The Secret Of Kells Review

So often when reviewing movies we only spotlight American films but now i'm going to do something that is so rarely done and review an Irish animated film and what's more it's made by the same company that would later go onto make the fantastic The Breadwinner so here is my reviewof the companies debut film The Secret Of Kells.

The plot of this fantastic debut is a young boy in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids is beckoned to adventure when a celebrated master illuminator arrives with an ancient book brimming with secret wisdom and powers. I'll be the first to admit that the plot of this film isn't it's strongest but even with that said it is still an interesting plot line and one that is very creative and that for me is always a good thing and when you add in the fact that the pacing for the film also isn't that bad either it makes the story for me more enjoyable.

Starring in this film is Evan McGuire as Brendan , Mad Eye Moody as Abbot Cellach , Christen Mooney as Aisling , Mick Lally as Brother Aidan , Liam Hourican as Brothers Tang and Leonardo , Paul Tylak as Brother Assoua and Paul Young as Brother Square. For me personally the casting was pretty much perfect alot of the actors where really good I love Brendan Gleeson in pretty much anything and he's spot on in this film the only actor that at times I thought was turning in a bad performance was Christen Mooney there are times where she is generally doing a good job but then there are times where she delivers a line in a way that sounds like she isn't putting her all into it.

What is interesting is that after doing some research I found out that this film is a fictional origin story for the real life Book of Kells which as of right now is around 340 folios (don't ask me what a folio is I looked it up and I still can't make anything of it) which I gather is quite a lot but since I couldn't make anything of it even after finding out about it so make of that what you will but I find it interesting that a new animation studio would make a film that is based on something which is commonly known as a Gospel Book and please do not ask me what that means because again I have no idea what it means.

I don't really think it needs saying but the animation for this film was done by Cartoon Saloon and even tho they had released a few short films up to this point this was the companies first feature film and I have to say that the animation seen in this film is freaking amazing for there first time making a feature film Cartoon Saloon really did knock it out of the park and i'm glad that the company has gone on to produce a few more great feature films.

Speaking of Cartoon Saloon they are now making a feature film for Netflix called My Father's Dragon i'm mentioning it in this review because the director of that film is going to be Nora Twomey who was the director of The Breadwinner a film which I freaking loved and was co-director on this film so in my eyes she is someone to look out for the near future and this studio is one to pay attention to as well because both are going places.

For me what is truly shocking is how little this film made at the box office it made $739,454 and that to me is criminal because this film is better then alot of animated films that came out in that year and it should have made more money because I can see both kids and adults truly liking this film but hey if the choice is a film by an unknown studio or a Disney film I like many of you would go for the Disney film.

Another reason why I think this film didn't perform as well is the fact that it wasn't promoted that much i'm currently sat here writing this review and I can't think of a single time where I saw a trailer for this film I might be be wrong and there might have been a few released here in the UK but if that's the case then why didn't this film make more money.

I'm not sure if anyone who's seen this film shares this opinion or not but for me the best character in the film was Aisling I can't describe what it is that makes me say that but there's something about her and about her character that I really liked maybe it was how she was presented in the film or how playful and yet at the same time childlike and scared she comes across but there's just something about her that is really likable.

What I just said about Aisling could also be said for the main character Brendan there is just something about him that is really likable and a joy to watch but for me that's nothing new because this film confirms that Cartoon Saloon is great at making likable characters heck even the characters that are meant to come across as evil in this case the uncle is done in a way in which you can see his point of view and that to me makes the film standout a little bit more.

There are a few times in this film where I was asking myself is this really aimed at little kids because it was showing some quite scary imagery i'm not sure what rating this film got but I hope it was something like a PG because there's stuff in this film that I can see scaring little kids and there's also a few scenes that i can see making them upset but that to me says that the film is doing it's job so that is not a good thing but rather a great thing and that matters alot in a film.

Overall this film was a great start for the studio but I don't think that it's there best film for me and for now that's The Breadwinner but I would totally understand it if someone said that they preferred this film since it does have a lot going for it and so for me the film gets a 9 out of 10.