Zack Snyder, best known for such hyper-violent fare as “300” and “The Watchmenm,” may be the last person you’d expect to helm an adaptation of a popular series of kid’s books (the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky). But the truth is that Snyder’s flamboyant style works particularly well for this fantasy adventure that feels sort of like a hybridization of the beloved novel “Watership Down” (with owls in the place of rabbits) mixed with The Lord of the Rings trilogy and “Star Wars.”

The film follows the adventures of Soren (Jim Sturgess), a young owling who dreams of one day becoming a member of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a mythical band of winged warriors who once saved the world from evil but now live on only in legend.

When Soren and his older brother, Kludd, are owlnapped by the very forces of evil that the stories recount, Soren and a handful of other brave owls make a daring escape, hoping against hope that the mythical Guardians are real and can come to the aid of their imprisoned brethren.

This has been the year of 3-D films. Those films that soared in the medium were, without exception, animated films. Live-action films (“The Clash of the Titans,” “Alice in Wonderland”) wilted under the technology, while animated films like “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Toy Story 3D” used it to achieve something transcendent.

The moral is clear: Until the technology improves, 3-D should remain the domain solely of animation.

Snyder’s animation is luxuriant — the manner in which the owl feathers ripple in the wind of flight is breathtaking, the landscapes are sumptuous, and the lack of Disneyified anthropomorphizing is a welcome treat.

But even Snyder is incapable of using the technology to its full potential. In fact, his aforementioned stylizing, while beautiful, actually detracts from the purpose of 3-D viewing. At no time in a film about soaring birds did I ever feel like I was flying. Contrast this with “How to Train Your Dragon,” which captured that same idea so well, it outdid even “Avatar.”

“Legend of the Guardians” is an engaging fantasy about the collision of mythology and reality, but it is not for young children. While no blood is ever shed and only a few owls meet incontrovertible deaths, “Guardians” feels very much like an edited, PG version of Snyder’s “300,” in which the intense battles remain but the camera cuts away just before the kill stroke is delivered.

“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”

Cast: Jim Sturgess, Helen Mirren, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving

Director: Zack Snyder

Theaters: Hollywood, Tinseltown, Carmike, Chapel Hills, Cinemark, IMAX

Rated: PG (for some sequences of scary action)

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

GRADE: B+

Photo by 2010 Warner Bros.