The Secret of Kells artfully makes a case for the value of art and reading, even if the story doesn’t really amount to much.
Unfortunately the drama here is not as bold or enthralling as the draftsmanship.
Unlike anything else you’ve seen, and very much worth seeking out, this is a unique and beautiful creation.
Hand-drawn and watercoloured, the animation is as sublime as a stained-glass window.
A low-key pleasure.
The highly stylised images – of a tumbling, tangled forest, ravening wolves, flights of black-as-night crows, shimmering snowscapes, the geometric lines of the advancing hordes – are all realised with a gorgeous intricacy.
This one may not have the driving narrative momentum audiences weaned on modern classics from Pixar and the like might expect, but its tale about a ginger-headed medieval monk-in-training called Brendan who embarks on a mission to gather the materials needed to write the illuminated bible, The Book of Kells, is enchanting in other ways.
Magical, funny, wholly lacking in po-faced piety, the movie incorporates elements of Irish mythology and is drawn in a flat, stylised fashion that derives from the art of the time.
The story wafts in too many different directions before dissipating altogether, but the film is still a treat, thanks to its stylised, kaleidoscopic artwork, which is like a cross between an Asterix book and a stained glass window. Don't keep it a secret.
The colours fairly roar from the screen.
General release. Check local listings for show times.