Review: Wolfwalkers

-

 

Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) and her father Bill (Sean Bean) have recently moved from England to Ireland. Bill is tasked with helping kill the large amount of wolves in the surrounding forest. Robyn doesn't want to be kept behind the village walls and wishes to help her father. When she escapes into the woods, she meets Mebh (Eva Whittaker) a free spirited girl who is also a Wolfwalker, meaning she turns into a wolf when she sleeps.

Cartoon Saloon has been putting out out beautiful, hand drawn animated films for a while but they came to my attention with their 2014 feature Song of the Sea. That became an instant favorite in my household so when I saw they had another film coming out, I knew it would be perfect for a family movie night. This is currently streaming on Apple TV, and I believe it's also available to rent on demand.

The animation is stunning. I loved the visuals, the forest is so beautiful, as was the transformation from human to wolf. One of my favorite sights was how they showed Mebh running when she's human, she looks like this giant ball of fiery red hair and I loved that. The score is also lovely and fits to well. I liked the story as well, especially when they focus on Mebh and Robyn's friendship which is the strongest point. I did start to get frustrated with Bill as a character though. They lean very heavily on the parent not listening to the child trope, which is fine, but when him shutting up for two seconds would've solved several different problems, it gets a bit tedious. 

While I still prefer Song of the Sea overall, Wolfwalkers is a must see and is my favorite animated film I've seen of the year so far.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B+

Memorable Quote: "Something's happened to me." - Robyn (Honor Kneafsey)

Comments

  1. Often Off TopicDecember 15, 2020 at 3:02 PM

    You've just reminded me that I still haven't gotten around to watching Song of the Sea! I've always had a soft spot for animated movies so I might just have to make a double feature of these.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 16, 2020 at 6:30 AM

      That would be a good one. My son loves Song of the Sea, and he I think he was around your daughter's age when he saw it, so maybe she'll like it too!

      Delete
  2. thevoid99December 15, 2020 at 7:54 PM

    I heard a lot of amazing things about this film. Song of the Sea remains on my watchlist as I heard great things about that film.

    ReplyDelete
  3. GetterDecember 17, 2020 at 4:12 AM

    Hand drawn cartoons and stop-motion are so special. I feel like since they are so time consuming the stories are always so... captivatingly beautiful and fully thought through. Animations in general seem to have that in common.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sonia CercaJanuary 12, 2021 at 9:21 AM

    The world needs more hand-drawn animated films. They are so beautiful and magical.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 12, 2021 at 2:05 PM

      They are! I plan on checking out The Secret of Kells from this studio too.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more