In Guardians of Time, four cousins discover a passage leading to a mysterious world. Trapped in this unearthed land, the Kingdom of Keoherus, they must confront the Guardian of Time, face dark forces and beasts to before they can return home.

This new film from Lionsgate looks like it’s going to be one of those under-the-radar guilty pleasure movies. We’ve seen all these tropes before: the squabbling family members, all in their early teens, who struggle to get along; the doorway into another world; the magical gifts and powers that they receive for no apparent justification other than that they’re the “prophesied guardians” of the realm.

And because it’s a fantasy realm with no particular rules, they get to through everything they think is cool into it and make the kids go through trials to reach their final goal of returning home to the real world.

It smacks heavily of the animated Dungeons and Dragons TV series from the early 80’s, as well as being the basic plot line from The Chronicals of Narnia (2005). It’s a teenage wish fulfillment fantasy movie, through and through.

And why not? Where is it written that we can’t have those, and get our popcorn and soda and other snacks and sit around in the livingroom with friends and watch them? Not every movie has to have a deep message, or even be particularly innovative from a thematic standpoint. Every now and then a movie is just supposed to be fun. Don’t dig too deep past the face value. This film is all about that face value.

Guardians of Time is directed by Stephen Shimek, written by Katy Baldwin, Jerome Reygner-Kalfon and Sebastien Semon, and stars Katie Burgess, Natalie Daniels and Katherine Bellantone. Having been slowed substantially by the pandemic, Guardians of Time will finally see its theatrical release on October 11, 2022.

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