Random Movie Review - Song of the Sea

 

Previously I have reviewed Wolfwalkers so today let's take a look at another film from Cartoon Saloon's Irish Folklore trilogy. The second of the trilogy and it's pretty unique in that unlike the other two films, it's actually set in contemporary times as opposed to years in the past. It's also one of two films that have been released individually on home media, while you can only get Wolfwalkers on Blu-Ray as part of the trilogy boxset. This was a recommendation by a friend, and it's had a great deal of praise for its animation, story, characters and more. Let's dive in, shall we:

The film is centred on a boy called Ben (voiced by David Rawle in the English dub which is the version I saw) who learns about his sister (voiced by Lucy O'Connell) who despite being blamed for the demise of his mother (voiced by Lisa Hannigan), soon learns that she is more than just a human being. With the family already in a state of decay, his sister must carry out a mission to free faerie creatures from a Celtic goddess known as Macha (voiced by Fionnula Flanagan) which the family are hesitant to help her do (at least at first).

Much like with Wolfwalkers, this film is a visual masterpiece. The animation is fantastic, the story is good, the characters are relatable, and it's just a wonderful film. It's full of heart and emotion and is such a delight to behold. The only issue I have with the film is that it does have that kind of dysfunctional family feel to it at the beginning, which isn't original and can put some people off if it's something you can relate to. But give this a watch because it is a great but underappreciated film compared to those more well known films by well known animation studios. Hand drawn animation is still well and truly alive, even if major studios have moved on to just full CGI films. 9/10