This film looks great. Simple character design is set on a backdrop of incredibly elaborate beauty. There are some marvelous set pieces, as when magic infuses a cat. It's gorgeous, with a lovely, lilting score.
The story, on the other hand, is a bit of a mess.
The protagonist, Brendan, lives in a monastery, and the film is inspired by The Book of Kells, an elaborately illustrated book of the gospels. Oddly, the movie never actually tells you that, it simply states that this book can bring light to darkness yada-yada-yada.
While inspired by a Christian text, the movie also has a pre-Christian forest fairy and monster.
There are two ways to look at this. You can not look up Kells in wikipedia and it's a fairy tale of sorts involving a book whose power seems to lie in its gorgeous illustrations.
Of you can know what the book is, and see it as a hodge podge of pagan and Christian religions.
But either way, I can't think of a way to look at the movie that makes sense to me. If it's a fairy tale, then the book needs something more than to be a pretty thing with glowing illustrations. If it's a Christian thing, it should bring out the way that paganism and Christianity intertwine in the story.
Ultimately, it has the elements of a folk tale but those elements, which include a stern uncle obsessed with protection, a kindly old man, a cat, a fairy, a monster, a magical crystal, and more, feel not like connected pieces but a rather random stew.
I don't know if there is a good way to connect these elements; I feel the problem is in the premise. Still, it's very pretty.
The story, on the other hand, is a bit of a mess.
The protagonist, Brendan, lives in a monastery, and the film is inspired by The Book of Kells, an elaborately illustrated book of the gospels. Oddly, the movie never actually tells you that, it simply states that this book can bring light to darkness yada-yada-yada.
While inspired by a Christian text, the movie also has a pre-Christian forest fairy and monster.
There are two ways to look at this. You can not look up Kells in wikipedia and it's a fairy tale of sorts involving a book whose power seems to lie in its gorgeous illustrations.
Of you can know what the book is, and see it as a hodge podge of pagan and Christian religions.
But either way, I can't think of a way to look at the movie that makes sense to me. If it's a fairy tale, then the book needs something more than to be a pretty thing with glowing illustrations. If it's a Christian thing, it should bring out the way that paganism and Christianity intertwine in the story.
Ultimately, it has the elements of a folk tale but those elements, which include a stern uncle obsessed with protection, a kindly old man, a cat, a fairy, a monster, a magical crystal, and more, feel not like connected pieces but a rather random stew.
I don't know if there is a good way to connect these elements; I feel the problem is in the premise. Still, it's very pretty.