Leonardo DiCaprio Is Jack Frost In The Guardians

Posted in First Look | News on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 by Rob Heath | View Comments

Jack Frost

I am not the biggest fan of kiddie CGI films, especially when they focus on talking animals. Every year, a batch of cookie cutter cute-sy animal CG cartoon movies are pooped out from movie studios and they make TONS of money off these movies. I am by no means hating on the studios for taking advantage of easy money.

What I am saying, though, is that what was once a highly respectable and astonishing film medium has now become an outlet to put out recycled kid films that offer no real creativity aside from the differences in simplistic art styles that separates one movie from the next. Granted, I am not saying ALL CG cartoons coming out are unoriginal and recycled. Pixar, for one, still manages to produce amazing movies. And every once in a while a CG cartoon will come out that goes beyond the mold, such as the recent Astro Boy movie (2009).

Now Leonardo DiCaprio is set to make his debut in the CG animated world in a movie called The Guardians (working title). DiCaprio plays Jack Frost. In the movie, his character teams up with an unlikely band of mythic children’s storybook characters such as Santa Clause, The Sand Man, Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny to fight The Boogey Man from ultimately destroying the world.

All the characters have been renamed but with references in their name to their characters such as Santa Clause, who is called “North” in the movie.

I am actually quite excited for this movie. The fact that I am not a fan of what is being done in the CG cartoon world makes this even better because I believe I have something to look forward to that will perhaps break the mold in a way that only Pixar has done in the past. Obviously, I can’t judge if the movie will be good from the described summary alone, but I am loving the concept and hope for the best. I know the movie will pander to kids, but that doesn’t mean we adults can’t enjoy the movie as well. A feat Pixar has proven time and time again.

We do have a render of DiCaprio’s character, Jack Frost, attached. Check out the full post to see it, along with my comments on it.

*click image to view full size*

I really dig the concept render. The style of Jack Frost looks cool. He looks young, with a slight dose of bad ass and cool. I am glad they didn’t go too far with the design and step into that Disney TV (not movies) territory of trying REALLY HARD to be young and hip but totally missing the mark. This concept just adds to my hopes of this moving being awesome.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like I am also seeing some elements in the character design that is inspired by the old stop animation Christmas movies that run during the holidays. Anyone else agree?

No details on the movie’s planned release date. It’s still being developed by Dreamworks with William Joyce, who is currently developing a coinciding book series on The Guardians.

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