Hee hee…Alec Baldwin called it his “Boris Badenov” voice.
I do think studios are getting carried away with celebrity casting in animated films. The entire “Epic” trailer was plumping their celebrity cast and frankly, that’s not what I care about as much as a good story and people who can just do a decent job with voices. The Rotoscopers mentioned this on their interview with Bill Farmer about A-list actors suddenly doing huge films and making room for other lesser-known voice actors. I want to understand the need to get people in the movie seats with celebrity names but still…it’s not *everything* that makes a movie!

I can see why Chris Pine’s voice was a bit daunting as Jack Frost especially Jack’s design looks like tween “Bieber fever” so we’d expect him to sound like a teen pop star. Instead Jack sounded like someone who went through puberty, not a bad thing in my book, and Pine’s got such a distinct voice that I don’t think it’ll go away. Jack’s voice is now offically linked to Captain Kirk for me. (Love him in Star Trek, mmm)

“Attention Enterprise crew. This is your captain speaking. I am cancelling today’s flight-training schedule because we are going to have a SNOW DAY!!”

It’s true what you said about x-mas cursed movies: people tend to not take them seriously enough, which is a shame. Don’t sweat it, @roseeclipse:disqus has a good point, some movies aren’t for everyone. I just think this film deserved more credit than it got. I mean, it wasn’t the worst movie of the year!

So true! The voice casting was a big deal. I mean, I’m never one for celebrity casting, UNLESS they are exceptional, which they are in ROTG. I mean, if you can sit through the entire film and forget who voiced what, that is a job well done. Especially when you see the credits and yell “REALLY? ALEC BALDWIN?? WHAAAaaaa?!”

I second you on the marketing and even the first time I saw this movie I was wondering if they were trying to be like “The Avengers”. ROTG is a fantasy and that’s usually Disney territory; Dreamworks took a risk doing something very different from “Shrek” or “Madagascar”. And you’re also right about holiday flicks that leave a bad taste in the mouth.

If the movie isn’t your thing then don’t sweat it. I have friends who say they cry at certain scenes or love particular movies that don’t move me in the same way.

I wanted to love this film – jacks design was awesome, very final fantasy (which I love) and the premise seemed gripping.

Yet for some reason it failed to connect with me. Twice I’ve tried watching it through and failed though catching bits I have pretty much seen it all.

I think it failed ( besides the lack of marketing) is the curse of bad qaulity holiday movies. People see Santa and think oh no another cheap “kid only” movie.

I also expected a darker story line similar to brave as it certainly starts out like that but then the humour just jars me personally

May change my mind after this Fridays podcast and give it a third attempt.

Another thing you guys forgot to mention is the voice cast. Alec Baldwin was great as North, Hugh Jackman as the Easter Bunny and even Chris Pine sounded even better than Jay Baruchel as Hiccup from HTTYD. But most of all…I LOVED ISLA FISHER’S TOOTH FAIRY!!! She was great in this movie but ended up doing bad films like “The Great Gatsby” and “Now You See Me”. But I still love Isla!!

I’m also glad the film’s humor wasn’t annoying slapstick or fart jokes. It was truly witty and based on comic timing. The emotional moments were also tear-jerkers. If the writers are serious then the audiences can get emotionally involved in the story.

At times the film reminded me of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. His stories have dark twists and he constantly puts his heroes through many trials and tribulations. Jack Frost represents the innocence and goodness that can struggle and falter at times but finally prevails over darkness. At times he reminded me of Luke Skywalker (ironic since Chris Pine was in “Star Trek” not “Star Wars”) accepting his destiny.

I wanted to add this article too because it came out several months after the film was in theaters. Peter Ramsey made a point about how ROTG got lost in the Christams bustle and had a lot of competition against “Skyfall” and “Breaking Dawn”. And he makes a point that people are used to Dreamworks doing slapstick “Shrek” films so “ROTG” was something very different and challenging to market.

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/rise-of-the-guardians/25209/peter-ramsey-interview-revisiting-rise-of-the-guardians

But I’m glad he has no regrets making this film and am glad they put in all of the effort to make it as good as they could. If Dreamworks won’t put in the money to do another full-length film then I hope they’d at least do a short Christmas special.

Yay! I mean, it’s a great movie, full beauty and wonder and awesomeness…the article I read on Slashfilm is a pretty good though sad indicator of why the movie wasn’t successful in theatres. You should take a read: http://www.slashfilm.com/rise-of-the-guardians-may-be-a-disaster-for-dreamworks-animation/