I can't believe I just spent ninety minutes enraptured by owls. Owls talking, fighting, and flying. And all of this directed by 300 and Watchmen's Zach Snyder to boot. But Kathyrn Lasky's story, at least the first three installments, makes for a breathtaking, beauty-filled animation that shows quite a bit of characterization, plot development, action, and adventure. And proves to us over and over that the power of story means more than any fluff and special effects might throw at us.

In Warner Bros.' Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, the adolescent barn owl Soren (Jim Sturgess) is a believer. He believes in the legends about the Guardians, even while his older brother Kludd (Ryan Kwanten) skeptically blows off the stories, and fails to value Soren's flying ability and willingness to cooperate. When both are captured by a more aggressive band of owls intent on overthrowing the Guardians and enforcing their rulership over all owls, Soren chooses bravery and rebellion, while Kludd chooses subservient yoking by the queen of the Pure Ones, Nyra (Helen Mirren).

My wife jokingly referred to this as Star Wars: The Owl Version as Soren and his smaller, elf owl friend, Gylfie (Emily Barclay), become the messengers, the cry for help, from the captured owls to the Guardians themselves. All along the way, story matters: Soren believes the stories that his father tells, while Kludd does not; the Guardians don't at first believe the message that Soren carries to them, but they grow to believe that his witness is true; Soren is told who he is or isn't throughout the movie, but he makes his own ending to the story by his choice.

Choice is huge, just like story, here. Kludd is cowardly, traitorous, and petty, while Soren is brave, loyal, and pure. Soren believes in the instincts that he's gifted with, the power of his "gizzard." True, he uses the "force" within himself to conquer the evil of the Pure Ones and battle their control, but Kludd becomes like Edmund (I saw Chronicles of Narnia in this), and chooses to forever be embraced by the dark side of his potential. Both came from the same nest, and fell from the same tree, but faced with the potential for good or evil, they made a choice.

My third word for the movie would be "faith." Soren has faith in the Guardians, faith in his abilities, and faith in his friends. He even puts faith in Kludd even if Kludd is undeserving, because Soren is compassionate and full of forgiveness. Soren is really the "pure" one, but his actions, and his maturation over the course of the movie, make for some wonderful teaching points for children in a fantasy-laden adventure that dips into the darkness but ultimately rises to the light. It's still ironic that Snyder is the director (my wife said based on his body of work, he must've been bullied as a child) but his storytelling joins excellent special effects/animation for a satisfying viewing experience.

Younger viewers (and older ones, too!) will enjoy the special features, like a look at the world of the owls (and how some are in danger of extinction) with help from Modern Family's Rico Rodriguez, a game featuring our heroes, the apropos Owl City music video, and the look at the legend of the Guardians which launches Soren's quest to the Guardians. All of them are accented by the Blu-ray clarity, bouncing us through the special features, but also through all of the darting, diving, and clawing that the owls achieve throughout the story.

Not a believer yet? Give this one a spin—it's a real hoot.