Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

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Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

PG

Released Sep 24, 2010

1h 31m

Kids & Family

Adventure

Fantasy

Animation

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

52%

Tomatometer

132 Reviews

64%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

A father owl's tales of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole enthrall his son Soren, but an older son scoffs at the stories of winged warriors who fought an epic battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones. Later the brothers become captives of the Pure Ones, but Soren makes a daring escape and, with the help of other young owls, seeks out the Guardians and brings them back to defend their people once again.

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Critics Consensus

Legend of the Guardians' dark tone and dazzling visuals are to be admired, even if they're ultimately let down by a story that never lives up to its full potential.

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Anna Smith

metro.co.uk

With jeopardy at almost every turn, this is certainly no movie for toddlers.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 24, 2018

Full Review

Ty Burr

Boston Globe

Rated: 3/4

Nov 24, 2011

Full Review

Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

We're left with something gorgeous, turgid, and emotionally impenetrable -- less a movie, more an Imax screensaver.

Rated: 2/5

Oct 22, 2010

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Once again, Snyder backs a project more about visual presentation than storytelling, a trend that’s getting old for those waiting for the director to turn out a film worthy of his evident talent.

Rated: 1.5/4

Aug 3, 2023

Full Review

James McMahon

NME (New Musical Express)

An intelligent, often thrilling excuse to soar the skies with a beauty and grace rarely found in digital animation outside of the Pixar stable.

Rated: 3.5/5

May 20, 2021

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

A likely Oscar nominee this year almost solely on the basis of its wondrous visuals.

Rated: 3.0/4.0

Sep 13, 2020

Full Review

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Maya M

Released back in 2011, this movie may not have received the recognition it deserved at the time, with critics offering mixed to negative reviews and no sequel ever following. But here we are in 2025, and it's clear this film has aged surprisingly well. The storyline is refreshingly straightforward—neither overly complex nor insultingly simple—striking just the right balance to keep viewers engaged. Visually, the graphics are stunning, even by today’s standards. It’s honestly hard to understand why it was overlooked upon release. This movie absolutely deserves more appreciation and a second chance in the spotlight.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

05/09/25

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Cason T

I think that movie deserves a sequel, maybe the story was a little simple but it was heartfelt.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

05/04/25

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Qadir M

The story line was impressive - our at least it was exciting to see the ending which I think I anticipated for.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/21/25

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Storminator x

It's 2025 and this movie has been one of the best movies ever made in 2010, the quality of the CGI and the story as well as the visuals is something that someone locked in an office criticizing things would never understand, right now in 2025, telling someone that this movie was made in 2010 would be like a myth.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/07/25

Full Review

Elvin L

My favourite movie as a child and continues to be into adulthood, have watched it too many times for my own good and it appears once or twice a year on my tv

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/25/24

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Seth P

Fantastic and beautiful movie, definitely deserves a sequel and I know so many people that would pay to watch too. Such a good movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/06/24

Full Review

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Synopsis

A father owl's tales of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole enthrall his son Soren, but an older son scoffs at the stories of winged warriors who fought an epic battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones. Later the brothers become captives of the Pure Ones, but Soren makes a daring escape and, with the help of other young owls, seeks out the Guardians and brings them back to defend their people once again.

Director: Zack Snyder
Producer: Zareh Nalbandian
Screenwriter: John Orloff, Emil Stern
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Village Roadshow Entertainment, Animal Logic
Rating: PG (Some Sequences of Scary Action)
Genre: Kids & Family, Adventure, Fantasy, Animation
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 24, 2010, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 24, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $55.7M
Runtime: 1h 31m
Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS

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