After 2009's surprise Oscar nominee, "The Secret of Kells", Irish writer and director Tomm Moore has managed another huge success. Not only did "Song of the Sea" score many awards nominations and wins all over the world, but it also was very successful with the Annies and managed an Academy Award nomination in a category won by "Big Hero 6" last year. So Tomm Moore turned Ireland almost single-handedly into one of the greatest countries for animated films these days, alongside Japan, France, the United States of course. If you have seen "The Secret of Kells", you will see a couple parallels between those two films. Not only the tone and atmosphere is very similar in these 2 fantastic films, in the truest sense of the word, but the technical animation styles resemble each other as well.
And child characters are in the center as usual these days. There is a certain feeling of loss, which is also nothing too new to animated films anymore. However, almost everything else does not feel like it has a lot in common with the likes of Pixar and other American animated films in the 21st century. Because of the supernatural parts, it reminded me more of Miyazaki's fantastic worlds in terms of fairy creatures, talking owls, girls transforming into seals etc. I sure could would have liked to see more of these seals, they were a great addition, probably the cutest part of the film. Voice acting comes from Fionnula Flanagan, Brendan Gleeson and a couple actors that I am not too familiar with. They all do a good job.
As a whole, I enjoyed the watch. There were segments, during which I could have done with slightly more realism, but overall it was very fine and I applaud Moore for coming up with another success. The animation is really breathtaking at times, especially at the end when we hear the song of the sea referenced in the title. A beautiful sequence, probably one of the best scenes of 2014 in film. The music is very strong from start to finish and there is a strong deal of emotion in here. And if you or your kids do not really manage to appreciate the story or the kids, at least there is still a very big, very furry dog that is great fun to watch in all his scenes. But I would be surprised if you do not like the other aspects of this quality film. I certainly recommend the watch. Thumbs up. Maybe check out Kells first, then if you like it, you will most certainly have a really good time watching this one here as well.
And child characters are in the center as usual these days. There is a certain feeling of loss, which is also nothing too new to animated films anymore. However, almost everything else does not feel like it has a lot in common with the likes of Pixar and other American animated films in the 21st century. Because of the supernatural parts, it reminded me more of Miyazaki's fantastic worlds in terms of fairy creatures, talking owls, girls transforming into seals etc. I sure could would have liked to see more of these seals, they were a great addition, probably the cutest part of the film. Voice acting comes from Fionnula Flanagan, Brendan Gleeson and a couple actors that I am not too familiar with. They all do a good job.
As a whole, I enjoyed the watch. There were segments, during which I could have done with slightly more realism, but overall it was very fine and I applaud Moore for coming up with another success. The animation is really breathtaking at times, especially at the end when we hear the song of the sea referenced in the title. A beautiful sequence, probably one of the best scenes of 2014 in film. The music is very strong from start to finish and there is a strong deal of emotion in here. And if you or your kids do not really manage to appreciate the story or the kids, at least there is still a very big, very furry dog that is great fun to watch in all his scenes. But I would be surprised if you do not like the other aspects of this quality film. I certainly recommend the watch. Thumbs up. Maybe check out Kells first, then if you like it, you will most certainly have a really good time watching this one here as well.