Last Saturday August 14 together with the press and online media, Warner Bros. Philippines surprised everyone of us by having the exclusive screening of the Legend of the Guardians 15 minute Sneak Peek before the screening of Cats and Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore. I've already heard about the exclusive footages that most US based media already saw a month ago and I'm deeply honored to be one of those here in the Philippines to first witness it.


The sneak peak starts with Zack Snyder of 300 and Watchmen fame gave an introduction of every clip that they will show us while explaining some good points. Explanations are so clear in fact that he almost narrated the whole movie. Spoilerish? Maybe but as far as I'm concerned though Zack already revealed some of the movie's important key points, I'm still puzzled on how those will come together. It is like a jigsaw puzzle. You can see what is in it but you still need to put them all together to see the bigger picture. I don't know if I'm expecting more but I still hope that there is more to the plot than what I comprehend through this sneak peek. So yes, my expectations now are much higher than before.


Here is a short synopsis for everyone:

The film follows Soren (voice of Jim Sturgess), 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 (voice of Ryan Kwanten), scoffs at the notion, and yearns to hunt, fly and steal his father’s favor 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—Soren’s only hope of defeating the Pure Ones and saving the owl kingdoms.

I know that it is not the plot Warner Bros. is trying to present to everyone of us. What this sneak preview wants to show is the film's fantastic imagery. So far I like what I saw. My favorite clip is this sequence where Soren (Sturgess) is training in the rain.


This scene shows how water/rain animation is executed in slow motion. We can see very clear images of water droplets splashing to the owl's feathers (hair). Another breakthrough effect is the rendering of lightning in slow motion. According to Zack, the effects production researched on how will Lightning looks like during a slow motion sequence. They want the animation to be as much as possible accurate to what Physics dictates resulting to a fantastic display of light show.  And I forgot to mention that we are in 3D cinema so we also got a taste of the 3D goodness that this movie will offer next month.


With this sneak preview, my excitement towards this film grows much deeper. But at the same time the expectations heightens. Can't wait to see this film. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole opens soon across the Philippines and will be presented in 3D and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.