Olympic Mascots: Guardians of Light

Olympic Mascots: Guardians of Light is an animated action-adventure fantasy film. The film is produced by Josh0108 Films, Alibaba Pictures, Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. This is based on Kaylamagical2453 (DeviantArt)/Jordka001 (Fandom) fanfiction of the same name.

Olympic Mascots: Guardians of Light was theatrically released on February 21, 2020 by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with praise going to the animation and voice acting but criticized its plot and pacing. The film underperformed at the box office, having grossed $61.2 million worldwide on a budget of $30 million.

A sequel, Guardians of Light: Forces Together is set for release on July 19, 2024.

Synopsis
The Aurora Rings helped Olympic mascots along the years, but in recent years, the rings have summoned groups of candidates from all around the world, including 3 pairs from Los Angeles, Paris, and Budapest. But a fire goddess by the name of Flamuna Tenenra seeks the rings for taking over the universe. Now with everything at stake, the mascots must fight for everyone's lives.

Plot
A narrator explains the origins of the Aurora Rings. The Aurora Rings were formed before the 1972 Olympics and traveled to Munich to find the first Olympic Mascot. It found a Dachshund, named Waldi. The Aurora Rings found that Waldi represented the attributes described as required for athletes; resistance, tenacity and agility, which they were looking for, so Waldi became the first Olympic Mascot and the Aurora Rings continued to find mascots. The Aurora Rings decided to find candidates around the world to support the Olympic and Paralympic mascots. They found candidates from France, America, Hungary and other countries. The Aurora Rings knew there was evil in the rise, so they created the Guardians of Light.

In the present day, the candidates arrive at the Mystic Valley, home to the Crystal Tree, where the Aurora Rings reside. Vinicius and Tom, who were chosen by the Aurora Rings to be the leaders of the team, introduce the candidates to their team. Meanwhile, in a volcanic dimension, the fire goddess Flamuna was seeking a plan to take the Aurora Rings and using them to take over the universe. Back at the Mystic Valley, the mascots were explaining to the candidates about the Aurora Rings and their powers. Suddenly, strong winds blew and Flamuna and her minions arrived. The Mascots question her arrival, only to discover she wants the Aurora Rings. Flamuna encourages the mascots to fight, and so they do.

During the first battle, Vinicius uses the Aurora Rings to transform into his Aurora Form and challenges Flamuna to a swordfight, while the other mascots battle Flamuna's minions. Eventually, Vinicius wins the swordfight, but Flamuna isn't finished with her battle, she enters a wormhole to another dimension. The mascots soon realize the fate if Flamuna won against them. After teaching Aster how to open a portal, the mascots head to where Flamuna was going.

Upon arriving at the first dimension, Flamuna uses her powers to create a magma bull. Vinicius and Soohorang decide to use the Aurora Rings to fuse into Vinirang. They battle the bull and defeat it single-handedly. Upon Tom's call Flamuna turned her focus to Aliz and they both battled each other. Flamuna stops Aliz from trying to stop her, and she begins to torture Aliz. Alex, worried about his partner Aliz, decides to save Aliz from Flamuna by sacrificing himself. Flamuna shoots an energy ball at Aliz, which hit Alex instead. An enraged Aliz calls for Vinicius to throw the Red and Blue Aurora Rings to transform into an elemental form. Aliz battles Flamuna, eventually defeating her. Suddenly, Flamuna staggered and disappeared into another wormhole. Aliz walks over to Alex's body and cries. Alex suddenly regains consciousness and wakes up. The mascots discover the Alex had actually put out the energy ball with water, but he acted dead to make Aliz stronger. Aliz is confused at first, be she then accepts Alex's motive.

In the second dimension, Flamuna brings out a fiery mega dragon and Vinicius calls on Aliz, Alex, Angel, Crystal, Soohoorang and Bandabi to team up, they all transform into their Aurora Forms and battle the dragon. The Mascots struggle when Flamuna tells the dragon to blast a giant fireball, injuring them. After their team have fallen, Vinicius could use the Aurora Final Sunlight Wave, a powerful move that can cost is user's life. He uses it and defeated the dragon, causing Flamuna to protect herself. A weakened Vinicius fall down, but was saved by Sumi. A devastated Tom and the other mascots see him. Tom talks to the weakened Vinicius one last time before he suddenly dies. Flamuna is proud of herself. Tom, now enraged uses the Aurora Rings to transform into his Aurora Form and battles Flamuna. Flamuna is surprised by Aurora Tom's agility and speed, powered by the harmonic energy within Aurora Tom. During the fight, Tom managed to sense Flamuna's attack and dodged it with flair. Flamuna was so surprised that she had enough and disappeared through another wormhole.

Tom and Aliz stay behind while the other mascots head to the next dimension. Suddenly, Vinicius slowly rises off the ground with light particles. Vinicius stood up and was revived. He explained that it was everyone's hope that revived him.

In the third dimension, Flamuna brings out an ice lizard. Miraitowa and Someity fight Flamuna while the other mascots fight the ice lizard. During the battle, Miraitowa uses his teleportation powers to trick Flamuna by dodging the fireballs, annoying her. Later, Flamuna unleashed a fireball barrage, trapping Miraitowa and Someity. Soon, a sudden great explosion of fire and light occurred and hit the lizard, dissolving it completely. The attack afterwards revealed Aurora Vinicius, Aurora Tom and Ocean Fire Aliz. They grab Flamuna and use the Aurora Final Comet with her, diving into the ground. The mascots celebrate their victory, but suddenly, Flamuna recovers, grabs the Aurora Rings, and uses them to upgrade herself. She then disappears into another wormhole.

With the Aurora Rings powerless, the mascots thought there was no hope left and gave up. Adelene and Angel Stella encouraged the mascots that they cannot give up, and they need to get the Aurora Rings from Flamuna. The mascots regain their hope. Suddenly, the Aurora Rings regain their powers, to the surprise of the mascots. The Aurora Ring then start to form a 6th ring, the ring of hope. Huanhuan said that he knew that the 6th ring was forthcoming, and that the 6th ring added new powers, which it can restore any destruction, manipulate the entire universe, even purify the darkest parts of it, and it can give users a celestial form. The mascots then rush to find Flamuna.

Flamuna is destroying everything in her path. The mascots appear behind her. Flamuna uses her powers to enlarge herself, she is now gigantic. The mascots battle her, but later she and her minions launch their attacks at once, which gives the mascots a brutal fight. All of the mascots had fallen. Flamuna calls for her minions to finish them, when suddenly Vinicius and Angel Stella, who are standing, stop her from doing so. They explain that they won't let her hurt the others and takeover the universe. They decide to use the 6 Aurora Rings to finish her once and for all. Vinicius and Angel Stella transform into Celestial Vinicius and Celestial Angel. They use their wings to restore the destruction Flamuna had caused. Flamuna is shocked at this. The Final Battle had begun.

During the final battle, Angel And Vinicius create giant greatswords made of aura. Soon, Flamuna used a devastating attack, she fired off a giant orange-red-colored energy beam from it. The beam enveloped the entire universe within its radiance. Vinicius and Angel fired a beam at Flamuna too and both beams clashed. Vinicius suddenly has a vision of Flamuna's land of chaos, its wild denizens, his corrupted friends again and Flamuna endangering the mascots. Vinicius's mind snapped when Angel encouraged him to do one last attack. Their eyes swirled colors of the galaxy and a small circular-shaped explosion of rainbow colors erupted, and from that explosion, Angel and Vinicius's hands launched a massive white beam and had cut through Flamuna's beam itself. The beam reached Flamuna and upon closing in, her body begins to dissolve. A humongous explosion happened, and a weary Vinicius and Angel appear, having taken lots of strength and willpower in the end. The mascots had saved the universe, and they celebrate their victory. They begin to make their way back to Earth.

At night, Angel and Vinicius reminiscence about them and the mascots adventure. They no longer had to worry as Flamuna had been defeated. The Aurora Rings, having regained their powers and having got the ability to talk, congratulate Vinicius, Angel and the other mascots. The Aurora Rings reveal a song they came up with and the mascots enjoy it. Wenlock approached the mascots, stating that he'd found a portal near the Mystic Valley. The mascots decide to enter the portal. Their next adventure awaits.

In a mid-credits scene, we see the mascots in the portal, and Vinicius wonders where the portal will take them.

In a post-credits scene, a defeated Flamuna is seen on the ground. An echo of someone calling her is heard.

Main Cast

 * Jeremy Shada as Vinicius, The mascot of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
 * Zach Callison as Tom, The mascot of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games
 * CCH Pounder as Flamuna Tenenra, a fire goddess who wants to rule the universe
 * Molly Quinn as Angel Stella, recruit from the USA
 * Alison Brie as Crystal Sun, recruit from the USA
 * Mackenyu as Miraitowa, The mascot of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
 * Kimiko Glenn as Someity, The mascot of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games
 * Zooey Deschanel as Adelene, recruit from France
 * Jonah Hill as Colin, recruit from France
 * Rachel Weisz as Aliz, recruit from Hungary
 * Channing Tatum as Alex, recruit from Hungary
 * Jeff Bennett as Waldi, the first official mascot, for the Munich 1972 Olympic Games
 * Tony Goldwyn as the Narrator

Additional Voices

 * Joey D'Auria as Izzy, the mascot of the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games
 * Tom Kenny as Lele, the mascot of the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games
 * Tara Strong as Merly, the mascot of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games
 * James Arnold Taylor as Sam the Olympic Eagle, The mascot of the 1984 Olympic Games
 * Thomas Middleditch as Wenlock, the mascot of the 2012 Olympic Games
 * Ryan Gosling as Quatchi, the mascot of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games
 * Jordan Gavaris as Sumi, the mascot of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympic Games
 * Wang Leehom as HuanHuan, one of the mascots for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
 * John Harlan Kim as Soohorang, the mascot of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games
 * Johnny Yong Bosch as Bandabi, the mascot of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympic Games

Production
Production started in May 2018, and wrapped up in January 2020.

The film is animated with Toon Boom Harmony, and the animators are using the software to its fullest to make the film look amazing.

The rock band Coldplay performed a new song for the film called "We are Guardians", which will be shown during the end credits.

Release
Olympic Mascots: Guardians of Light had its world premiere at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles, California on February 16, 2020 and the film will be released on February 21, 2020. It was originally going to be released on February 14, 2020, but it was moved to avoid direct competition with Sonic the Hedgehog.

Rating
This film has been rated PG (Parental Guidance) due to:
 * Fantasy Action/Violence (There are scenes where characters fight, in which occasionally they use weapons and engage in hand-to-hand combat, but within a fantasy context. The characters are occasionally damaged by weapons, although none are seriously hurt in the process)
 * Peril (A character sacrifices themselves and some scenes show danger)
 * Thematic Elements (A character after sacrificing themselves is thought to be dead by other characters)

Marketing
The film had a large marketing campaign. Around $100 million was spent on advertising alone.

Trailers
Trailers were released on August 16, 2019, October 25, 2019 and January 3, 2020 respectively.
 * The trailer released on August 16, 2019 was shown before Dora and the Lost City of Gold, The Angry Birds Movie 2 and Abominable.
 * The trailer released on October 13, 2019 was shown before The Addams Family, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Frozen II, Cats and earlier screenings of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
 * The trailer released on January 3, 2020 was shown before Spies in Disguise, Dolittle and later screenings of Frozen II and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Home media
The movie was released May 18 on iTunes Store, Google Play Movies, Amazon Prime Video and FandangoNow, May 27 on HBO Max and May 29 on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Partners
Warner Bros. partnered with more than 30 licensing and promotional partners around the world to market the film including:

Global

 * McDonald's (Happy Meal promotion; 10 toys)
 * Cold Stone Creamery (3 promotional ice creams and cakes)
 * Jakks Pacific (toys)
 * Funko Pop (vinyl figures)
 * Basic Fun (toys, predominantly K'NEX sets)
 * Cereal Partners Worldwide (promotional packaging)

North America

 * Just Born (promotional packaging on Mike and Ike and Hot Tamales)
 * Valpak (sweepstakes promotion)
 * Far Out Toys (toys)

Europe

 * Pyramid International (posters)
 * Sakar International (electronic toys)

Box office
As of February 23, 2020, Olympic Mascots: Guardians of Light has grossed $29.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $31.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $61.2 million, making it a box office bomb considering its $30 million production budget.

In the United States, Olympic Mascots: Guardians of Light opened in over 4,000 theaters and released alongside The Call of the Wild and Brahms: The Boy II and was projected to gross around $10-25 million in its opening weekend. It debuted third in the domestic weekend, finishing between The Call of the Wild and Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 69% approval rating based on 76 reviews (53 fresh, 23 rotten) with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Olympic Mascots: Guardians of Light does push the limits, but a simple story isn't enough for this movie to win a gold medal." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 64 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Taglines

 * A battle of OLYMPIC proportions.
 * Every Olympic mascot. Ever. Is in this.

Songs

 * First Trailer - "Battle Cry" - Angel Haze (ft Sia)
 * Second Trailer - "Rise" - Katy Perry
 * Final Trailer -"Who Will Save You Now" - Les Friction
 * Credits Song - "We Are Guardians" - Coldplay