With Rise of the Guardians opening this week, I recently got to see the finished film at DreamWorks Animation and it’s really well done.  Not only is the animation great to look at, it’s got a strong story that’s character driven and it doesn’t rely on stupid jokes.  In addition, unlike most superhero films that spend half the time introducing characters by explaining their origin and showing off their powers, what’s fantastic about Rise of the Guardians is we join almost everyone in the middle of the story.  If you’re not familiar with the story, it  revolves around the rebellious Jack Frost (Chris Pine) teaming up with other mythical figures North aka Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), E. Aster Bunnyman aka Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), Tooth aka The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), and the Sandman to battle the evil Pitch (Jude Law).  Here’s my video blog review and all our previous coverage.

To help promote the film, last week I got on the phone with Rise of the Guardians producer Guillermo del Toro.  We talked about how they didn’t do a typical origin story, the tone, the Puss in Boots sequel, Kung Fu Panda 3, his DreamWorks Animation directorial debut Trollhunters, Pacific Rim, the 3D conversion, when we’ll see the trailer, the Pacific Rim sequel, and so much more.  Hit the jump for what del Toro had to say.

It’s no secret that Guillermo del Toro is a busy guy.  At any given moment he’s developing a number of projects in various stages to write, produce, and/or direct, but fans can always rest assured that if del Toro lends his name to something, he puts his whole heart into it.  One of his more interesting recent collaborations has been with DreamWorks Animation.  He took on a small consulting role on the studio’s 2010 film Megamind, but since then he’s served as an executive producer on Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda 2, and the upcoming Rise of the Guardians.

Steve recently spoke with del Toro in anticipation of the release of Rise of the Guardians and the filmmaker gave updates on a number of future projects (read what he had to say about Pacific Rim and Pacific Rim 2 right here).  During the course of the conversation, del Toro gave updates on Puss in Boots 2, Kung Fu Panda 3, and an animated film called Trollhunters that he intends to direct for DreamWorks Animation.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

A couple weeks ago at the Toronto International Film Festival, Steve interviewed Guillermo del Toro and learned that the writer-director-producer was developing projects at DreamWorks Animation.  Today, THR reports that del Toro will write and direct Trollhunters for the studio.  The film is based on a young adult novel that del Toro submitted to publisher Hyperion about two weeks ago.  Said del Toro:

“I wanted very much to develop a story that could be written for kids but dealt with a genre that was scary,” he said. “It essentially combines fairy tales with modern times and is about how difficult it is to be kid. Normally, kids are idealized in animated films. But the growing pains, married with the notion that there is a world right next to us that is completely plagued by creatures of ancient lore, it’s thematically fitting with the rest of my stuff.”

Hit the jump for more on del Toro’s relationship with DreamWorks Animation.