Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole 2010

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: Snyder and his crew have made a film for an improbably narrow audience -- I can imagine 12 1/2-year-old boys being enthralled by it -- but they've made it with such skill and care it's more a shame than a failure. Read more

Andy Webster, New York Times: May be a hoot, but for all its pyrotechnics, it fails to soar. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Zack Snyder's films have some of the best opening-credits sequences in cinema; the unfortunate thing is that there's always a movie after them. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: Unfortunately, the story rarely rises above cookie-cutter kids'-fantasy tropes: It's a standard hero's-journey story, one that substitutes colorful characters for actual incident. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: The effect finally is to neglect, rather than nurture, a story with potential. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: The film's look can't overcome all its shortcomings, but it helps them go down easier than its title. Read more

Jeff Labrecque, Entertainment Weekly: Snyder has crafted the rare 3-D eyegasm that's worth the premium ticket price. Read more

Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter: Classy cast and stunning visuals compensate for a pedestrian script. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The animation itself is startlingly beautiful, as is the ancient owl world it imagines. The battles are complex and, in true Snyder tradition, heavy on the action. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The script is merely serviceable and too reminiscent of similar fantasy tales. But kids will instantly relate to the gentle Soren, while watching wide-eyed as he faces each challenge. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: [It] has some nicely designed animation, and it deserves credit for trying to break the Disney mold of animated critter movies. But there's mold-breaking, and then there's weird. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: After its soaring beginning, Guardians of Ga'Hoole plummets to more generic ground. It's well-made, but how can you care about its owl heroes and villains when you can't always tell them apart? Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: After the frightened kids run screeching from the theater, adults may wonder what this vicious flick was trying to teach us. But as a guardian of unhatched spirits, I say: Hoo-hoo-hoo cares? Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: A splendid adventure sure to thrill children and fantasy buffs, while leaving everyone else passably entertained. Read more

Jason Anderson, Toronto Star: Despite the odds, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole may be the season's most dramatically compelling and most visually sumptuous animated feature. Who could have predicted that? Read more

Jordan Riefe, TheWrap: Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: There are a handful of soaring, immersive and at times beautiful fight-and-flight sequences which utilise 3D in the best imaginable way. Read more

Andrew Barker, Variety: Director Zack Snyder attempts to shoehorn his heavily art-directed mayhem into a kiddie-pic mold with predictably ill-fitting results. Read more

Nick Schager, Village Voice: A classical heroic odyssey that boasts a spirit similar to that of The Secret of N.I.M.H., and is enhanced by such sumptuous 3-D CGI it would make Pixar blush. Read more

Dan Kois, Washington Post: Children with a particular affection for epic tales, no matter how derivative or cacophonous, will probably enjoy Legend of the Guardians. Read more