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Icon! And spoilers!
Ah, I adore trickster characters. Especially ones that manage to do good in the most amusing way possible. That is not his wickedest, up-to-no-good expression, either.
I must admit I got distracted lately, mostly because I got involved reading two very awesome fics I want to rec and started writing a fanfiction in my downtime that's going really well but is emotionally draining. And I can't rec the fics or whine at you guys or ask for hand-holding for the one I'm working on because, you know, spoilers.
But, well, how many of you are actually planning on buying/renting Rise of the Guardians when it comes out on video next week? I do recommend it - it's like Avengers meets Terry Pratchett - but I get that animated fare isn't necessarily everyone's thing. Some of you probably wouldn't mind me ranting at you, even if you never see the movie or read the books it's based on. And there's probably at least one spoiler hound on my flist who wishes I'd stop mentioning spoilers and just tell them. So I'm going to spoil you, at least those of you who don't mind being spoiled.
I'm going to focus on movie spoilers and not book spoilers for this, mostly because the movie has five spoilers already and adding the books on top of that is a bit much. Yes, five. It's amazing how much they managed to hide (and how much crap they got away with).
First spoiler and the easiest because it's not as interconnected as the others: Sandy the Sandman dies.
Yes, it's a Disney Death because the movie is aimed at a non-adult age-group after all, but that does not change the fact there is a death on-screen and what is very obviously a memorial scene (because it's hard to have a funeral with no body - sand apparently tends to lose cohesion when there isn't a will to keep it together). What originally was a hilarious action movie starts taking a very serious tone at that point as well.
Second spoiler: The movie makes you think they killed off E. Aster Bunnymund (the Easter Bunny).
It's not for long, a few minutes at most (less than that if you're not observant enough), but it's there. The fact they manage to make fun of it is impressive. And Baby!Bunnymund is adorable, especially since he's still voiced by Hugh Jackman and trying to be as badass in little form as in big. Wow, I wish I had a picture to show you guys. Hell, just google "baby bunnymund".
Third spoiler: Jack Frost is the Spirit of Winter, emphasis on spirit.
This is the first of three interconnected spoilers and where the angst starts creeping in. It's also the one the movie reveals about five minutes in but managed to keep out of all the trailers and first look scenes. All of the spirit characters are bound by the rules of belief. If a human believes in the spirit, they can see, hear, and interact with said spirit and the spirit gets a power boost. This is actually a very important plot point.
Jack Frost is a saying. No one believes in him. And it's been like that for at least 300 years. Add in his poor reputation (because when has a trickster character ever had a good rep?) resulting in the other spirits not having much to do with him and the fact Jack doesn't know how or why he is the way he is and... well, it's pretty safe to say Jack has worse neglect and abandonment issues than Harry Potter and Naruto combined. Add in the fact that it's generally accepted that it's not the humans' fault they don't believe, and you've got someone who has obviously internalized that there's something wrong with him. Fridge Logic just makes it worse because that's when you realize Jack's developed an obvious tendency to talk to himself and he tends to flinch when touched unexpectedly or even when his personal space bubble is invaded (North aka Santa and Tooth the Tooth Fairy are particularly bad at the concept of personal space). In addition to Jack (who gets walked through multiple times in course of the movie), we also see Pitch Black aka the Boogieman and Bunnymund get walked through by non-believers and both reacted like it physically hurt.
How many of you wanted to give Jack a hug after reading that? Then brace yourself, because it gets worse.
Fourth spoiler: Jack Frost is dead.
We're not talking a Disney Death like with Sandy either. We're talking more like reanimated corpse dead. (He's surprisingly lively considering he's technically a zombie.) Yes, a kids' movie got away with killing someone for real. Someone who's not a villain nor even an adult at the time of death. (I'm going to leave out the fandom arguments about whether or not he's an adult in the present day settings of the story or still a child er, teenager - you can easily argue both points of view.)
Part of the movie's plot is Jack trying to figure out why he's the way he is: why is he Jack Frost, why did the Moon create him, why is he just now being informed the Moon chose him to join the Guardians, why did the Moon tell the Guardians and not him? Hell, why hasn't the Moon talked to him at all in the past 300 years since naming him? Then Tooth reveals the reason she and her fairies collect teeth is because they hold important childhood memories and that until Pitch took them, she had everyone's memories, including Jack's and Jack's like "wait, what?!"
So Jack, who is obviously and reasonably upset with the Guardians in general and the Moon in particular, refuses to become a Guardian but tags along anyway because it means getting his memories back and finally figuring out exactly what, why, and who he is. When he does finally get them? We get to find out he died at the same time he does. He went ice skating with his baby sister and when the ice started cracking under her, he died saving her life. It's never specified whether it was drowning, hypothermia, or what. We just get him saying, "It was dark and it was cold and I was scared." Yes, they got away with that. But it gets better.
Fifth spoiler: Jamie Bennett, one of the kid characters, eventually sees Jack and helps the other kid characters see him too.
It's probably the movie's Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and beautifully done, but you can't even begin to explain why without knowing about the previous two spoilers. Jack's finally seen, finally able to speak to and interact with a child like he's always wanted and not just any child, but one of the ones who has always caught his attention and looks an awful lot like his baby sister... If you've watched the movie, by this point you really just want to hug Jack as his emotions and expressions run from shock to awe to looking like he's about to cry to laughter.
It's one of those scenes you really have to see for it to have the proper impact because the dialogue is actually realistically stupid in the way dialogue tends to be when you have two people thrust into a situation they never expected and don't know what to say.
And now that I've done all of that, I'm going to whine and you give you fic recs later. Hope this explains a few things.
I must admit I got distracted lately, mostly because I got involved reading two very awesome fics I want to rec and started writing a fanfiction in my downtime that's going really well but is emotionally draining. And I can't rec the fics or whine at you guys or ask for hand-holding for the one I'm working on because, you know, spoilers.
But, well, how many of you are actually planning on buying/renting Rise of the Guardians when it comes out on video next week? I do recommend it - it's like Avengers meets Terry Pratchett - but I get that animated fare isn't necessarily everyone's thing. Some of you probably wouldn't mind me ranting at you, even if you never see the movie or read the books it's based on. And there's probably at least one spoiler hound on my flist who wishes I'd stop mentioning spoilers and just tell them. So I'm going to spoil you, at least those of you who don't mind being spoiled.
I'm going to focus on movie spoilers and not book spoilers for this, mostly because the movie has five spoilers already and adding the books on top of that is a bit much. Yes, five. It's amazing how much they managed to hide (and how much crap they got away with).
First spoiler and the easiest because it's not as interconnected as the others: Sandy the Sandman dies.
Yes, it's a Disney Death because the movie is aimed at a non-adult age-group after all, but that does not change the fact there is a death on-screen and what is very obviously a memorial scene (because it's hard to have a funeral with no body - sand apparently tends to lose cohesion when there isn't a will to keep it together). What originally was a hilarious action movie starts taking a very serious tone at that point as well.
Second spoiler: The movie makes you think they killed off E. Aster Bunnymund (the Easter Bunny).
It's not for long, a few minutes at most (less than that if you're not observant enough), but it's there. The fact they manage to make fun of it is impressive. And Baby!Bunnymund is adorable, especially since he's still voiced by Hugh Jackman and trying to be as badass in little form as in big. Wow, I wish I had a picture to show you guys. Hell, just google "baby bunnymund".
Third spoiler: Jack Frost is the Spirit of Winter, emphasis on spirit.
This is the first of three interconnected spoilers and where the angst starts creeping in. It's also the one the movie reveals about five minutes in but managed to keep out of all the trailers and first look scenes. All of the spirit characters are bound by the rules of belief. If a human believes in the spirit, they can see, hear, and interact with said spirit and the spirit gets a power boost. This is actually a very important plot point.
Jack Frost is a saying. No one believes in him. And it's been like that for at least 300 years. Add in his poor reputation (because when has a trickster character ever had a good rep?) resulting in the other spirits not having much to do with him and the fact Jack doesn't know how or why he is the way he is and... well, it's pretty safe to say Jack has worse neglect and abandonment issues than Harry Potter and Naruto combined. Add in the fact that it's generally accepted that it's not the humans' fault they don't believe, and you've got someone who has obviously internalized that there's something wrong with him. Fridge Logic just makes it worse because that's when you realize Jack's developed an obvious tendency to talk to himself and he tends to flinch when touched unexpectedly or even when his personal space bubble is invaded (North aka Santa and Tooth the Tooth Fairy are particularly bad at the concept of personal space). In addition to Jack (who gets walked through multiple times in course of the movie), we also see Pitch Black aka the Boogieman and Bunnymund get walked through by non-believers and both reacted like it physically hurt.
How many of you wanted to give Jack a hug after reading that? Then brace yourself, because it gets worse.
Fourth spoiler: Jack Frost is dead.
We're not talking a Disney Death like with Sandy either. We're talking more like reanimated corpse dead. (He's surprisingly lively considering he's technically a zombie.) Yes, a kids' movie got away with killing someone for real. Someone who's not a villain nor even an adult at the time of death. (I'm going to leave out the fandom arguments about whether or not he's an adult in the present day settings of the story or still a child er, teenager - you can easily argue both points of view.)
Part of the movie's plot is Jack trying to figure out why he's the way he is: why is he Jack Frost, why did the Moon create him, why is he just now being informed the Moon chose him to join the Guardians, why did the Moon tell the Guardians and not him? Hell, why hasn't the Moon talked to him at all in the past 300 years since naming him? Then Tooth reveals the reason she and her fairies collect teeth is because they hold important childhood memories and that until Pitch took them, she had everyone's memories, including Jack's and Jack's like "wait, what?!"
So Jack, who is obviously and reasonably upset with the Guardians in general and the Moon in particular, refuses to become a Guardian but tags along anyway because it means getting his memories back and finally figuring out exactly what, why, and who he is. When he does finally get them? We get to find out he died at the same time he does. He went ice skating with his baby sister and when the ice started cracking under her, he died saving her life. It's never specified whether it was drowning, hypothermia, or what. We just get him saying, "It was dark and it was cold and I was scared." Yes, they got away with that. But it gets better.
Fifth spoiler: Jamie Bennett, one of the kid characters, eventually sees Jack and helps the other kid characters see him too.
It's probably the movie's Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and beautifully done, but you can't even begin to explain why without knowing about the previous two spoilers. Jack's finally seen, finally able to speak to and interact with a child like he's always wanted and not just any child, but one of the ones who has always caught his attention and looks an awful lot like his baby sister... If you've watched the movie, by this point you really just want to hug Jack as his emotions and expressions run from shock to awe to looking like he's about to cry to laughter.
It's one of those scenes you really have to see for it to have the proper impact because the dialogue is actually realistically stupid in the way dialogue tends to be when you have two people thrust into a situation they never expected and don't know what to say.
And now that I've done all of that, I'm going to whine and you give you fic recs later. Hope this explains a few things.