Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

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 nearly escape a tasmanian devil before being kidnapped and taken to the home of the "Pure Ones," a group of tyto owls who believe that they are the kingdom's rightful leaders.

Nyra, a barn owl, whose mate Metal Beak, a sooty owl, leads the Pure Ones, takes some of the kidnapped tyto owlets, 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, then enslaved to pick apart owl pellets for metal "flecks," large numbers of 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. The lessons, however, are interrupted by Nyra, who kills Grimble for treason. Soren and Gylfie escape to find the Guardians, meeting and befriending a great grey owl, Twilight, and a burrowing owl, Digger, along the way. Soren also reunites with Mrs. Plithiver, a western blind snake who was his nest-maid.

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 their tree, where Soren tells the Guardians what the Pure Ones are planning. Boron dispatches Allomere, a great grey owl who is one of his warriors, along with several others, to investigate. Allomere is the only one of the group to return, along with two moon-blinked owlets, Eglantine among them. After hearing Allomere's story, Boron and Barran decide to fight the Pure Ones.

Ezylryb, a wise-whiskered screech owl, helps train and counsel Soren, who in turn discovers that Ezylryb is really Lyze of Kiel, the hero from Soren's father's stories. 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, saying that Kludd joined the Pure Ones, moon-blinked her, and willingly handed her over to Allomere. Realizing that Allomere has betrayed the Guardians and is leading them into a trap, Soren and his friends fly off to help.

The Guardians reach the Pure Ones' fortress, only to become incapacitated by the fleck trap. Allomere avoids the flecks and joins Kludd, Metal Beak, and Nyra, who unleash vampire bats on the helpless Guardians.

When Soren and his friends arrive, Soren's friends create a diversion while he flies off to gain the weapon to destroy the trap exposing the Guardians to the flecks. Metalbeak, in response to the unreported support, summons vampire bats to kill Allomere because he feels Allomere betrayed him and can no longer be trusted. Soren manages to break the trap successfully with the weapon, freeing the Guardians and allowing them to recover. Battle ensues between the Guardians and the Pure Ones. Lyze then confronts Metal Beak as Soren tries to reconcile with his brother. Kludd, however, only feigns reconciliation and attacks Soren, only to fall from a tree branch and disappear into a burning forest. Soren then races to save Lyze, who is being attacked by both Metal Beak and Nyra. When Metal Beak subdues Lyze, Soren attacks Metal Beak, eventually killing him with 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 everything as a story, finishing the 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, with Kludd looking at Metal Beaks's armor mask. Ezylryb mentions that there's another storm brewing, and he flies off, along with Soren and his friends.

In my opinion it was pretty good