Despite the title of 'Rise of the Guardians,' this isn't a 'Guardians of the Galaxy' movie. If it had been, it wouldn't have been a colossal flop. Instead, what we find with 'Rise of the Guardians' is a rare case of DreamWorks Animations making a mistake. We almost think of them as the animators who can do no wrong - they have 'Kung Fu Panda' and 'Shrek' under their belt after all - but even the biggest companies can miss the mark on occasion, as they did with this in 2012.
The general consensus of the reviewers is that the film had too many central characters, too many points of focus, and just too much going on in general. It lacked direction, and at 97 minutes was simply too long to hold the attention of the young audience it was aimed at. DreamWorks recorded an $83m loss, and had to say goodbye to 25% of their staff to avoid having to cease trading.