If This Film Were Any More Irish, Bono Would Write A Song About It

Today Film: The Secret of Kells

Review Style: What I Like/What I Don’t Like

What I Liked About The Secret Of Kells

The Animation Style – As the film is based on the creation of The Book of Kells, one of the best examples of illuminated manuscripts that ever existed (and does to this day), I found that basing the art of this film on the same style of artwork from the book proper was excellent. It’s eye catching and unlike almost any other animated film I’ve seen, and serves to give the film a charm all its own (in fact, the closest thing it reminds me of is a cross between Okami and The Triplets of Bellville). And the best thing – they didn’t have to rely on computer graphics

Brendon Gleeson and Mick Lally – voicing the two main adult characters, Abbot Cellach and Brother Aiden respectively, they bring the same brand of awesomeness to these roles as they do (or did) for everything else. And, even though the characters weren’t exactly what one would call multi-dimensional, they did more than the best with what they had.

Celtic Mythology – A film by Celts, for Celts. And I can appreciate that. Sure, I knew that this wouldn’t be a textbook lesson on myth and legend, but there was enough to keep my interest.

What I Didn’t Like About The Secret Of Kells

Child Brendan – OK, I know that this is because I was not the target audience for him (this film is a children’s film after all), but eh, the kid didn’t click with me.

The Child Voice Actors – They weren’t bad, per se; they just came off as verging on precious to me.

Secondary Characters – Outside of Brendan, Cellach, Aiden and arguably Aisling, every character is the very definition of just there to make up the numbers. And I, for one, would have liked to know how a black man, an Asian gent and an Italian all got to 15^thC. Tir Na Nog (either there is a joke there somewhere or monks had a really good exchange program in place).