While it’s nice to see Zack Snyder stepping out of his comfort zone by directing Guardians of Ga'Hoole, an 3D animated feature, is that really so far from what he already does? 300 and Watchmen were both filmed primarily in front of green screens and rendered later with computers. The truth is, I’d like to see Snyder step back into more traditional filmmaking like he did with Dawn of the Dead, but that may take a while.

With the release date for Guardians only a year away, the cast is starting to fill up quite nicely. According to THR, Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving and David Wenham have all joined the voice cast of the animated feature. The flick follows a young owl who is keen on his dad’s tales about a group of hero owls called the Guardians of Ga’Hoole who saved the owl race. Odd, right? The film will be released on December 9th, 2010.

I’m very interested in seeing how Snyder approaches an animated film. Will this be a family-friend gem that 300 bros and Watchmen geeks can take their kids to? Or will this be another testosterone-led blood bath with Owls in places of humans?