3 Short Paragraphs: WolfWalkers

 2020, Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart (production team behind The Secret of Kells) -- download

This is just a fucking lovely traditional animation movie behind the same animators & production team as The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea. And like these, it draws upon Celtic mythos to build a story, a story as much about fathers and daughters, as it is about magic. I will let Kent enlighten me about the magic that already exists there.

Bill Goodfellow (Sean Bean, Lord of the Rings) and his daughter Robyn (Honor Kneafsy, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby) have been brought to Ireland, the town of Kilkenny by Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector, to hunt the wolves of the area. Robyn doesn't want to be the good daughter, and often sneaks out to learn to hunt wolves like her father. On one such adventure she runs into Mebh, a wild child who lives in the wild forest. They become friends, despite Mebh's wolfy nature, and even more so when Robyn begins to "wolf walk", leaving her body behind to play at being a ghostly wolf cub. Of course, this ends up at odds with the Lord Protector, forcing Bill to choose his daughter over his Lord. And guess what, Sean Bean doesn't die.

Again, this is just a lovely movie to watch. The music, the colours and the animation are all full of whimsy and excitement. Of course, I am drawn to the Irish mythos of the story, and these are no werewolves, cursed and to be feared. They are the spirit of the wood, the wildness being lost as Cromwell's England wants to drive the mystical nature of old Ireland away. In a day when we are having the Canadian Residential School System shoved rightly in our face, I could reflect on the evils of our settler-istic natures, needing to burn away cultures and replace them with our own. So, the creators find balance with the evil being presented, by giving us so much beauty to behold.