Last year, I reviewed The Fifth Element at Christmas-time, and this year, I am going to focus on a film that is more traditionally holiday themed. After all, Rise of the Guardians has Santa Claus in it.

I first saw Rise of the Guardians last summer, and it is a film that I believe surpasses the seasons. If you don’t know the premise, it is that Santa Claus, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and Jack Frost are real, and have essentially formed a team. I have to admit, this isn’t really original, as you take figures that everyone knows and just put them in a room together. This is why the Sean Connery film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was green-lit, and probably led to the amazing success of The Avengers and DC Comics is probably going to have a hit with their new Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman possibly Justice League movie.

Let me just start by saying that I had very low expectations of this film, but I cannot deny that this film invokes an unbelievable sense of wonder. In fact, this is essentially what this film is about. You see, the Guardians exist to give children hope and lots of other good things, but they must be believed in order to work.

This film took the idea of these holiday icons, and added an interesting spin to them. Santa Claus has a thick Russian accent and tattoos of Naughty and Nice on this arms. He is voiced by Alec Baldwin, and although he is jolly, he can also get righteously upset with his swords. Hugh Jackman plays the Easter Bunny, armed with appropriate boomerangs for the Australian actor. It is hard to believe that Jackman is both Wolverine and a bunny, but it works. The Tooth Fairy is sort of a human/hummingbird crossover that is very unique, and even though she is voiced by normally ditsy-sounding Isla Fisher, she has a courage that is all her own. The Sandman is a silent man that seems a little too cartoonish for this cast, but he isn’t unlikeable. Then there is Chris Pine with his third superhero icon (the first being The Human Torch and the second being Captain America) as Jack Frost. Frost is essentially the main character of this story, as all the action centers around him as he becomes one of the Guardians.

So who is the villain of this super-team? Why the Boogeyman, of course! In this case, it is Pitch Black, who is voiced by Jude Law. He wants to immerse the world in fear and darkness, like in the Dark Ages. He doesn’t really have much motivations, but Law plays the role so well that I don’t even care.

Rise of the Guardians gets high points for imagination, and it just seems to go to so many cool places and exist in a world that I want to live in. Even the way the Guardians use their special abilities is worth the price of admission. The film allows its audience to believe in something above itself, which I like, a lot. It totally sucked me in, what can I say.

By the way, the entire Guardian team is united by this odd ambiguous being simply known as The Man in the Moon. You can take it as a symbol for God, and you can take the belief in these imaginary beings as faith, and it works on those levels. I can barely believe that this is a secular Hollywood film, it is that good. Just see it.