Thoughts on The Secret of Kells

Saturday, October 16, 2010 4:08 PM By Simon

-First off: Irish movies are awesome. By proxy, anyway. I mean, Irish accents are so damn awesome, even their shit movies are fun just to listen to them all talk Brendan Gleason (who is also in every single Irish movie. It's the law).

-Anyway. In the time when Vikings were hardcore, and not Halloween costumes, the Abbey of Kells fortifies itself from the fast-approaching armies. An old monk/illuminator (I have no idea what that is) entrusted with the sacred, yet-unwritten Book of Kells (then Iona). A young boy, nephew of the Abbot, is soon entrusted with the future of the book.

-I was expecting this to be some fanciful kid movie, and besides some shadows of implied future and brief cutaways to pillaged villages, it is. Until the last half hour. Where, if you know a lick of Irish history, shit gets real.

-But oh, how beautiful the animation is. A combination of contemporary animation and classic Irish, in the style of actual drawings from the Book, a unique look that sets it apart from any other animated film I've seen.

-I take back any Ponyo-related complants I've had in the past against this movie. Truly, it should've been The Princess and the Frog that had my grudge.

7 comments:

SugaryCynic said...

"Truly, it should've been The Princess and the Frog that had my grudge"

well yeah. Seriously though, I love this movie. It's frikkin gorgeous!

October 16, 2010 at 8:59 PM
Franz Patrick said...

This has been sitting on my queue for months. I keep avoiding it because I was worried it might be too kiddy-movie. Guess I don't have to worry about that anymore. Thanks!

October 16, 2010 at 9:29 PM
Robert said...

YESSSS so glad you loved it! It was such a deserving nominee and I'm glad that the Academy rewarded it out of completely nowhere, or it would have totally never seen the light of day. Though, last year was so strong. I really liked Princess and the Frog, and Mary and Max and Ponyo especially were totes "snubbed" though I can't imagine how I would have fit them in. Haha.

October 17, 2010 at 7:31 AM
Simon said...

Sugary: Pretty pictures make my life.

Franz: Welcome, my good sir.

Robert: Mary and Max being snubbed was so tragic I can't even think about it. And I, too, am glad the Academy actually acted against type.

October 17, 2010 at 6:06 PM
Colleen said...

Based on this review, I may check it out now. They churn out so many more "family" movies these days, it's hard to know what's just going to be crap.

October 18, 2010 at 9:49 PM
Peter Eramo said...

I was curious about this one. Love the write-up here. You have a very funny/informative style. I like it. Certainly renting this.

October 19, 2010 at 12:06 PM
Anonymous said...

This movie is beautiful.

October 22, 2010 at 11:41 AM