encourage my friends to watch it too. And also I hope they'll add a sequel or somethin

I think they were able to avoid the uncanny valley well and told an interesting story.