The Secret of Kells (2009)

To understand the premise of this movie you need to understand what the Book of Kells is about. This was a book transcribed in the 800's by Celtic monks that contains the four Gospels of the New Testament.

This Irish animated film follows the life of the man behind the famed book, from boyhood through completion of the book. This film was the surprise of this years Oscar Nominations and more than likely took a nomination from either Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs or Ponyo. Therefore, I expected this to be good since it basically bumped out a film I enjoyed very much [Cloudy...].

The animated film uses a lot of straight lines, the characters are simply drawn which does make the writing on the book look that much better, but it also gives the film a sense that you are watching a kids television show. For the most part it was not very entertaining, and from the first 45 minutes this could have easily been a 2 or 3 out of 10 rating. The final stages of the plot and the conclusion redeemed it a bit, but it was frustrating to see a film this bad take a nomination for more than a few better films. If the Oscars wanted to go indie and look smart they should have picked the highly acclaimed Mary and Max. A film that I will be watching in the next 4-6 weeks, and had rave reviews, I'll be sure and comment whether that film is deserving shortly, but the director Adam Elliot already won a animated short Oscar for Harvie Krumpet in 2003 and this film uses the same styling. I'll diverge, and leave you with this, it was just not a very good film...

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0485601/

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