Fridae

Hollywood's problem with animated films, as children's films, is how to keep the attention of the adults. They may be in the cinema seats with their children or nephews and nieces but their hearts and minds may be miles away. For some time now, Dreamworks has attempted to engage or pander to adult audiences by first mandating a set number of pop culture references per minute, then making revisionist fairy tales. As it turned out in the last few years with Megamind, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon, Dreamworks is slowly stumbling on a better solution: pick fun subversive narratives, situations, and characters that adults would naturally find interesting.

Rise of the Guardians follows this new Dreamworks formula. William Joyce's book series depict individually Jack Frost, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and the Easter Bunny as guardians of childhood who protect the innocence of children around the world. The film goes further and envisions these guardians as a present-day league of fantasy superheroes with magical powers appointed by a secret minder who meet at a common headquarters to fight global threats against the very concept of childhood and innocence (while juggling their ordinary work as holiday mascots of fun and gifts, obviously).

Following the league of superheroes concept, the film introduces the prankster Jack Frost as the newest member of the holiday mascot team just as a supernatural villain schemes to spread despair and nightmare to every child on the planet and destroy the global reservoir of hope and innocence that powers the legion.

As an adult audience, you will have a lot of fun identifying, appreciating, and second-guessing the superhero trope and narratives that power this animated film. The film may take a longish time to establish its premise but that's an excellent excuse to marvel at the visual magic and sequences overseen by Guillermo del Toro as well as the left-field character designs of Santa and the Easter Bunny.