Review: Secret of Kells

The Secret of Kells is an interesting film for several reasons. Reason one is the fact that the film is foreign and in many cases, especially in animation, films from other countries tend to be overlooked here in the states. The other reason is that it tells bits of its story from an abstract perspective that purposefully tries to stray from reality. You guys remember abstract 2D animation right? Before it was mandatory that everything had to be realistic and make logical, physics based, sense at all times?

The story takes place in the ninth century, during the time of the Viking invasions. Our protagonist, young Brendan, is being trained by his uncle, Abbot Cellach, to be the next abbot of the monastery that they live in. All is normal until Brother Aidan appears carrying his “Book of Iona,” a piece of literature that is, like Aidan himself, highly revered by the other monks. While Brendan embraces Aidan’s emphasis on writing and drawing, his uncle is more focused on building a wall to block off the incoming Viking invasion. Brendan ends up going against his uncle by focusing more on creating Aidan’s book, which Aidan has requested that he finish for him, instead of the construction of the fortress wall.

It all is wrapped up in the end when Brendan flees the Vikings, who ended up breaking through the wall after all, and returns many years later to a forlorn Abbot Cellach. Cellach admits that the book was important after all, and he finally sees the completed work. My favorite character had to be the fairy Aisling. Who was brilliantly animated throughout the film, and put a sense of wonder into the story as a whole. For a character who is drawn in such a simple style, it is surprising to me how much personality was squeezed into her. I think people should pay more attention to this because, as low budget animation becomes more popular, animators will need to find ways to instill the same amount of life into their characters as they do with the big time projects.

All in all, there’s a lot going on in this film. Certainly more then what I’ve written about. If you miss it, you’ll be missing out on something truly spectacular.