Rise Of The Guardians (2012)

The Tooth Fairy is more than a fairytale.
You better believe.
Naughty, nice. You better believe.
Legends unite.

Isla voices Tooth

Director: Peter Ramsey
Writer(s): David Lindsay-Abaire and William Joyce (whose book the film is based on)
Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Adventure, Family
Filming: Isla filmed her voice for the film over a period of 3 years, but mainly in early 2011
Budget: $145m
Box Office: Made a total of $306,941,670 worldwide. Earned $23,773,465 on opening weekend in the US in 3,653 cinemas, opening at #4 on the box office. Did particularly well in the UK ($19,559,694 total) and France ($25,314,994 total).
Runtime: 97 minutes
Rating: PG

 

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS is an epic and magical adventure that tells the story of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost – legendary characters with previously unknown extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children everywhere.

 

Co-Starring

Chris Pine … as Jack Frost
Hugh Jackman … as E. Aster Bunnymund (Easter Bunny)
Alec Baldwin … as Nicholas St. North (Santa Claus), the leader of the guardians
Jude Law … as Pitch, the Nightmare King (The Bogeyman)
Dakota Goyo … as Jamie
Georgie Grieve … as Sophie Bennett

 

International Release Dates

US – November 21st 2012
Russia – November 22nd 2012
France – November 28th 2012
Germany – November 29th 2012
Italy – November 29th 2012
Brazil – November 30th 2012
Spain – November 30th 2012
UK – November 30th 2012
Australia – December 13th 2012
New Zealand – January 3rd 2013

 

Character Information

Isla voices Tooth – as in the Tooth Fairy – in this animated movie. She is one of the Guardians who, along with other legendary characters, must protect children from an evil spirit who wants to destroy their hopes and dreams. Tooth’s specific job is to protect children’s memories to keep them as pure and innocent as when they were formed, to maintain children’s faith in the future. Entertainment Weekly describe the Tooth Fairy as ‘a half-human, half-hummingbird creature who collects children’s teeth because they contain important feelings and memories from early childhood that are returned to them by her at crucial moments in their adult lives’. She is very talkative, excitable and obsessed with everyone’s teeth! She is also sweet and kind, and cares about her fellow Guardians, the children, and the Baby Tooth Fairies she leads who help her collect the teeth. Tooth also has a bit of a crush on Jack Frost. Isla says that Tooth is very “neurotic and uptight” when she’s working, but “sweet” in the more dramatic scenes; she’s “equal parts organised and together, and also a frazzled, overexcited mess”.

 

Media

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Photos: Gallery at Isla Fisher Web
Videos: Videos at Isla Fisher Web

 

Trivia

• Guillermo del Toro is producing this movie. He told Collider.com in August 2012 that he is “surprised at what they got away with” with this film, because it is “dark and moody”.

HitFix.com reported that while Tooth Fairy originally had a more Hindu influence in her costume design, the final costume was “more like a hummingbird or a tiny parakee”.

• Isla called the Guardians in this film the “animated Avengers”!

• The movie received the Vanity Fair International Award for Cinematic Excellence at the Rome Film Festival in November 2012.

• Isla says her kids won’t be seeing this film just yet because it is “too scary” – “My kids are too young to see this movie,” she told reporters at the London premiere.

• Isla was nominated for the Best Animated Female Awards at the Alliance of Women Film Journalists for her work on this film. The film was nominated for over 30 awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

• Isla enjoyed working with producing studio Dreamworks on this movie, as they delivered sushi to her when she was working and allowed her the opportunity to talk about her character.

• This was recorded in an isolated booth, whereas Rango was a live-action animated movie. It was recorded over a period of 3 years.

• If she were to have the magical powers of one of the Guardians, she would pick the Sandman, saying that it’s “quite magical” how he can create images.

• Isla enjoyed not having any of her facial features used for her character, which made her feel less self-conscious. She got to go to work wearing sweat pants, too, which she was grateful for.

• One of the main things that appealed to Isla about this project was that it was a “traditional” and “earnest” story. Other things that drew her to the project were the artwork of the film, producers Jeffrey Katzenberg and Guillermo Del Toro, and the other cast. She grew up with the Tooth Fairy and was “utterly thrilled” to be able to voice this part.

• Isla says she is similar to Tooth in that Tooth gets stressed when working, and Isla admits being similar when doing the school run!

• In one scene Tooth and one of her Baby Teeth encounter a mouse attempting to collect some teeth – this is a reference to the French belief that mice (as opposed to fairies) collect teeth from children.

 

Quotes: Isla, Cast & Crew

Isla Fisher: “She’s tiny but with these gorgeous teal blue and green wings and big, big eyes. She’s quite militant in the way she collects teeth but she has a soft side and gets extremely excited when she sees pearly white incisors.”

Isla Fisher: “I’m actually doing an animated movie now, ‘Rise of the Guardians’, and I’m playing Tinkerbell which is a really different voice from Bean’s. And I’m really enjoying that, but I’m in an isolated booth.” (on the difference between this movie, and Rango)

Isla Fisher: (loosely translated) “In film, the characters fight so that the children of the world continue to accept the legends. Me, I do not have this problem: as my children are brought up in the Jewish tradition, so they do not believe in Father Christmas. That makes the task easier for me.”

Isla Fisher: “We’re like the animated Avengers.” (on the Guardians in this film, speaking at Cannes)

Isla Fisher: “I specialise in silly, funny voices but, for this, director Peter Ramsey told me to be myself but with an American accent. I felt quite vulnerable.”

Isla Fisher: “I think it’s always important to choose stories and characters that you love. I felt that way and I’m really honoured to be a part of this.”

Isla Fisher: “I just love that there are no popular culture references, that it doesn’t feel like this modern, improvised, cheesy-joke, slapsticky, it just feels like a classic movie – a real movie, with a real story with real people.”

Isla Fisher: “And more importantly that kids understand that while fear exists and it’s around them and there are things to be scared about, that they need to continue to have hope.” (on the message of the film)

Isla Fisher: “It was wonderful working with Peter, he’s a very specific guy and we did a lot of takes of things which I found frustrating, but then afterwards I was really grateful because he really pushed me to explore different versions of scenes.” (on director Peter Ramsey)

William Joyce (writer): “It’s a hard job. It’s like tucking in every kid, or a portion of the kids of Earth, every night. Every kid who has lost a tooth during that day, she has to be there. It’s like being a mom on a global level. It’s hard enough being a mom with three or four kids or even one. This is a huge task that leaves her a little bit rattled and distracted. It’s dealing with being a mom on a heroic scale.” (on the Tooth Fairy’s job)

William Joyce (writer): “There’s one Tooth Fairy, but she’s actually a million mini-versions of herself. She would be somewhat scattered because of that.”

Alec Baldwin: “Everybody’s traveling. The DreamWorks model is that they pick people who are sort of in demand. They pick people like Hugh Jackman and Isla Fisher and Jude Law and so forth…We were not in the booth together. That would not be possible. It would be nice. But most of the animated films I’ve done…that’s not the case.” (on whether the actors were in the booths together)

 

Quotes: Character

Tooth: “Wings up, ladies, and take no prisoners!”

Tooth: “Look at the pretty teeth with blood and gum all over them!”

North: “Music!”
[elves begin playing music]
Tooth: “No music!”

North: “Everyone to the sleigh!”
Tooth: “There’s no way I’m climbing into some rickety old… [upon seeing the new sleigh] okay, one ride, but that’s it.”

Tooth: “Hello Jack, I heard a lot about you. And your teeth! Open up! Are they really as white as they say? Yes! Oh they really do sparkle as freshly fallen snow.”

North: “Merry Christmas!”
Easter Bunny: “Happy Easter!”
Tooth: “Don’t forget to floss!”

Tooth: “Have you ever seen a more adorable lateral incisor in all your life?! Look how she flossed!”

Tooth: “Sorry, but not all of us get to work one day a year. Am I right, Sandy?”

Jack Frost: “Why would Pitch take the teeth?”
Tooth: “It’s not the teeth he wanted, its the memories inside them.”
Jack: “What do you mean?”
Tooth: “That’s why we collect the teeth Jack, they hold the most important memories of childhood. My fairies and I watch over them, and when someone needs to remember what’s important, we help them. We had everyone’s here – yours too.”

Tooth: “Woah woah woah, take it easy there champ, he’s one of us – part of the European division! Ca va?”

 

Reviews

HitFix.com (after a preview screening of early footage): “I liked what I heard of Hugh Jackman’s Easter Bunny and Isla Fisher’s Tooth Fairy, and Chris Pine seems like a good fit as a sort of trickster spirit who starts to realize that his actions matter in the world and he can’t just keep floating along, never choosing a side between wrong and right, good and evil. Each of the Guardians is so different visually and in terms of environment that you get the feeling it’s a very big world in which these stories are going on.”

HollywoodReporter.com: “Also gathering here are the rangy and rascally E. Aster Bunnymund (an excellent Hugh Jackman), the hummingbird-like Tooth (or Tooth Fairy, delightfully rendered by Isla Fisher), the mute and tubby spinner of gold Sandman and, ultimately, Jack (a fine Chris Pine)…..”

Entertainment Weekly: “This fractured 3-D fairy tale gathers up a hodgepodge of kiddie icons, turning them into a bedtime-story X-Men team. They’re mildly engaging, but nothing they do surprises you, and the hero, Jack Frost (Chris Pine), is saddled with a vague dilemma: Can he find his ”center” by realizing that kids believe in him? It’s all more lightweight-likable than exciting.”

ComingSoon.net: “There is a wonderful amount of detail in each frame, perhaps almost too much at times as Santa tracks all the children of the world on a massive globe inside his workshop that is so intricately designed you could probably study a still frame for 5 minutes and still miss a detail the production threw in there. The Tooth Fairy’s world is similarly intricate as is the Easter Bunny’s Aztec-inspired realm. I’ve no idea if these characters originated from such roots, but the fact the filmmakers relied on something more than what is generally known to most of us is an example of the higher level of character background they attempted to achieve. Therein lies the rub, the characters are well-developed, but the story is rather vanilla.”

Variety: “Toplined by Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and an army of tittering tooth fairies, “Rise of the Guardians” yearns to be a magical experience, the kind that implores audiences of all ages to abandon skepticism and embrace their childlike sense of wonder. Yet even tots may emerge feeling slightly browbeaten by this colorful, strenuous and hyperactive fantasy, which has moments of charm and beauty but often resembles an exploding toy factory rather than a work of honest enchantment.”

The Wrap: “And there’s the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), who subcontracts most of her gig out to her army of pixies; one of the film’s interesting twists is to explain why children’s teeth are so valuable and what she does with them.”

Huffington Post: “But far more important than the visual whiff is the by-the-numbers screenplay is the lack of worthwhile characterization or even clever dialogue. My 5-year-old is usually quick to proclaim the lead female character in a given cartoon as her favorite (sadly there is usually only one or two to choose from), but The Tooth Fairy is so painfully thin that she first named Pitch Black’s evil horse(s) as her favorite character.”

LA Times: “Tooth’s many minions are on the Type-A side, like hummingbirds on steroids with all their flitting here and there. Some of the scenes are minimal in detail, others are jam-packed and can make for visual overload. There is a lot to savor in “Rise of the Guardians,” but sometimes too much of a good thing can be exhausting.

 

Fisher Fantastic

This is an enjoyable magical Christmas animated movie, however it lacks any real spark and is not particularly memorable. The animation feels dark and is not particularly appealing, and the story is messy and lengthy. It is fun seeing Isla as the excitable and very pretty Tooth Fairy, but her character is sidelined in favour of the other Guardians which is a shame as she bought heart and humour to the film. Good to watch to pass a couple of hours during the festive season, but you’re not missing much if you haven’t seen this.

 

Promotion

Isla, Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin and Peter Ramsey attended a Q&A session for Rise Of The Guardians at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012; the film was also screened there. Later in the year, the cast took part in an promotional tour for the films release, with Isla attending the New York and London premiere’s. She also appeared on US chat show Live With Kelly & Michael.

Isla Fisher Web‘s Press page (related: 2011/2 interviews)
Isla Fisher Web‘s 2012 Appearances Gallery
Isla Fisher Web‘s 2012 Magazine Scans Gallery
Isla Fisher Web‘s 2012 video interviews
Isla Fisher Web‘s 2012 talk show video interviews



 

Related Links

• News & Updates for Rise Of The Guardians at Isla Fisher Web

Official Site
Official Facebook

IMDB
Wikipedia
Chris Pine – fansite
Hugh Jackman – fansite
Rise Of The Guardians Wikia – book/movie character trivia and information

Amazon.com – purchase on Amazon Video
Amazon.com – purchase the Blu-ray
Amazon.com – purchase the DVD
Amazon.co.uk – purchase on Amazon Video
Amazon.co.uk – purchase the BLu-ray
Amazon.co.uk – purchase the DVD
EzyDVD.com.au – purchase the Blu-ray
EzyDVD.com.au – purchase the DVD

 

Last Updated: July 18th 2016