The United Kingdom and Ireland have such a rich, magical history and grounding in fairytales and folklore that it’s always good to see these stories passed down from generation to generation handled with such artistry, care, and beauty. Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart’s follow up to the enchanting tale of Selkies in Song Of The Sea is the equally, if not more, breathtaking Wolfwalkers: a truly mesmerizing fairytale about people who turn into wolves when they sleep.
Anyone familiar with the work of Cartoon Saloon and their previous films – the aforementioned Song Of The Sea, The Secret Of Kells, The Breadwinner – will be able to immediately picture their distinctive and gorgeous animation style. Wolfwalkers follows in these footsteps with hand-drawn animation that’s unlike anything else other studios are putting out and perhaps succeeds in being the most visually arresting, beautiful, and accomplished looking film Cartoon Saloon has produced to date.
The color palette, particularly in the kinetic and wild forest, is autumnal browns, oranges, and leafy greens that really imbue the film with a sense of life and warmth. The ‘wolf-vision’ scenes with neon and golden light-sculptures dancing through the air are such a stunning shift in visuals, especially when used in conjunction with the rough-sketch appearance and watercolor-like shading. But on top of that, Moore and Stewart have such an eye for what makes a beautiful composition or a fantastic shot that the film seamlessly becomes a moving tapestry and an energetic work of art.
The story, taking place against the backdrop of the English colonization of Ireland, focuses on the wild and adventurous Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) and her father Bill Goodfellowe (Sean Bean), a renowned hunter forced into action by Oliver Cromwell to rid the city of a nearby pack of wolves that has, in the wake of the city’s expansion into the forest surroundings, become increasingly more of a problem.
Robyn, who is very much an outsider due to being English and the daughter of Bill, is constantly picked on by the resident Irish kids and just wants to be a hunter like her father. Young, impetuous, feisty, and adventurous, Robyn is, especially during that time period, the epitome of a progressive female character who doesn’t want to conform and follow the rules set out for her because of her gender. She doesn’t want to, nor should she, be a scullery maid and she doesn’t need to be protected or mollycoddled by her well-intentioned father.
How fitting it is then that she disobeys her father’s orders to stay safe and ventures into the woods after him, only to chance upon Mebh (Eva Whittaker), a fiery-haired, feral-edged, but an ultimately kind and playful young girl who also happens to be a wolfwalker. A wolfwalker is someone who, as we learn, can control the forest’s native pack of wolves as well as become a wolf themselves if they’re sleeping. The use of this aspect of Irish folklore as a metaphor suggesting that inside every ‘tamed’ and domesticated woman is a dormant, natural wolf just waiting to be freed is perfect.
What follows is a fast-paced, tense, multi-layered, incredibly textured, and complex action story as Mebh and Robyn’s friendship grows while they look for Mebh’s missing mother Molly (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Robyn and her father’s relationship becomes strained, and Cromwell’s villainy raises the stakes. Aside from female empowerment, there’s so much being touched on here from cultures clashing and being outcasts to legacy and inheritance, parental responsibility, and letting your children grow up.
It is quite the achievement that all of these themes, many of which are extremely heavy, are weaved into a captivating and enchanting fairytale, accompanied by a pitch-perfect magic enhancing musical score and the unique, yet utterly beautiful animation style to create what is overall a heartwarming feast of a film.
As good as the film’s handling of its many lofty themes is, its real strength is in its depiction of the growing relationship and friendship between Robyn and Mebh. There’s real heart in the scenes of these two coming together despite their differences. Everything about them is contrasting, even the way they’re drawn, but they simply fit together like they were always meant to. There’s real magic in the way their friendship draws you in and anchors the entire film.
I remember the first time I saw Song of the Sea – I’d just finished work with some time to kill and that was the only film that was about to start. I consider it to be one of the best film-watching ‘accidents’ of my life. As a result, there was certainly no accident behind my decision to watch Wolfwalkers, and even then, it has managed to exceed my expectations. This truly beautiful, thematically heavy, narrative rich tale of friendship, wolves, and family is a work of art for the ages that must not be missed.
