Animation Vault- The Secret of Kells

In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day around the corner, what better way to pay tribute to this holiday dedicated to Ireland and alcholism than to talk about an Irish animated feature. Lads an' lasses, I give yee The Secret of Kells.

Now this is an extremely recent film that came out around this time last year and from what I can gather from it, this film was a HUGE critical darling in its home country. However, I consider this film obscure on the grounds I didn't even hear of such film until last weeks Oscars where it was nominated for Best Animated Feature. In fact, it was the only nominated film I didn't see in the theatres. So, I did some research on this film and it is easy to see why this film got nominated.

First off, the animation is STUNNING!!! It reminds me of the game Okami in terms of design. The animation of the film looks as if it is made from paintings or ancient scroll designs. Its almost unlike anything I have ever seen in a film. Possibly because this film was done by the same people who did the cartoon series Skunk Fu! which uses similar animation stylings.

The story of the film basically involves a young monk named Brendan who wants to help the other monks illuminating texts. However, his overprotective uncle forbids him to go outside the abbey due to an impending viking attack and that he should focus on helping fortify the abbey. Brendan then finds a teacher in the visiting Brother Aiden, who allows him to go outside the abbey walls in order to go get ink for the texts. Outside the abbey walls, Brenden discovers a forest filled with wonder and danger as well as Aisling, a cute little fairy who has been guarding the forest for centuries. Basically, the film is about Brendan conquring his fears and achieving his dream of finishing the legendary Book of Kells with the help of Aisling.

So does our stallwort hero achieve his dream? I dunno, I haven't seen the whole movie yet. All I've seen our clips and trailers of the film on Youtube and I don't know where I can get the DVD. However, if reading this blog entry piqued your intrest in this film, go check out the trailer on Youtube.

So in closing, have happy, safe St. Patricks Day all and don't forget to wear green.