Review: Wolfwalkers
Wolfwalkers, directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, tells the tale of Robyn Goodfellowe (Honor Kneafsey), who relocated from England to the town of Kilkenny after her father (Sean Bean) was summoned to hunt down the local wolf population running rampant along the town’s borders. Hoping to be a hunter like her father despite the town’s rules otherwise, Robyn sneaks out of the town to help her father hunt wolves, only to stumble across a mythical “wolfwalker” named Mebh (Eva Whittaker), who has the ability to manifest her spirit into a wolf while she’s asleep. The two form an unlikely friendship and team up to find Mebh’s mother who disappeared a long time ago.
This is the latest film from the Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, which is known for films like The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, and The Breadwinner. A lot of people consider Cartoon Saloon to be the Irish Studio Ghibli, and if you check out their pervious films you can definitely see why; every single one of their films so far has not only been visually striking but also wildly imaginative. Song of the Sea in 2014 was in particular my absolute favorite from the studio, and then we get this film which is arguably better. Wolfwalkers is definitely the best animated film I’ve seen all year and is a STRONG contender for the best film of this god-forsaken year so far.
Cartoon Saloon is one of the last animation studio that still utilizes 2D animation for their films today, and for this film it’s at its best. Simply put, the animation for this film is downright beautiful. Every frame of this film is painstakingly detailed, right down to the pencil lines for each character. Everything from the backgrounds, the character designs, to even the transitions is a labor of love that showcases the efforts of hundreds of animators. This film even manages to make the different aspect ratios pop each time it switches back and forth.
Outside of the animation, everything else about the film is amazing. The voice acting is among the best I’ve heard in a long time; you can feel every emotion that the characters are feeling with every line of dialogue. The music is fantastically beautiful to listen to, with some of the song choices being incredibly appropriate for certain scenes. All the characters are very well designed both aesthetically and as characters in general, the story is engaging to every age group, the pacing switches back and forth from being fast paced to taking its time in all the right ways, and the world this film introduces us is so deeply rich in imagination.
If I had to find something that could be better in this film it would be the overall tone. The film is by design a kids film, but there’s a lot of pretty dark imagery throughout that not only makes the film feel uneven at times but will probably also scare younger viewers. It’s not in the levels of The Secret of Kells but it’s a lot more mature than Song of the Sea. The film’s story is also not the most original we’ve had with a lot of story beats feeling awfully familiar, but other than those issues everything else about this film is fantastic. The problems I had with this film doesn’t actually detract from my overall feelings about it at all.
Overall, this is a must see film if you had to watch a film from this year. Yeah it’s only available on Apple TV+ and I know what you’re thinking: “Oh joy, ANOTHER STREAMING SERVICE!!!!!” But believe me when I say the $5 per month subscription to a bare bones streaming service is worth it to see this masterpiece of an animated film. This is a film I would definitely re-watch over again and a film I implore people to check out alongside the studio’s other animated films. 2D animation is not dead yet, as long as we continue to support films like this it’ll live on for a very long time. Please go watch this film.
Final Verdict: 10/10