The Secret of Kells (2009)

To me, this movie is perfection.

good back-story, and good acting

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The style is fully realized, flat, detailed and pure with its mythology, it manages to enthrall the viewer with the story of such magnificent book.

The Secret of Kells is the first film made by the Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, and the first film directed by Tomm Moore. And as far as debut films go, this is simply stunning. Telling the fictitious origin story for the historical Book of Kells, it is probably the animated movie with the most striking visual style I've ever seen. European medieval paintings suddenly spring to life on screen with this film, with most of the backgrounds and character designs heavily mimicking medieval designs, but with a distinct cartoonish slant.And it looks gorgeous! Every frame of this film is a painting ready to be hanged on a wall, and what makes it even better is the fact that the film's story talks about the illustration of a book. The Book of Kells has been a long time project for a Master Illustrator Aidan, but now he has been forced to flee from his island home into the Monastery of Kells because Viking raiders are coming, pillaging and looting everything in their way. In that monastery he meets young Brendan, an apprentice illustrator, who he sends into the surrounding forest to look for materials to make ink. In there Brendan meets many wonders and horrors, among them a female forest spirit named Aisling.This film is balm for the soul of anyone who has ever appreciated traditional hand-drawn animation. Everything from character designs to movement to rhythm works absolutely wonderfully, and at times you quite honestly miss what the characters are saying because you're so busy staring.Unfortunately, where the film falters a little bit is the story. It starts out very well, and is given more depth with the exploration of Brendan's two father figures. The strict abbot of the monastery, his uncle Cellach, and the more free-spirited and relaxed Aidan, who allows Brendan to explore his true passion. But after the second act the film simply seems to give up and the final third act is barely ten minutes long. It's like they ran out of budget and had to cram half an hour's worth of story into ten minutes. It doesn't rhyme at all and quite frankly ruins a perfectly good film. Now, it is possible that the choice was intentional in order to achieve a more mythological, legendary tone for the story, but in an animated film made in the 21st century it nevertheless seems extremely jarring.But, if you're going to see this film, see it for the visuals. The story is good enough to keep you interested, but it's the visuals that will probably bring you back if you're going to see it a second time.

I had the pleasure of watching this in an Art House cinema in Aberdeen for my 16th birthday 2 months ago, being re-released as a celebration of Song of the Sea Tom Moore's new film (another STUNNING Gem by the way!) and I instantly fell in love with Moore's style and artistry. The film tells a true story about a book from an isle in Ireland with the most beautiful pictures and words written upon it's pages, describing it as "to look upon heaven itself". The book is brought to Kells, a medieval outpost which is constructing a great wall around it's monasteries and abbey to protect it from the Northern Invaders, (presumed to be the Vikings of Scandinavia who also pillaged Scotland.) The area is known to be full of monks and holy symbols, lead by Cellach, who anxiously awaits the attack. His young nephew Brendan, who usually spends his days with his "brothers" the other monks is swept up in the story of the book brought by it's author Brother Aiden, a monk from the Isle of Iona. Aiden and Brendan become close acquaintances and he entrusts his new apprentice to go into the forest with his white cat Pangur Bhan (from the old Irish poem) to collect green berries called gall nuts that produce the most beautiful emerald ink. Brendan is cornered by wolves in the process but is saved by a mysterious green eyed white spirit wolf who turns into her true form of a young girl about his age named Aisling. Aisling herself is in fact hundreds of years old and is a faerie of the forest which she is proud to call her own. She helps Brendan to collect the berries and although she isn't trusting of humans she forms a friendship with him and says he is welcome in her forest. Brendan must then look for the Eye of Crom, guarded by a dark ancient spirit Crom Crauch whom Aisling is deathly terrified of. The crystal eye will allow Brendan to concentrate when illustrating the Book. However, with Abbot Cellach under stress and the Vikings drawing ever nearer to the monastery, Brendan appears to have other things to worry about. This film is gorgeously animated, I felt like I was watching a painting all the way through. The Irish accents aren't difficult to understand at all and the Celtic rhythm of the music makes you feel as though you are there sitting in a bright green forest with Brendan and Aisling perched on a branch laughing along. The story flows very well, however the one problem I have with the film is you may need to be familiar with Celtic mythology. As a Scottish person I could understand most of it, but I think others had trouble keeping up. It was very well executed though so you kind of have it explained without to much exposition. The characters are all very 3 dimensional. The monks of the monastery are all very well designed with unique head shapes and voices and Brother Aiden is like a typical quirky grandfather figure. Brendan himself who is around 11 years of age is a very well written child character. He's intelligent but also clumsy and makes bad decisions and mistakes. His heart is kind and he looks to the good side most of the time. We see his spontaneous nature in the first scene as he attempts to catch an escaped goose, even going as far as to climb up the scaffolding. Aisling, the forest spirit is adorable. She's sweet but is also no nonsense and will not put up with a human stumbling across the forest which she guards as her home. She sees all animals as friends and my favourite scene is when she uses Pangur to help get the key to the cell Brendan is locked by Cellach his uncle, to prevent him from entering the forest again. She sings a Gaelic song to turn Pangur into a feline spirit and back again, allowing him to slip into Abbot Cellach's bed chamber without being seen or heard. Christian Mooney the voice actress for Aisling has a lovely voice. All the voice actors do a terrific job, especially the harsh tone of Abbot Cellach played by Brendan Gleeson. The Secret of Kells is a historical fantasy that can only be compared to the great works of Miyazaki. Watching it I drew parallels to Princess Mononoke, (wolves, girl of the woods, man and nature, the battle scenes) it's a very pretty film. It is quite dark in some places, the battle scene of the Viking invasion is frightening and a little graphic. I remember a mother who took her children out once or twice after seeing bodies fall off the scaffolding. It's a PG film but not for young kids. I would say for maybe 10 and up. Overall, this movie was amazing and I look forward to more of Moore.

This film was nominated for the Oscar for Animated Feature. There will be spoilers ahead:This film is about the crafting of a work of art-the Book of Kells. It's a tale of one boy, two abbots with decidedly different world views and a most fascinating supernatural creature which becomes friends with the boy and saves him more than once.Brendan is the boy, a nephew of the Abbot Cellach, who has a goal bordering on mania, to build strong walls around Kells to keep barbarians at bay. He will not hear of doing anything other than building structure for defense. Brendan chaffs under this, wanting to work on manuscripts and his art.Enter two other characters: Aisling, the mystical creature which cares for the surrounding woodlands and befriends Brendan. She is a playful sort, at first suspicious of Brendan and then helpful. The other is a traveling abbot, keeper of a book begun decades ago and worked on painstakingly by brothers ever since. Aidan is friends with Cellach, but has a difference of opinion on the wisdom of building walls, having seen barbarians in action.Brendan helps Aidan on the book, which is yet unfinished. It is in seeking a type of berry for ink that Brendan meets Aisling. Aisling becomes a sort of protector to Brendan along the way.Various circumstances lead to Brendan and Aidan fleeing Kells and traveling around, taking time to work on and show off the book. The book passes on to Brendan as his responsibility and he returns to Kells as an adult to show the finished volume. The ending is most moving.This film is a beautifully realized work of art. The backgrounds, character design and animation are all quite lovely. It's worth watching more than once just to study the visuals more closely.The DVD release includes a full-length animatic, which is essentially a rough of the film using still drawings edited together to give the animators a basic idea of how the film will look. The film is well worth watching and the animatic should be of interest to anyone interested in the mechanics of animation. Most highly recommended.