November 9, 2012
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MOVIE REVIEW: The Secret of Kells (2009)
GENRE: Children's Adventure-Fantasy Animated Movie
SUMMARY: In a medieval village, young Brandon lives in a small Irish abbey lead by his uncle the overprotective abbot. When the shadow of invading Norsemen falls over the land, Brandon must brave the enchanted forests to complete a work of legendary illuminated text.
REVIEW: This was a random find suggested in a forum by a fan to the artist of one of my favorite web-comics (http://tmkcomic.depleti.com/). Just like the comic, it is influenced by illuminated texts only more so. The art is super graphic and beautiful. It is amazing and the best part of the whole movie. It alone is worth the look. The storytelling is weird. There isn't a lot of explanation and a whole lot of "that's just the way it is". It made it feel a lot like traditional stories. Because of this though the movie seemed short and lacked traditional American plot development. So the plot was rather blah but the way they told it was really cool and folksy. It is very much a mesh of Paganism and Christianity. Very cool and worth a look if you have the time.
ART: 9/10
STORYTELLING & PLOT: 7/10
CHARACTERS:7/10
OVERALL: 8/10