The Secret of Kells - Film review

The Secret of Kells is a wonderful animated adventure that brings to life the beautiful Book of Kells.  Very much a PG film with plenty of scary Vikings, this is a truly sumptuous work as befitting the subject matter. Every facet of Celtic art and imagery is used in beautiful scenes of different styles as novice monk Brendan learns to love the book and begins as an illuminator under the threat of Viking invasion. There are Celtic knots and snakes, black on white slate style, watercolour skies, until the book itself is animated at the successful conclusion.

The start is a little slow with a rather daft goose chase that doesn't sit well with the rest of the film. An impatient child might give up here and with no idea what a monastery, handmade books, monks or Vikings are, some children will struggle to work out what is happening. I think this is one to watch with them. Once the novice monk Brendan starts to explore the forest the story picks up and the animation is truly enchanting. By the end my daughter was doing her own Celtic style drawings.

Watch points:

Violence: the Vikings arrive with all the burning and implied death that involves.

Peril: there are lots of moderately scary things: the forest, the Vikings, the dark place. Not as scary as Doctor Who in my opinion but beware with the younger end of our age group.

Death: the main character's uncle is shot with a burning arrow and our hero has to leave believing his uncle is dead. The deaths of large numbers of ordinary Celts is presumed at the hands of the Vikings.

Anything else? Some understanding of the medieval background is necessary.

Summary: an unusual and intelligent film, beautifully drawn by book lovers for book lovers. Lovely introduction to early book history and to the medieval world. Worth every penny.