Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is a 2010 Australian computer-animated fantasy/adventure film based on the first three volumes (The Capture, The Journey, and The Rescue) of the series Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Kathryn Lasky. Zack Snyder directed the film, with an ensemble cast. Warner Bros. distributed the film with the Australian companies Village Roadshow Pictures and Animal Logic. Production took place in Australia, and the film was released in RealD 3D and IMAX 3D on September 24, 2010.
Plot:Soren, an adventurous barn owlet, and his younger sister Eglantine revel in their father's stories about the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, an alliance of owls led by Lyze of Kiel, who are sworn to protect the owl kingdom from an army of evil owls. Soren's older brother Kludd, however, dismisses the stories as fanciful. One night Soren and Kludd fall out of their tree while Branching. They get attacked by a tasmanian devil and are captured by two Long-eared Owls and taken to the St. Aegolius academy for orphaned owls home of the "Pure Ones," a group of Tyto owls who believe that they are the Owl kingdom's rightful leaders.
Nyra, a barn owl, whose mate Metalbeak, a sooty owl, leads the Pure Ones, takes some of the kidnapped owlets known as Tytos, including Kludd, to train as warriors. The rest, including Soren and Gylfie, an elf owl who was also taken from her home, are sent to be "moon-blinked," or brainwashed, and later forced into picking apart owl pellets to find metal "flecks," large numbers of magnetic debris which affect owls.When Soren and Gylfie avoid being moon-blinked, Grimble, a boreal owl who works for the Pure Ones but has been secretly plotting against them, decides to teach them to fly, Grimble revealed that he was once snatched when he was an owlet, he tried to fight back and the Pure Ones decided to make him join them by attacking his family, Metalbeak promised Grimble that if he helps him they won't hurt his family. The lessons, however, are interrupted by Nyra, who kills Grimble for treason. Soren and Gylfie escape to find the Guardians of Ga'hoole, meeting and befriending a great grey owl, Twilight, and a burrowing owl, Digger, along the way. Soren also reunites with his family nest-maid, Mrs. Plithiver.
Soren and his friends encounter a severe blizzard, nearly losing Digger but also encountering two snowy owls, Boron and Barran, the King and Queen of Ga'Hoole. Boron and Barran take Soren and his friends to the Great Ga'hoole, where Soren tells the Guardians of Ga'hoole what the Pure Ones are planning. Boron dispatches another great grey owl, Allomere the prime minister of the Tree and several of Allomere's soldiers, to investigate. Allomere is the only one of the group to return, along with two moon-blinked owlets, Eglantine among them who was kidnaped by Kludd and Nyra and later "moon-blinked". After hearing Allomere's story, Boron and Barran and all the Guardians decide to fight the Pure Ones.Ezylryb, a wise-whiskered screech owl, helps train and counsel Soren, who in turn discovers that he is really Lyze of Kiel, the hero from the legend Soren's father told him. Soren is thrilled to finally meet his hero, but also disillusioned when he sees Lyze disfigured from war and learns that the stories aren't as heroic as he had heard. Meanwhile, Eglantine comes out of her trance, and tells Soren that Kludd joined the Pure Ones, moon-blinked her, and willingly handed her over to Allomere. Soren realizes that Allomere has betrayed the Guardians and is leading them into a trap. Soren later flies off with Gylfie,Twilight, and Digger to help.
The Guardians reach the Pure Ones' fortress, only to become incapacitated by the fleck trap. Allomere avoids the flecks and joins Kludd, Metalbeak, and Nyra to watch his fellow Guardians die as Metalbeak and Nyra sends Vampire Bats to feed on the trapped Guardians, but instead of rewarding him for his treachery as the New king of the Great tree as due to a promise Metalbeak made him earlier, Metalbeak betrays Allomere and has him killed by the Bats, claiming that there is only room for one king. Soren and the band reaches the Pure One's fortress, Soren destroys the weapon exposing the Guardians to the flecks before the Vampire Bats can kill them, using a bucket caught on fire containing a tar-like substance while Gylfie and the others prevent the Bats from hurting the Guardians while they battle with the Pure Ones. Meanwhile Lyze confronts Metalbeak while Soren tries to reconcile with his brother. Kludd, however, only feigns reconciliation and attacks Soren, the fight continues and results in Kludd breaking his wing on a burning tree. Soren trys to rescue Kludd, but Kludd tries to throw him into a fire and ends up falling and disappearing into a burning forest. Soren then races to save Lyze, who is being attacked by both Metalbeak and Nyra. When Metalbeak subdues Lyze, Soren attacks Metalbeak, eventually killing him using a burning branch. Seeing her mate dead, Nyra orders the Pure Ones to retreat.Back at the Tree of Ga'Hoole, Soren and his friends are recognized as heroes and made Guardians. Soren and his sister also reunite with their parents. The movie ends with Soren, who had been narrating the story from the beginning, finishing his story to a group of owlets. He adds that Nyra and the Pure Ones are still out there and that Kludd was never found, though the movie hints that Kludd is still alive while staring down now with red eyes at Metalbeak's mask. Ezylryb mentions that there's another storm brewing, and he flies off, along with Soren and his friends.