ANIMATION; 1hr 37min
VOICES BY: Hugh Jackman, Jude Law, Chris Pine, Isla Fisher, Alec Baldwin
On guard: from left, Bunny and North
With the world’s children are at the mercy of bogeyman Pitch (voiced by Law), the Ruskie incarnation of Santa, North (Baldwin), summons the protectors of happy childhood times to rise up against him. Present and correct at the North Pole workshop are pugnacious Aussie E. Aster Bunnymund (Jackman), aka Bunny, all six-plus feet of him, buzzy, iridescent Tooth, as in Fairy (Fisher), Sandman, who communicates in swirly silence, and new recruit Jack Frost (Pine), until now lost and alone. Jack isn’t so sure he’s up to the heroic task. Too bad! He’s in for the self-exploratory sleigh ride of his chilly, insubstantial half-life.
The practised voice cast doesn’t have anything Gosh-Wow to play with, but happily, that doesn’t seem to faze them. Director Peter Ramsey’s fired-up animation is top-throttle buzzy, too, although it does dip to bleak and fearsome at times as the fairy-tale symbols become warriors for innocence. Ramsey never loses touch with the miraculous reach of belief, though. How could he with Christmas just around the corner?
