Movie o' the day: The Secret of Kells

Spokane has this little art-house theater that's come and gone over the years, called the Magic Lantern. I normally don't pay it much attention, since the majority of its fare tends to be small foreign films and documentaries that, if they grab my attention, I can generally catch on Netflix in short order, in the privacy of my own home. However, they do also occasionally show some piece of animation that had escaped my attention earlier, and isn't currently available on DVD, and may never be, for that matter... such was the case for The Secret of Kells.

The story itself isn't anything earth-shattering... during Viking times, our young hero Brendan lives in an abbey where his uncle is the head abbot. The abbot is doing his best to make his abbey defensible, and shield his flock from the northmen... in his nephew's case, to the point of forbidding him from leaving the abbey. A master limner, who survived another Viking raid on his abbey, comes to the abbey with his cat, Pangur Ban, and a book that generations of limners have been working on, the Book of Iona... and proceeds to lure the hero away from the path of the abbot's choosing. In the end, the vikings come, the abbey is razed, but the limner and his new apprentice survive and complete the book, now called the Book of Kells. In and amongst all that, there's a fair bit of Brendan sneaking out of the abbey, befriending a local faery who's the guardian of the surrounding woods, and battling a dark pagan god in the process. It's a passable tale, but not something likely to grab the imagination of young children, I'd wager.

That said... the animation is oddly beautiful, in its own way. The main art style is influenced by anime, but also looks to draw on time-appropriate European artwork (it wouldn't surprise me if that influence came from the real-life Book of Kells itself). When they deal with the Norsemen, the color palette shifts extremely dark, and the motion they use to imply their implacability and unstoppability is inspired. At times, they split the behavior of a character and their shadow, to better portray mood or shadow something they're describing. The one time the faery does actual magic involving Pangur Ban is understated but simply outstanding. Oh, and Pangur Ban is one of the better mostly-normal cat portrayals I've ever seen.

So, overall, if you're an animation geek, get thee to the Magic Lantern before this goes away (or check your own local art-house to see if it's coming or already gone), or at least get it saved in your Netflix queue and pray that a DVD release is forthcoming soon. For those of you looking for something to take the kids to... it's not bloody, it doesn't have any bad language or other naughty bits, but neither does it have enough action to keep real young kids enthralled. If it still sounds like something they'd enjoy, by all means go, or stow it away in your Netflix queue.