Directed By Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey
Starring Evan McGuire, Brendan Gleeson and Christen Mooney
Traditional 2D feature-length animation has evidently become a dying art form. Sure, mature animated kids’ films often surface in CG form thanks to Pixar’s output and the occasional gem like How to Train Your Dragon or the criminally underrated Monster House, and the mini-resurgence of stop-motion animation has yielded wonderful results in Coraline and The Fantastic Mr. Fox, but outside of Japan, big-screen hand-drawn animation has since fallen out of fashion over the past decade. In an era where 2D children’s films are rare and great ones even rarer, The Secret of Kells is a shining example of what animated movies should be – overwhelmingly beautiful and completely unforgettable.
Young orphan Brendan (Evan McGuire) is being raised in the small monastery community of Kells by his gruff uncle, Abbot Cellach (Brendan Gleeson), who spends his days and nights obsessively toiling over the gigantic wall he’s constructing around the village to protect against an impending Viking onslaught. When Brother Aidan narrowly escapes a Viking attack and comes to Kells with the half-finished Book of Iona – a mythical tome which will turn the darkness of the world to light – Brendan is captivated by it, and is soon tasked with helping Aidan in its completion. Against his uncle’s wishes and with the help of young woodland fairy Aisling (Christen Mooney), the boy sneaks away from the safety and shelter of Kells and into the foreboding forest, braving the abundant evil lurking therein in hopes of finishing the book and restoring hope to Kells.
The plot to The Secret of Kells is archetypal fantasy fare at heart; the young orphan venturing away from the familiar and into the unknown to face his destiny and conquer great evil has been the throughline of almost every fantasy adventure movie ever. Even so, like Hayao Miyazaki’s animated films – filled with distinctly Japanese folklore mythology – Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey’s film is imbued with its own authentic sense of heritage as it embraces Celtic history and creatively charts the crafting of the real-life Book of Kells. That distinct Irish character is brought to life by a fabulous cast, most notably Christen Mooney, who lends a fittingly ethereal, playful quality to the voice of scene-stealing woodland sprite Aisling.
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It’s the visuals that prove to be the most memorable character in The Secret of Kells, though. Bearing more than a passing resemblance to the art style of Genndy Tartakovsky of Samurai Jack fame, the animation on display in Kells is a mesmerising mix of subtle beauty and intense, cinematic splendour; the film toys with framing often, switching from its standard aspect ratio to super-widescreen shots, occasionally using split-screen shots, but despite displaying inventive visual trickery, it never feels overly showy and maintains a beautiful balance of style and substance.
Thankfully the film also strikes a perfect medium between being a kid-friendly film that doesn’t mollycoddle younger viewers and one that adults can enjoy without reservation. Occasionally dark and creepy (children frightened by Coraline might want to cover their eyes for some scenes here), filled with breathtaking visuals and free from bloat, low-brow gags and showy A-listers shoe-horned into voice roles, Kells is a short film but an astonishing one that never outstays its welcome. A truly beautiful masterpiece full of whimsy and wonder, it effortlessly stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the wonderful animated fantasy output of Studio Ghibli. In an age where traditional hand-drawn kids’ films are a dying breed, The Secret of Kells is a stunning reminder of just how magical 2D animated filmmaking can be.
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On the DVD:
Optimum Home Entertainment’s DVD release of the comes with an A/V transfer that does the film justice; visually the DVD looks as perfect as the format allows, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 track handles dialogue clearly while adding a wonderful sense of life to the forest scenes especially. A DD 2.0 audio track is also included.
In terms of special features, a trio of deleted scenes offer 10 minutes of extended/alternate takes from the film which are strangely indistinguishable from those in the final product. Three ‘Behind The Animation’ featurettes give a glimpse at the animation process, though they’re sadly very short and insubstantial; the ‘Effects’ feature clocks in at 3 minutes 41 seconds, and offers a brief transitional look at the layers built up to achieve snow effects and the film’s luminous green smoke scenes, though for the rain effects there’s simply a clip from the movie featuring rain. The ‘Compositing’ and ‘Digital Ink & Paint’ offer a tiny bit more detail, as does the ‘Storyboard Comparison’ feature, but they’re still painfully short; for a film with such a distinctive visual style and cultural inspiration, the lack of more lengthy look behind the scenes extras is a huge missed opportunity.
Thankfully an audio commentary with Director Tom Moore, co-director Nora Twomey and art director Ross Stewart (hidden away in the ‘Audio Setup’ menu rather than the ‘Special Features’ one) offers a more substantial insight into the film. The trio are a talkative, informative and entertaining bunch, and offer a wealth of technical information. Rounding out the extras are an animated short film titled ‘Cúilín Dualach’, about a baby born with its head on backwards, and The Secret of Kells trailer. While the extras sadly don’t offer as deep an insight into the film’s creative aspects, thankfully the disc packs an informative commentary and a great A/V transfer for an exceptional film which makes it well worth a purchase.
The Film:
The DVD:
The Secret of Kells is available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK now.
Click here to order the Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk.