Sightlines · reception

How Rise of the Guardians was received

2012 · Peter Ramsey · Rise of the Guardians on Sightlines

The arc

A costly underperformer in 2012 — its soft box office triggered a write-down and layoffs at DreamWorks — it's since been reclaimed as one of the studio's most underrated films, a fixture of annual 'why did this flop?' holiday rewatches.

What’s debated

The perennial fight is whether it's a genuinely great DreamWorks film unjustly buried by bad timing, or a gorgeous-looking movie the internet loves mostly because of Jack Frost.

Its footprint

Jack Frost became a full-blown Tumblr heartthrob, powering the 'Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons' crossover fandom (with Merida, Rapunzel and Hiccup) and later the inescapable Jack-and-Elsa 'Jelsa' shipping wave after Frozen.

Where it stands

A cult favorite in the DreamWorks catalog — the go-to answer when film fans list the studio's most underrated work.

Did you know? Director Peter Ramsey — the first Black director of a big-budget studio animated feature — went on to co-direct the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with Guillermo del Toro serving as executive producer here.