The world of 3D animation is evolving. The characters and environment are
becoming believable and the storylines are more engaging. We get so caught up
in these films that we feel as though we are part of that movie’s world. But
what is it about these worlds that make it believable? Dreamworks 3D animated film:
Rise of the Guardians is set in a
world that is similar to ours, but the main characters are beings that we have
believed in when we were children. It has (Santa Clause) North, (the Easter
Bunny) Bunnymund, the Tooth Fairy aka Tooth, and Sand Man. But the main
protagonist of the movie is a folklore being that some of us have never even
heard of: Jack Frost. The big four (North, Bunnymund, Tooth, and Sandy) are
trying to stop an old threat from harming the children of the world and they
need Jack’s help in order to do so. But Jack is someone the children of the
world do not believe in and he does not even know why he exists too. As the
movie progresses, Jack Frost learns who he is and what is means to be what he
is.
Rise of the Guardians is a
great 3D film. This movie is set to be in the world we live in now or close to
it so the physics of that world are similar. The only difference is that magic
plays a big role in breaking some laws of physics. The ways that the Guardians
break some of the laws of physics is that the speed of which the characters
move and stop, their sense of weight, and the way some of them travel is a bit
impossible. Magic helps them, but let us see what rules of physics they break.
Momentum is not really a rule, but a product of mass and velocity. It
helps with Newton’s second law. This happens with North’s sleigh. The Guardians
are alerted that Tooth’s tooth palace is under attack. Tooth leaves first so
North offers a ride to the rest to go fly in his sleigh. The sleigh as it is
introduced is a grand old transportation made mostly of wood, but there are
some metal parts there also. As it takes off with North, Bunnymund, Sandy, and
Jack, it starts off with an alarming velocity and just goes off into the ice
tunnels. The next scene about the sleigh’s momentum is when it lands in Tooth’s
palace and find Tooth searching around looking for her fairies. It even lands
on a short ledge with a short of amount of time. This can only happen in that
world. In our world, if you were to move a heavy object, it would take a longer
time to stop it. It is also the same as stopping the momentum of the heavy
object. If the sleigh was lighter, that could have explained the sudden start
and stop, but I am guessing that the modeler of the sleigh wanted to make it
feel like an old grand piece of transportation. The reindeer though are either
a bit smaller or just as big as the sleigh could explain the sudden
acceleration, but it still should have started slow at first because of the
weight the reindeers have to pull to get to a running start. Ice could have shortened
the time to make momentum, but that would also have to affect the reindeer too
causing a delay if there is no friction. Another thing or character that defies
momentum is Pitch. This also happens at the tooth palace. Right after the
Guardians realize the teeth and fairies are gone. Pitch is able to move at
incredible speed yet somehow stop suddenly as Tooth is trying to catch him
around her palace. Pitch also ends up behind Jack and moves very quickly from
his spot to get away from Bunnymund. Pitch is technically based off a human.
His momentum does not take as long as the sleigh, but he has incredible speed
to be able to zoom off fast and yet stop suddenly. There are other factors of
broken physics that come into play.
The sleigh
These are the scenes where Pitch seems to be moving so fast with not much momentum to stop himself.
The next rule that is broken is the law of acceleration or terminal speed
of an object. This all has to do with Newton’s first law. Law of acceleration
has to do with motion. An unbalanced force causes an object to move. It all
depends on the size of an object or subject and the speed of the object or
subject. Terminal speed has to do with an object going as fast as it can until
air resistance balances gravity. Somehow in Rise
of the Guardians, the legends are lighter than they appear so some of them
defy those rules. North, Bunnymund, Jack Frost, and Pitch are the characters
that do just that. They seem lighter than they appear. At the tooth palace
(again) the Guardians are chasing Pitch, but Pitch jumps off one of the tall
tower ledges and falls/ runs to escape. All of the guardians jump off the ledge
too. The drop seems to be at least 300 feet or more. Yet North and Bunnymund (Sandy
and Tooth do not count since they could fly on their own) land on their feet!
That is way too impossible to happen in real life. You would be dead. A regular
person falling at that point would hit terminal speed. A person would at least
gone about 115mph give or take, but landing on their feet would be impossible. Another
scene of this would be when Jack is falling from the sky after using a great
deal of his power to blast Pitch away for the time being. As he is falling,
Tooth suddenly just catches him without a much of a reaction to his weight.
Jack maybe may not have hit terminal velocity, but Tooth’s reaction still
counts. This situation is kind of like the Superman catching Lois. Lois was
falling already at terminal velocity. Superman then comes in at full speed and
catches her as he is still going the same speed. He should have cut Lois in
different parts from flying at that full speed. Near the end of the movie, Jack
Frost hits his abyss mentally and physically because Pitch a few moments before
has thrown Jack down a crack in between the glacier. From the camera angles, it
shows that the fall could have been about 6-8 stories down. 5 stories are at
least fatal, but Jack is not injured as much as if he should be. Other times
that the characters seem weightless are when they are all helping out Tooth by
collecting the teeth from around the world. Especially North’s way of traveling
from house to house is impossible too because he would go down one chimney and
somehow pop up through the next doors chimney. Not only is the way that they
move and not injure themselves, but also they way they each travel breaks some
physics.
Another physics bending rule in Rise
of the Guardians is the Guardians way of travel. For Tooth, it would be her
wings. The character design for Tooth is a human hummingbird hybrid. For things
that fly, they need enough force or lift in order to carry its weight. The
thing with Tooth though, she has wings of a fairy than more of a humming bird
or any other bird. Her wings do not seem to have the strength to lift her or
even carry her anywhere. Tooth’s wings also would not be able to have the
thrust to get her into the air. Her wings would have to accommodate her weight
so the wings should have been a lot bigger. North’s snow globes or portals are
basically wormholes. North uses them as a shortcut to get to Tooth’s palace and
even his yetis use one to bring Jack Frost to the North Pole. Now wormholes
have actually not been scientifically proven yet in our world. There are
theories of how they could work, but we do not have either the technology yet to
prove it. Jack Frost’s way of traveling is by the wind. He somehow is
effortlessly able to manipulate it so he can fly. That is physically impossible
for our world. Hurricane winds up to 70mph can blow us away or make us tumble,
but we are not able to fly in such wind. And lastly, Bunnymund’s tunnels are a
bit exaggerated. Bunnymund’s moss
covered tunnels are just as slippery as the ice that North’s sleigh goes
through. Not only that but the tunnels run horizontally underneath the earth’s
surface. The scene where Bunnymund takes the Guardians through the hole into
his tunnels, why does it seem, as they are falling/ sliding? There would not be
enough force, acceleration or some type of speed to get them all the way to
Bunnymund’s home. They were sliding as though they were on one of Jack’s ice
paths. Only the Guardians are able to break such rules of physics.
Snow Globe portal
The physics of Rise of the
Guardians may be similar in ways to our world, but that is for the world
they set it up in. They are able to break the laws of physics because their
characters are more magical than they are truly human or real. It is magic that
gives them the ability to do what they like. Laws of physics may have been
broken, but not to the extent to make something look fake or comical. The movie
was designed to make kids believe again and that this movie is just like their
world.
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