The Secret Of Kells

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While technically The Secret of Kells was released quite a while ago, it is still circulating around theaters and has yet to make it to DVD (and won’t until October 5th), so it’s still fair game.

The Secret of Kells is a rich and lavishly animated film about a young boy, Brendan, growing up in the Abbey of Kells, during the ninth century. As the vikings are invading Ireland, Brendan’s uncle, Abbot Cellach is obsessed with building a wall around his abbey to protect the people. Brendan finds himself drawn to a new arrival at the abbey, Aidan of Iona, a master illuminator, and wishes to learn everything he can about the book and the things that exist outside his uncle’s wall. As Brendan struggles to learn about the true beauty and difficulty of illuminating he must overcome the many adversities that exist between him and the completion of the Book of Kells.

Obviously the first thing to talk about, and the sheer strength of the work, comes from the animation. While the characters are very simple and not too different from what you might see on Cartoon Network, the backgrounds are extraordinary. From the moment the movie starts you find yourself entirely absorbed in the mesmerizing, colorful and excruciatingly detailed backgrounds. It is as though an illuminated manuscript had come alive in an animation. Even where there is a lack of excessive detail (which there rarely is), there are rich textures and variations that make every frame look entirely different. And unbelievably it’s all hand drawn.

In animations today there are several styles: traditional, like old-school Disney with the “Princess and the Frog” and Studio Ghibli’s “Ponyo”; Pixar, really need we say more; or anything that tries to be Pixar and comes up just a little short, like Dreamworks’ numerous “Shrek” films. While the shockingly realistic and beautifully crafted Pixar movies are always impressive, at a certain point it seems as though everything goes through the Disney/Pixar filter. The style never changes; everything is smooth, correctly textured and just slightly quirky. So going from that to the visual smorgasbord that is The Secret of Kells is an eye-popping transition. More studios should try for this originality in their work and keep the visual world more interesting.

It’s a good thing the animation keeps you so engrossed though because the story itself isn’t the very well developed. It felt as though there was too much trying to be covered in the film. There’s Brendan’s study in illumination, there are his trips to the forest and his meeting the spirit Aisling, there’s the vikings and suddenly the movie is over. The building up of Brendan’s childhood is played out nicely and we see and feel his struggles wonderfully but after the climax of the film it feels like loose ends are just trying to be tied up quickly. Finding the movie to be over was quite a surprise.

A gorgeous film and a refreshing change of imagery are what make The Secret of Kells so astounding (and well-worthy of it’s surprising Oscar nod). When the credits start rolling you will find yourself begging for more.

Get a sense of that wonderful animation in the trailer, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMPhHTtKZ8Q