So this Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole nonsense that opens today? So much dumber than you think it could possibly be. And yet the film's director, Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen), and Kathryn Lasky, the woman who wrote the books that this thing is based on, apparently have no idea how silly their movie is.

Lasky, you're up first! Via a weirdly earnest press release I received yesterday:

Lasky, 66, a prolific writer with over 100 fiction and non-fiction books to her name [including Camp Princess 2: Unicorns? Get Real! —Ed.], said she was happy with Snyder's decision to cast Australians in the majority of the roles.

"I didn't envisage the owls having Australian accents but it is fine with me," Lasky told Reuters in a telephone interview from her Boston home. "It gives a certain je ne sais quoi."

Now it's your turn, Snyder. Via a weirdly earnest interview in the Onion's AV Club:

AVC: You actually choreographed the fights with actors wearing owl suits, fighting each other. How’d that work?

ZS: Yeah. When we got to the fight scenes, one of the things was like—these owls are supposedly an ancient culture, and they have a martial tradition that we can’t just make up. It’s gonna look goofy if they’re just clawing at each other. So I got with my stunt choreographer and fight coordinator, Damon Caro, who’s done all my movies. We got my all stunt team from 300 and made them put these cardboard wings on and basically fight each other.

The cool thing was, like, if one was going to attack and the other was going to defend, there’s a rule for how that should happen. Because if they’re going to block a strike, the parry is based on a martial art. The animators then don’t have to pretend. It’s a real thing they have to work with. I think that comes through in the film.

Yes, Zack Snyder. The last thing you'd want is for the warrior owls in your warrior owl movie to "look goofy." And yet they do. Ah well. At some point, I suppose you just have to say c'est la vie.