I’ve always believed Ireland-based Cartoon Saloon to be the next Studio Ghibli; from their distinctive house style to the way they use a kaleidoscopic range of colors to the way they use classic European stories as the vehicle for animation. They are the future for elevated independent animation that appeals to all ages. And similar to Ghibli, I hold them to a very high standard, having made so many incredible pictures that gild the lily of tackling universal issues through their gorgeous animation. When I heard that they were doing an adaptation of Ruth Stiles Gannett’s children’s book “My Father’s Dragon,” it sounded like a perfect match. What differentiates My Father’s Dragon from the other Cartoon Saloon films is that the aim is very much directed towards children. However, the simplicity in the morals and story end up being the movie’s greatest detriment.
My Father’s Dragon begins with a narrator (Mary Kay Price) speaking in reverence of their fearless father Elmer (Jacob Tremblay), raised by a single mother (Golshifteh Farahani) who ran a country store loved by the community. When the business forecloses, they must deal with the harshness of the society where dreams are not as easy as they seem. After an argument with his mother, Elmer runs off and is then whisked away to the Wild Island where he meets several animals, including the dragon Boris (Gaten Matarazzo) that could be the solution to all of his problems while the island begins to sink into the ocean.
At the Virginia Film Festival’s screening and Q&A, producer Julie Lynn said that when she got the rights to “My Father’s Dragon,” her first definitive choice for an animation studio was to get the team behind The Secret of Kells. Lynn immediately took a plane to Kilkenny, getting Cartoon Saloon’s co-founder and director Nora Twomey (The Secret of Kells, The Breadwinner) to work on the project. In the Q&A, screenwriter Meg LaFarve (Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur) said that the adaptation needed some changes from the source material, particularly because of the books’ episodic pacing. The book ends when Elmer meets the dragon, so LaFarve added the element of the island sinking as a better way to give the story tension and use more of the animals involved.
This isn’t the first time Cartoon Saloon has made content specifically for children (Puffin Rock) or adapted from a children’s novel (The Breadwinner), but My Father’s Dragon feels particularly generic and basic. I think the changes made to make the book film-worthy were needed, however the execution feels lacking. The film starts from a very timeless, enchanting point of view when it’s about Elmer and his mom, but when they get to Wild Island, it becomes a much more standard two buddies on a road trip kids movie. Rather than Cartoon Saloon’s type of quiet, scenic storytelling, so much of the narrative is pushed through characters shouting at one another to get to each specific roadblock.
What really stood out was how noisy the film was, from the constant piping by woodwinds in the score to the chittering/chattering of the celebrity-studded animal cast. The movie presents a very simple tale about bravery and how to handle fear, though to underline that point many characters are asked to scream and panic and react broadly to every set piece. Some of these performances are quite good, especially Ian McShane as Saiwa or Whoopi Goldberg as the talking cat; though other roles like Gaten Matarazzo as Boris felt like he was chosen because of how panicked/exasperated he plays his Stranger Things role.
Thankfully Cartoon Saloon’s typical storybook style transfers quite well to the story, even borrowing some design elements from Gannett’s illustrations. Every conflict presented to Elmer and Boris is a new way to showcase a stunning new setting. As simple as the movie is, it flows very well from scene to scene where you’ll never grow tired of each new set piece. And when the film does reach its big climax, it does allow Cartoon Saloon to do what they do best where big emotional moments are magnified by dazzling transformative visuals.
My Father’s Dragon is a good film for its intended audience, but not at the same caliber of Cartoon Saloon’s other projects. That said, I think making something this wholesome and child-friendly will open people up to discover the rest of the animation studio’s amazing catalog. It’s a good starting point for new viewers that still leaves me excited to see what they’ll do next, as their beautiful aesthetic cannot be replicated.
