Starring the voices of Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Jude Law and Isla Fisher.
Directed by Peter Ramsey.
★★★
With childhood heroes like these, who needs the Avengers?
Okay, Avengers was a better movie, but this is a decent entry into the animated Christmas movie sub-genre. I liked it about as much as Polar Express.
Santa Claus (Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Fisher) and the silent Sandman have been defending the children of the Earth for hundreds of years. They answer to the Man in the Moon, who somehow telepathically communicates to them. When the Boogeyman (Law) regains some of his long-dormant strength, a new Guardian is selected to join them: Jack Frost (Pine).
Frost is more about mischief than protection, and he has to learn to play nice with others and find his inner strength, believe in himself, etc. (Ever notice how many kids' movies have the message "Believe in yourself?")
It's missing a lot of the pop-culture references and cynicism that's marked so many DreamWorks Animation's efforts. There's some amusing stuff there for adults, but it's mainly aimed at kids. I found it a bit strange to have Santa be this tattooed Russian sword-fighter, and the Easter Bunny's a bit of an Aussie thug. I'm guessing one of his inspirations was Rabbit from Winnie-the-Pooh. The Tooth Fairy's more bird than Tinkerbell, and Jack Frost is just your regular teenage boy.
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