Rise of the Fictional Characters Who Desperately Need Someone to Believe in Them

*I'm giving up on adding pictures for the moment because it's not working out for me right now.*

Title: Rise of the Guardians
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Ilsa Fisher, Hugh Jackman, Chris Pine, and Jude Law
Directed by: Peter Ramsey
Released: 21 Novmber 2012

Rise of the Guardians is a tale about the guardians selected to keep the world happy and filled with hope, North/Santa (Baldwin), Easter Bunny (Jackman), Tooth Fairy (Fisher), Jack Frost (Pine) and Sandy the Sandman, fighting Pitch Black while still keeping the children of the world believing them. Underneath that plot, however, it is about discovering who you (Jack Frost) are on the inside.

Before jumping into discussing the identity crisis, I have a few things to address first.

First, why aren't we calling Santa "Santa"? Seriously. Perhaps this decision was based on the fact that not everyone celebrates Christmas.  The truth is, however, that you can change his name to "North," but he is still obviously Santa, so why not identify him as such? No matter what you call him, though, Baldwin does some pretty excellent voice acting; I didn't even realize it was him until the credits. So props to you, sir. Well done.

Second, Sophie (I think that's her name) has terrible hair. It's awful. Are we supposed to assume that she gave herself her own hair cut, which many kids try to do at some point? Either way it's awful . . . well, slightly cute because she's a little girl, but still terrible.

Third, I love Sandy and the way he communicates. It's awesome and whimsical . . . plus the movie people get to save the cost of hiring another voice actor. Brilliant.

Fourth, Pitch Black looks like Hades in Disney's Hercules. Just saying.

Fifth, I love Jack Frost, but the whole icing everything you touch with your bare hands/feet (for the most part) was my idea like twelve years go for my own superhero-esque alter-ego, creation thing, but thanks for playing.

Sixth, I LOVE Hugh Jackman. He is amazing and I love him. I've loved him since X-Men have continued to follow his film career because I love him.
     My first and only celebrity crush (not counting Patch from Days of Our Lives because apparently I loved him when I was a toddler or something)

Okay. On to more substantial things like themes instead of my unconnected ramblings.

We all must go on ventures to discover who we are on the inside ( who we are at our center), but this movie has an interesting twist on the identity crisis.

Jack Frost goes on this huge journey trying to not only understand who he is, but also find out who he was before he became Jack the guardian. It's pretty simple -- if I don't know who I was, how can I know who I am now? An important question that must be answered for anyone looking to discover who they are.

There is, however, more to it than that because Jack and his fellow guardians must guard their identity closely. Pitch Black is determined to make the children to stop believing in all the guardians. As he does so, these guardians' identities begin to crumble.

This is seen most clearly through the Easter Bunny going from his awesome self into an ordinary bunny.

Jack goes on a similar journey, but does not become weaker. Instead, he learns about who his was and is until he finally finds the strength to believe in himself. And, once he believes in himself, he is finally able to be seen by the children.

Jack must teach this lesson to the other guardians who are shrinking quickly because it is the only way to restore hope and belief. It does become a bit annoying though. In my head, all I hear is "I do believe in fairies, I do, I do." from the 2003 version of Peter Pan.

All in all, it's a cute kids movie about defining and discovering your identity. It has it's amusing points and is a bit heavy-handed with their message about identity, but that's okay. Kids sometimes need that sort of extreme guidance to learn the lesson presented. On the other hand, give the kids some credit. They aren't stupid.

Also, McDonalds is dumb. They have their dinky plastic toys that will never amount to anything really with characters from the movie. Everyone one is there except North who is missing entirely, but his elf is there. Honestly. I don't know what they're thinking.