I should preface my review by stating that I only give it a 9 rating instead of a 10 because I feel perfection should always remain unattainable. Check it out! (As of December 2010, its Watch Instant on Netflix!) … Expand Great for the family, spooky and lovely, I'd recommend it to any one with an interest in animation, Irish lore, or art history. And if you don't like all the heady intellectual stuff, it's incredible to look at, the soundtrack is totally mesmerizing, and I will sheepishly confess being moved to tears by Aisling's Song to Panger Ban. However, the Tartakovskian stylization of characters, the backgrounds abstracted to a nearly Byzantine flatness, and the romanticization of monastic inspiration pay great homage to the original Book of Kells. The story itself is simple and sweet, perhaps nothing to celebrate, and set in a medieval Ireland some 1200 years ago. The story itself is simple and sweet, perhaps nothing to celebrate, and set in a medieval Ireland some Having been trained in fine art, having studied art history, and being an enormous fan of animation and cartoons, I must say this is one of the finest creations in the last five years. Having been trained in fine art, having studied art history, and being an enormous fan of animation and cartoons, I must say this is one of the finest creations in the last five years. It is here that he meets the fairy Aisling, a mysterious young wolf-girl, who helps him fulfill his dangerous quest. To help complete the magical book, Brendan has to overcome his deepest fears and venture into the enchanted forest where mythical creatures hide. But a new life of adventure beckons when a celebrated master illuminator arrives from foreign lands carrying an ancient but unfinished book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers. Young Brendan lives in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids. But a new life of adventure beckons when a celebrated Magic, fantasy, and Celtic mythology come together in a riot of color and detail that dazzle the eyes, in a sweeping story about the power of imagination and faith to carry humanity through dark times. At one point, our young boy protagonist Brendan falls into a mythical realm and it is an arresting image to see the screen filled with color, but utterly without lines, an infinite depth decorated only by curlicues of light.Summary: Magic, fantasy, and Celtic mythology come together in a riot of color and detail that dazzle the eyes, in a sweeping story about the power of imagination and faith to carry humanity through dark times. It hints at the world beyond its flattened walls and as I watched, I felt once more like a child seeking magic, forests, myth and legend. The tale teases at us, whispering, revealing its majestic potential only at choice moments. There is never too little to occupy our visual attention. A flock of sheep is portrayed not as scattered about a field, but as stacked across the screen, one on top of another, much like the patterns which build and define this story. This is not a world one sinks immediately into, but one which plays out craftily before our eyes, prodding us to see anew.ĭepth of field has been relinquished. Some elements will be watercolor, some chalk, some classically animated, some wholly incomprehensible. It takes a bit to acclimate to the film’s visual tricks (and it has many). It does so in its final montage, an animated interpretation of an illuminated manuscript, and the payoff is extraordinary.Įverything about the piece is touched by a degree of strangeness – an elaborate drawing style, flattened dimensions, archaic Celtic words spoken with affected accents and in hushed tones.
#The secret of kells soundtrack free#
Kells plays between the boundaries of book and film, not only because of its technique but because this tale is one of a quest to recapture – or more aptly, to set free – the medium of written communication. The visual style is very consciously confined to the two-dimensional but it breathes with a magic, a life. While the last two movies I reviewed – “The Iron Giant” and “Grave of the Fireflies” – sought to subvert animation stereotypes, Cartoon Saloon’s 2009 The Secret of the Kells selects and spotlights the treasures of hand-drawn artistry still undiscovered. The whole thing reads like a grand optical illusion.