One can easily imagine the turning heads of Disney and Pixar, for instance, as the batwing doors swing open and a new pretender to the animation crown enters. The Irish film (and television) studio, Cartoon Saloon, rightly deserves the room’s full attention. The clan from Kilkenny now has four feature film credits to its name. Four exceptional, ground-breaking works that must surely now be granted their top tier status. Their new adventure, the sumptuous, searing Wolfwalkers only enhances their clout.
Cartoon Saloon’s extraordinary path to stardom in the movie industry has been bumpy, but assured. Those four Academy Award nominations (one for a short film) were not merely plucked out of the sky. AMPAS voters, however, opted for alternatives on the three occasions Cartoon Saloon was listed in Best Animated Feature contention.
The animation film world is increasingly prosperous, so it was hard to argue against Oscar winners like Up and Coco. Not so much with Big Hero 6. With the new awards season in full flight, Wolfwalkers is being touted as a kind of challenger or dark horse. Honestly, this picture is so damn good that we have to now make justifiable claims for a Best Picture Oscar run, alongside the Best Animated Feature formality.
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The Cartoon Saloon emerged through the dust back in 1999, when creative souls Tomm Moore, Paul Young and Nora Twomey founded the company. And through the thick and thins of maintaining their indigenous lore and independent status, the illustration motion picture assembly built their castle with homegrown bricks and sticks.
The largely hand-drawn animation, depicting the charms and chorus of Celtic culture and medieval arts, was first launched into the world with The Secret of Kells in 2009. Directed by both Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey, the animated gem landed in the 9th century of Ireland and the attacks of oncoming Vikings. The Secret of Kells added wolves, fairies, and the illustrious Book of Kells to its grand, mythological story-telling.
In 2014, with many still unfamiliar with Cartoon Saloon, the painfully under-seen Song of the Sea washed across us. Another majestic, visual treat, the film is a poignant tale of an Irish boy and his mute sister. Song of the Sea, which was released in the Irish language too, also harvests a powerful portrayal of grieving a mother. Not to mention the imperishable film music, with those hypnotising vocals from the dreamy Lisa Hannigan.
Nora Twomey took over directing duties for Cartoon Saloon’s last outing, The Breadwinner. Which marked the first of the four feature film releases to be set outside of Ireland. Based on the novel by Deborah Ellis, The Breadwinner follows young Parvana in Kabul, who cuts off her hair to dress like a boy, during the Taliban rule. A beautiful film, as daring and immersive as any depiction of the loyalties and risks we take for family.
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Wolfwalkers arrives in 2020 as the animated feature films continue to break down barriers and raise the bar of cinematic excellence. The fourth feature from Cartoon Saloon, directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart this time around, proves that the Irish exemplars are not playing catch up, but rather fully-fledged competitors in the field.
Set in or around the 16th century, Wolfwalkers once again sees wonderful story-telling from the point of view of the young – well, children. Our heroine is Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) who lives with her father Bill Goodfellowe (Sean Bean) in Kilkenny, Ireland. The villain of the piece is Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector (Simon McBurney) who insists they rid their land of the wolf-folk.
When Robyn, with eager eyes and an affliction to ignore her father’s warnings, meets flame-haired Mebh (Eva Whittaker), adversaries start to become alliances. Mebh is one such wolfwalker, a human who transforms into a wolf by night, befriended and supported by the large, endangered wolf pack.
Robyn and Mebh’s inevitable, unlikely bond flourishes in their common outlooks. Robyn sees a like-minded figure in the excitable Mebh. Amd in return the wolfwalker builds trust enough to ask Robyn to help her locate her mother – captured as a wolf and thus unable to waken in her human form.
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Bill, meanwhile, is under ludicrous pressure from the Lord Protector, to obey his yearning for decimation and to keep his fiesty child in check along the way. Robyn, as resolute and gutsy as the greatest victors, continues to go against her father’s wishes. All the while attempting to show him the true nature of the animals they so unjustly want banished.
The story-telling of Wolfwalkers is thrilling on so many levels. Not just the bold animation, but the honest depiction of the folk tale and the dangers present for friendships and kinships. Characters are larger than life but grounded on those very trinkets of humanity and heritage. There’s been some minor criticism that Wolfwalkers perhaps has pacing issues in some places, but this reviewer howls back rebeliously at such notions.
Animation is, as we all know, a grueling, time-sucking collaboration, and Wolfwalkers doesn’t waste a second of that. Enchanting as it is inspiring, the film elevates your spirit and transports you through the forest and the towns as if part of nature oneself. An industrious, poetic fable, Wolfwalkers resonates so richly amidst the outlandish colours and curves.
The subtext of neglected children, with the familiarity of the parents ignoring their whimsical ways, is finely tuned enough to give it a innovative flavour. Robyn’s honest protests are just that, a form of aggression for which an adult can empathise with but not fully appreciate. The children, as well as the wolves, are poorly understood creatures.
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The voice acting is remarkable indeed. Honor Kneafsey as Robyn is so endearing and passionate that her failed cries for help (to her father mostly) riddle you with anxiety. Sean Bean delivers his masculine commoner to proceedings, while also echoing such an over-protective and defenceless side. And Simon McBurney revels in booming out Cromwell’s barbarous assertions.
If it would be fair to single any of the acting talent out, then Eva Whittaker as the freewheeling Mebh brings a wild appetite to an already brash soul. It is the sprightly, urgently emotional vocals of Whittaker than allows Mebh to really get the heart pounding. An absolute delight througout – with a splash of comedy for good measure – Mebh’s frenetic energy and those repeated Irish cries of ‘Mammy’ are so contagiously affecting.
The stunning animation is far less bubbly and bouncy that that of some of Cartoon Saloon’s creative peers. But it is those anarchic pencil strokes and shrewd charcoal scratches that makes them stand out in a crowd.
The vivid colours and swirling lines caress the screen. Those wolves bend and creep, yet resemble their dog cousins in the intricate attention given to their fluid movement. And the dazzling shift of styles to enhance the points of view of those wolfwalkers is an ingenious approach.
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Wolkwalkers might be the whole package, then. A spirited adventure for both adults and children alike. A traditional tale of small town tyranny, friction within the community, the invasion of strangers. Heavy, relevant subjects that still find plenty of space for free spirit and surprise. Animation certainly has the power to feed our imaginations and communicate with its audience in an indescribable way.
Supposedly the back end of Cartoon Saloon’s Irish Folklore trilogy, Wolkwalkers stands as a true testament to how far they have come. The consistent eminence of the stories told through animation are awe-inspiring. Wolfwalkers is an entrancing motion picture, carrying us to yet another part of this world or the next, and simply making us not want to leave.
Our full coverage of the London Film Festival can be found below.
