Despite never achieving the household name status as the likes of Pixar or Ghibli, Kilkenny-based animation studio Cartoon Saloon has continuously churned out delightful hand drawn fairy tales every few years, never afraid to touch either obscure high fantasy (“Song of the Sea,” “Secret of Kells”) or the harsh realities of life (“The Breadwinner”). Yet its with “Wolfwalkers” that the studio has not only created a bridge between these two types of films, but created their greatest work yet.
The story is that of a fairy tale, not unlike the kind that Disney would pull from in their earliest era. A young girl Robyn, voiced by Honor Kneafsey (“A Christmas Prince,” “Benidorm”), encounters a wolfwalker named Mebh, voiced by Eva Whittaker, in the woods shortly after she and her father, Goodfellowe, voiced by Sean Bean (“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” “Patriot Games”), move to an Irish town ruled by The Lord Protector, voiced by Simon McBurney (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “The Manchurian Candidate”).
The story may be that of a fairy tale, but like any good creators, writer/director Tomm Moore (“The Secret of Kells,” “Song of the Sea”) and writer/director Ross Stewart (“The Secret of Kells,” “ParaNorman”) and writer Will Collins (“My Brothers,” “Song of the Sea”) inject it with a fair amount of real-world parallels. When the Lord Protector speaks of taming the savage lands he rules over, you can’t quite tell if he means the wolves or the people he rules over. There are plenty of events and themes that touch on subjects like prejudice and the history of England ruling over Ireland and all are pulled off beautifully.
It’s the people behind these voices that help to pull it all off. Kneafsey is absolutely excellent as Robyn, delivering a performance that grows as she does throughout the film. Sean Bean, meanwhile, delivers what might be the strongest and emotionally complex role of his career. None are more impressive as Whittaker though, given that this is her first film credit. She balances her inner wildness from both being a wolfwalker and also a young girl with the trauma that she’d forced to endure as the story progresses.
Maria Doyle Kennedy (“Orphan Black,” “Byzantium”) is also great as the soft-spoken mother of Mebh, Moll, despite having a limited amount of speaking time compared to the other actors. The same goes for McBurney as the Lord Protector who manages to stand tall alongside the best animated villains thanks to a manipulative and stern vocal performance.
As with every previous Cartoon Saloon film, the way its animated is one of the highlights and reason enough to see the film. The two distinct visual styles mesh beautifully to accompany the story both visually and emotionally. From the blocky, Mc-Escher designs of the inside of the town, to the painterly, sketched out look of the forest and wolf world, it’s a film that is easy to connect with because the visuals do such an incredible job of selling the entire world.
Its not just pretty, as when things move toward the brutal and horrific, the painted strokes of this world still sell the look just as assuredly. It’s as close to a moving painting as one can get in an animated film (not counting “Loving Vincent”) and its all the better for it. Even moments where the rough sketches from animator’s shine through are deliberate choices to better communicate this world and the character’s emotions and it becomes a thrilling experience to watch.
The musical score from Bruno Coulais (“Coraline,” “The Secret of Kells”) is haunting and wonderous, invading your ears like a kind of hypnotic melody. It’s beautiful and devastating and it matches the songs from singer Kíla perfectly.
There is nary a thing wrong with “Wolfwalkers” on any level. There might be a few moments where a joke doesn’t fit tonally, but these are mere seconds within an entire work that stirs the soul and fills eyes with tears and wonder. It’s a masterpiece, plain and simple, and should be viewed by all audiences of any age. 5/5
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