The Secret of Kells (2009)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Matthew S

  
  A rare modern animation with a sense of soul, not directed by the appeal of focus groups. After the opening scene, a young member of my family was already uncomfortable. Our young protagonist has to face fears of the unknown and the film's directors mean to make us an active… More
  A rare modern animation with a sense of soul, not directed by the appeal of focus groups. After the opening scene, a young member of my family was already uncomfortable. Our young protagonist has to face fears of the unknown and the film's directors mean to make us an active participant, daring us to keep going along with him. This fear is induced with inventive, minimalist animation and is fed to us in bits throughout the movie, breaking with beautiful, playful, and joyful art and music that left me in awe.

• Jennifer X

  
  The biggest surprise of the past year's Academy Awards wasn't the triumph of Kathryn Bigelow or the ominous inclusion of "The Blind Side" to the Best Picture lineup, but rather the nomination of a little Irish film known as "The Secret of Kells," with… More
  The biggest surprise of the past year's Academy Awards wasn't the triumph of Kathryn Bigelow or the ominous inclusion of "The Blind Side" to the Best Picture lineup, but rather the nomination of a little Irish film known as "The Secret of Kells," with barely any screenings to its name. The question at the tip of everybody's tongue became: what was the Academy thinking? Yet once "Kells" emerged quietly onto the moviehouse scene, people began to understand. In a year where 3-D glasses and grand IMAX screenings dominated the box office, one can't help but feel that the Academy members that voted for it were onto something, a form of silent rebellion against all things big and explosive.<br/><br/>It's rare that the visual components of a film can so completely saturate its entire being. Indeed, the Irish fairytale story seems to exist wholly for the sumptuous drawings depicting it. A flighty little nymph sprite, with her white hair blowing spiritedly in the wind, guides ribbons of smoke along the geometric curlicues of the screen. Armed with nothing but a pencil, Brendan battles the fearsome Krom Kruit as he catapults himself within a milky plasmatic nebula. And then there are the montages, some whimsical, like filigreed clockwork, some impressionistic, like a smudgy Renoir painting, and some brilliantly naturalistic, featuring jeweled leaves with verdure smeared all over its surface.<br/><br/>Yet although "Kells" features scenes heavily laden with Irish mysticism and subversively pagan rituals, the film could essentially double as a social allegory for modern film industry. Brother Aidan says dishearteningly to Cellach: "You've forgotten how important it is. All you want for us is this wall!" Just replace "it" with "hand-drawing" and "wall" with "hyper-explosive 3-D graphics," and you've got yourself the perfect antidote to James Cameron and his devoted followers.<br/> <br/>With a run time of little more than an hour, "Kells" is a refreshingly different take on classic animation, lovingly and defiantly flattened into two dimensions, inspiringly simple - and more than a little trippy. By paying homage to an ancient time where beauty and patience inevitably won out over brute force, the film blends a straightforward morality with sophisticated hand-drawings to stunning visual effect. Truly, it practices what it preaches.

• Mark H

  
  Animated Irish folk tale about young Brendan, an apprentice in a monastery who becomes obsessed with completing the legendary Book of Kells, a treasured illuminated manuscript. Set in the 9th century, this hand drawn film is a glorious mixture of Celtic art and geometric cubism; sort… More
  Animated Irish folk tale about young Brendan, an apprentice in a monastery who becomes obsessed with completing the legendary Book of Kells, a treasured illuminated manuscript. Set in the 9th century, this hand drawn film is a glorious mixture of Celtic art and geometric cubism; sort of The Powerpuff Girls Go to Ireland! in illustrative style. When Vikings attack the monastery, the assault is a brutally gorgeous scene, a stylized war of blood and snow. The problem is with the spiritually muddled narrative. It's random and doesn't flow like a good storyline should. We know from history that the Book of Kells contains the four Gospels of the New Testament. That would explain its significance, yet although Brandon is compelled to finish the text, no explanation is ever given as to why. Additionally, character development is minimal. When Brendan goes out into the woods he encounters Aisling, a magical fairy. She appears at first glance to be just a human girl. Her ability to change form is never explained and a source of bewilderment whenever she is on screen. Other sequences feel too abstract. When he does battle with Crom Cruach, a Celtic snake god, the encounter becomes rather conceptual in style. The odd execution feels lifted from the pages of Harold and the Purple Crayon. Visually, however, this stunning fable is a joy to watch, a luxurious burst of color and glow. The story is admittedly an awkward amalgamation of Christianity and pagan folklore. Nevertheless, every frame is dazzling and the artwork's hypnotic power can be appreciated even when the action is confusing.

• Kylie B

  
  This is a stunning piece of work; by turns sweet, terrifying and sad, and always so beautiful thanks to its quirky art style.

• danny d

  
  without question one of the most unique animated films ever made. the story was simple but engaging, the voice acting was solid, and the animation among the best and most unique ive ever seen. i love the abbey as a setting, the cultural significance of the north men (vikings) as a… More
  without question one of the most unique animated films ever made. the story was simple but engaging, the voice acting was solid, and the animation among the best and most unique ive ever seen. i love the abbey as a setting, the cultural significance of the north men (vikings) as a looming threat presented a luminous and historically accurate villain, and the characters were interesting and well designed. one of the best animated films ive ever seen.

• Spencer S

  
  A cartoon with no agenda, no big corporate budget, no path to solely entertain the audience with adult appreciative jokes and 3D effects. Instead, it was an Irish tale with some impressive graphics. The character of Brendan was the quintessential boy hero, followed by a cat with… More
  A cartoon with no agenda, no big corporate budget, no path to solely entertain the audience with adult appreciative jokes and 3D effects. Instead, it was an Irish tale with some impressive graphics. The character of Brendan was the quintessential boy hero, followed by a cat with different colored eyes. Love over war and friendhip above all else fueled this classic for all ages, abounding in an interesting and original film.

• Saskia D

  
  The story is bit thin, but the music combined with the beautiful imagery is very gripping. Favorite character of the movie? Pangur Ban!!! Cat's rock!!! <div style="width:800px;"><a… More
  The story is bit thin, but the music combined with the beautiful imagery is very gripping. Favorite character of the movie? Pangur Ban!!! Cat's rock!!! <div style="width:800px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/the-secret-of-kells-official-film-still-13817298"><img src="http://content8.flixster.com/photo/13/81/72/13817298_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com">

• Alexis N

  
  What a beautiful little legend, entertaining and stunning to watch. It's very cute.

• Gordon A

  
  Enchanting animation which combines the best of old and new visual techniques to create a novel vision, even if the story is thin.

• Stella D

  
  the background animation is utterly captivating, almost making up for the weak story. the bit where they animate some actual pages from the book is pure magic. and there's a cat! i wish i'd seen this on a bigger screen.

• Lewis C

  
  "Do you want to see the most beautiful page? The one that will turn darkness into light?" The story of The Secret of Kells is a simple one. A monastery in Ireland hurries to complete a wall that will hopefully protect it and its village from the coming destruction of the… More
  "Do you want to see the most beautiful page? The one that will turn darkness into light?" The story of The Secret of Kells is a simple one. A monastery in Ireland hurries to complete a wall that will hopefully protect it and its village from the coming destruction of the Vikings, when it is visited by a monk who also flees the Vikings. He brings with him a special book that he is writing, and a young boy who lives in the monastery tries to help him complete it, and meets a shape-shifting forest girl in the process. The friendship that's made between the two may end up saving both the book, and the lives of the monks and villagers. The aspect of The Secret of Kells that's most noteworthy is the visuals. This is one of the most gorgeous and visually inventive movies I've ever seen. The art style is like moving illustrations from a book of English fairy tales, and it constantly changes from scene to scene, offering new things to see while keeping the same basic theme. It really is a beautiful movie, and I don't see how anyone could watch it and not be thoroughly impressed by the amount of creativity and work that had to go into making this. On the whole, I think this will appeal to older teens and adults more than children, as it's a quite serious story, and pretty violent in some places. There's not much of the humor or kinetic antics that younger viewers usually like in their animated movies, but anyone old enough to appreciate The Secret of Kells will be quite pleased with this little gem.

• Bently L

  
  We've heard much rave on the film ever since it was nominated for Best Animated Picture at the Oscars earlier this year. We saw the trailer shortly after the ceremony (film lost to "Up") and was interested. We watched it today because we couldn't say "no"… More
  We've heard much rave on the film ever since it was nominated for Best Animated Picture at the Oscars earlier this year. We saw the trailer shortly after the ceremony (film lost to "Up") and was interested. We watched it today because we couldn't say "no" to this movie being on Netflix's "Watch Instantly" library. We were just amazed by how AMAZING the art was and how WELL the story is told. We can't go in to detail, just SEE IT!!!

• Ginny  

  
  How do you rate a film wherein its ideas are so abstracted? Halfway through I thought this was another one of those "Oh great divine saving book" cartoons but it wasn't really centered on it, there was something else, it was the muted message in it that I liked. High… More
  How do you rate a film wherein its ideas are so abstracted? Halfway through I thought this was another one of those "Oh great divine saving book" cartoons but it wasn't really centered on it, there was something else, it was the muted message in it that I liked. High rating for uniqueness but its not really a film that I would openly recommend to people as it wasnt really an "enjoyable" film per se. It was just.. Fresh and... oh you can just go to wikipedia for the rest.

• Mark W

  
  Hand painted artwork is such a treat these days, considering most animation is computer generated and the hand crafted imagery in this one is some of the finest you're likely to see. It tells the story of Brendan, a young lad living in a monestry in Ireland, and his interest in… More
  Hand painted artwork is such a treat these days, considering most animation is computer generated and the hand crafted imagery in this one is some of the finest you're likely to see. It tells the story of Brendan, a young lad living in a monestry in Ireland, and his interest in the arrival of Brother Aidan, who is writing an almost magical looking manuscript. However, the Brother can't finish his writings until he can get more bramble berries, to use for ink, that can only be found in the dangerous forest beyond the Abbey walls. Brendan takes it upon himself to venture out and retrieve the berries and becomes embroiled in a whole new world of possibilities. I had high expectations for this film but it didn't capture my imagination as much as I thought it would, although the animation is second to none and absolutely gorgeous in it's hand painted intricate beauty. It truly is captivating. The illustrations of the real "Book of Kells" are captured and brought to life in their complexity with this film. The traditional Christian iconography with swirling motifs and animals and mythical beasts, together with Celtic knotwork and interlacing patterns are as close a representation of the book as your likely to get. Despite the visual feast, however, there is something missing. The dialogue is stilted and it doesn't engage you the way it should. I found myself drifting throughout it, when really I should have been glued to the screen with the marvellous Christian and Pagan symbolism. If they had put as much effort into a flowing narrative as they did with the animation this would have been a masterpiece. Unfortunately, it's not. But it's a damn good looking attempt at one.

• Kyle F

  
  "The Secret of Kells" opens with intense promise,possessing humor, wonder, beautiful animation and a talented voice cast; but by the time its finished, the story will not have gone anywhere significant, and you might find yourself wondering what the point was.

• Jake .

  
  I read that one of the animators had worked on this film over the years of 07 and 08. It makes you wonder how long this film was in production, how painstaking the creation must have been. However much time and effort, the end result is amazing. I'm a bit of an animation junkie,… More
  I read that one of the animators had worked on this film over the years of 07 and 08. It makes you wonder how long this film was in production, how painstaking the creation must have been. However much time and effort, the end result is amazing. I'm a bit of an animation junkie, but I've never seen anything quite like this. Its incredibly stylized and simple, but still so beautiful and artistic. And keeping in the vein of myths and legends, it is also reminiscent of Byzantine and Midevil artwork. Some of the characters were rather weak, but I am very much in love with Aisling and the cat. Parts of "Kells" really set me on edge. That is something that hardly ever happens. And there was not even anythin particuarly creepy! It sort of feels like style took presidence over story. On the surface level it is not particuarly complicated or original, but that does not make it any less enjoyable. Apparently there was some deeper metaphors and deeper meanings, but I missed them. It can certainly be taken at a literal level, but it feels like there is something more. Maybe there is a historical or legendary aspect I'm just unaware of. One thing I'm pretty of is that The Book of Kells is the four gospels. Even so, that doesn't really add any meaning to the movie. At least that I can see. I bring this up only beause I've read numorous complaints about it; and they are completely legitimate. Still, it does not detract from the mystery and beauty that makes up the rest of the film.

• Greg S

  
  A young boy living in the monastery of Kells is caught in the clash between paganism and early Christianity in a story that involves pillaging Vikings, wood spirits, sleeping gods, and magical talismans. An dreamlike fairytale with an amazing visual look, a cross between a… More
  A young boy living in the monastery of Kells is caught in the clash between paganism and early Christianity in a story that involves pillaging Vikings, wood spirits, sleeping gods, and magical talismans. An dreamlike fairytale with an amazing visual look, a cross between a children's storybook and the actual historical Book of Kells, with each frame of the film full of baroque detail, sometimes decorated with spinning geometric aemobae floating around the image. Catch it on a big screen if possible.

• Luke B

  
  WOW! An excellently awesome cinematic surprise. Secret of Kells fuses stylised animation, along with brilliant storytelling. The animation is the real star. It looks so seamless and beautiful. Every shot is a miniature work of art. The story itself tells a wonderful and inspiring tale… More
  WOW! An excellently awesome cinematic surprise. Secret of Kells fuses stylised animation, along with brilliant storytelling. The animation is the real star. It looks so seamless and beautiful. Every shot is a miniature work of art. The story itself tells a wonderful and inspiring tale about too overprotective, and exploring the world around us. It was nice to see a film with a calm climax, like the work of Miyazaki, Secret if Kells refuses to stick to the formulaic layout as set by Disney. It's not all sunshine and roses here. A wonderful, brilliant film for all fans of animation.

• Walter M

  
  "The Secret of Kells" starts with a wild goose chase, culminating in the plucking of feathers for quills for a book the friars of an abbey in medieval Ireland are working on. Regardless of the achievement, Abbot Cellach wants everybody, especially his nephew and heir… More
  "The Secret of Kells" starts with a wild goose chase, culminating in the plucking of feathers for quills for a book the friars of an abbey in medieval Ireland are working on. Regardless of the achievement, Abbot Cellach wants everybody, especially his nephew and heir apparent, Branden, to get back to work on the wall he is building to keep the northmen out. Luckily, the wall does not keep out friends like Brother Aidan, a noted scholar and old friend of Cellach. To help with the project, Aidan requires green berries from beyond the wall which Brendan volunteers for and gets some company from Aidan's cat, Pangur Ban. "The Secret of Kells" is an enchanting animated film that has a similar look to medieval art, with some very memorable images. Told from a child's point of view, Brendan looks like he is seven feet tall(to the movie's credit, he never comes off as a villain, no matter how stern he is) and the vikings are depicted as inhuman monsters. While survival is tantamount for most, others were thinking ahead to the future in their attempt to preserve knowledge for generations to come. In other words, is the pen really mightier than the sword or a wall? So, it is a shame that the story does not hold together as well as it should but then nobody's perfect.

• Mike N

  
  The Secret of Kells, an Irish animated film leveraging Celtic folklore and Irish Catholic history to spin a lovely yarn behind the creation of the actual Book of Kells, is so dazzling and transporting - both visually and tonally - that the world it inhabited felt so liberating and… More
  The Secret of Kells, an Irish animated film leveraging Celtic folklore and Irish Catholic history to spin a lovely yarn behind the creation of the actual Book of Kells, is so dazzling and transporting - both visually and tonally - that the world it inhabited felt so liberating and elastic. The shapeliness of its characters - the rounder, softer-lined figures of good monks; the angular, rough, and pointy-sharp drawings of evil Vikings - were exaggerated to wonderful effect, lending a verve to the story's mythos. Even trivial things, like one important monk (Brother Aiden) resembling a whimsical cartoon rendition of Willie Nelson or George Carlin, helped make this movie so much fun. The story follows young red-haired Brendan in and out of the Abbey grounds as the township prepares for an imminent Viking assault (apparently building itself to the same spire-based architectural mock-ups as Isengard from Lord of the Rings), and his meeting and mystical companionship with Aisling, a sprightly childlike fairy that protects the wood outside the Abbey. The movie's chronicling of their adventures bleed mellifluous visuals at every bend, emphasized by the aforementioned character designs as well as endless spirals, weaves, and Trinity knots that are so pronounced in Celtic lore and literally skittering off the edges of each frame, creating a consistent and nourishing visual impression across its brisk 70-ish minute runtime. The natural enchantment that accompanies these characters and visuals comes without swelling instrumentation to signify tonal shift, but rather a straight-faced melding into the mythological, as if it's an expected part of the reality. The story has enough dramatic darkness to propel it forward, but so much emphasis is placed on the creation of the Book of Kells that, without knowing some history behind it going into the viewing, the cumulative experience may seem a little lightweight. Still, it's a very spirited film that gleefully leaps over the boundaries of regular 2D animation to create a very memorable experience.

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