NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

negatively-positive-girl 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.

CinemaClown Enchanting, alluring & visually spellbinding, Cartoon Saloon's first foray into feature filmmaking is a beautifully animated & exquisitely scored fantasy that draws its inspiration from Irish mythology & art and is brought to life with such care, love & dedication that every frame of it qualifies as a gorgeously textured & geometrically satisfying work of wonder.The story of The Secret of Kells follows a young kid named Brendan who embarks on an adventure of a lifetime after an esteemed illuminator arrives on their doorstep, carrying with him an ancient but unfinished book, and enlists the kid as his apprentice. But in order to finish the magical book, he must overcome his deepest fears and must do so before their monastery is invaded by raiders.Directed by Tomm Moore & Nora Twomey, the animation style draws upon Irish art & culture and although the hand-drawn elements look deceptively simple in appearance, the attention to detail is breathtaking. The story is pretty straightforward, the fantasy elements brim with magical touch & feel, and while the characters may be a bit underdone, a few of them manage to make us invest in their journey.The animation is as unique as it is transcending and in an age where most animation studios try to emulate a realistic background, it's heartwarming to see Cartoon Saloon embracing the imperfect, childlike & ornamental sketch which is then refined to perfection with splendid use of colours & a truly mesmerising score, thus providing its visual & aural elements a distinctive artistic flair and yet it feels oddly familiar & intimate.On an overall scale, The Secret of Kells is a heartwarming, evocative & endlessly endearing delight that begins Cartoon Saloon's filmmaking journey on a high note and is one of the most beautiful & dazzling works of animation to grace the silver screen. The story itself may not be as immersive or gratifying as the skilfully illustrated world it takes place in but the sheer passion & creativity that's on display here makes sure that the viewers never look away from the screen for even a second.

T-Dawg210 The Secret of Kells is an Irish-French-Belgian animated fantasy film, directed by Tom Moore. Just like it's sequel movie Song of the Sea, it's unlike anything we've seen on screen. The visuals are enchanting and fanciful. Brendan is an idealistic young boy who lives in the Abbey of Kells, which is an outpost surrounded by heavily fortified walls. Due to the threats of the Viking raids, his uncle, and the monks are sequestered on the abbey so Brendan has never stepped out of the walls. One day Brother Aidan comes to Kells with an unfinished sacred book of knowledge, which he refers to it as "a beacon in these dark days" of brutal attacks. Brendan is fascinated with the book and tries to help Brother Aidan complete the book, as his hands are too old and unsteady to finish the book. But to create the book, Brendan has to undertake a dangerous quest to obtain ink berries in the forest. Luckily he meets a woodland fairy Aisling, who helps him with him the mission. Brendan needs to face his fears and help Brother Aidan finish the book.As I've mentioned before, I thoroughly enjoyed the director's animation technique because it's charming and magical. The scenes were intricate and colorful. The vibrant and melodious Irish folk musical background scores increase the overall enchanting quality of this film.The cool thing about the story line is that it's partially right. There is a book called "Book of Kells," which is a 9th century New Testament with brilliant embellishments. And it is considered as Ireland's National Treasure. At the end of the film, I also enjoyed how The Secret of Kells uses early Christian Theology to access to a wider audience as it illuminated the audience with its incredible and universal sentiment. The movie has a great message, from young viewers to old ones with striking imagery to captivate the audience.

San Ookamitora 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.