October 8, 2010
-
The Secret of Kells, a review
I know what a lot of you are thinking. "What's The Secret of Kells?" Well, if I told you, then it wouldn't be a secret, now would it? Bad jokes aside, this movie is an Irish animated children's tale of such astounding depth and profundity that the studio is sure to never release another film because not enough people paid to see this one.
The story is your standard children's movie affair. A boy of about ten from some suburb similar to, I dunno, yours is called upon an epic quest to acquire some MacGuffin. The main difference is that the gated community in this particular movie is situated in medieval Ireland and is about to be under siege by an army of marauding Norsemen. Everything hinges on the Book of Kells, a beautifully scripted collection of the four gospels. Fortunately, there is almost no direct mention of Christianity, and the whole film seems to spend a lot of time in Celtic pagan territory. The lead protagonist spends much of his time consorting with a wood fairy and playing Tron with a demon snake, presenting more evidence toward that belief system than anything written in the book he's writing. I digress…
The film's art style is what made me pay attention to the movie in the first place, and is still my favorite aspect. Almost the entire movie is presented in a "flat" style reminiscent of ye olde tapestries, before fancy-pants techniques like "perspective" had to go and ruin everything. Rather than blather on, I will just conclude this paragraph by saying it is very pretty.
I find myself in the awkward position of not having enough to complain about. I tend to reach for my old standby of a crappy ending, but I actually thought this film did a decent job of it. The follow-through is just the right length to not make me think, "gee golly willickers, that was sudden" or "gee golly willickers, could they drag that out any longer?" If I did have to complain (and, as a reviewer, I do), I would complain about the overarching plot's simplicity. It's the standard light versus dark affair. Honestly, this is a petty complaint. Such an issue could be levied against Star Wars. The movie was interesting and I enjoyed it from beginning to end.
I was rather depressed to hear that The Secret of Kells didn't win best animated feature. I am not holding back when I say it was far superiour to the actual winner, Up. It's fun, beautifully animated, has interesting characters, and it's an actual cartoon (none of that CG stuff). I give it a solid 10 / 10.23. I may refer to it as a children's movie, but it is certainly much more than that.
(Aislin is watching you masturbate)Note from Jimbo: This review is technically a repost. The only reason I'm bumping it up again is because this movie has recently been released to DVD and Blu-ray here in the States. Go now and buy a copy. In fact, buy three copies. You won't regret.
