Wolfwalkers (2020)

Wolfwalkers (2020)

8/10

 

Starring the voices of

Honor Kneafsey

Eva Whittaker

Sean Bean

Simon McBurney

Directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart

To sit and watch Wolfwalkers is to be greeted with ultimate marvel, emotional triumph at its best and stellar voice work. It’s biggest triumph is the artistry that went into the animation add that to the well directed and nicely paced adventure and you find yourself wishing for a second part of this Celtic adventure.

Enjoyed the animation and loved the werewolf spin. Wolfwalkers played to its strength, which was fantasy with some suspense and thrills. The writers created a more gentle world where they took their werewolf spin and spun it to be suitable for children. The idea is simple and the girl power theme is actually well done.

The journey of two young girls meeting at both ends of the rope and becoming friends, well is a tale we can say we are familiar with. One of the young girls is Robyn whose father is one of the wolf hunters, a job Robyn wants to do with him. Her biggest challenge is her presence – she is a girl and in those colonial times girls are believed to be second class citizens only fit for cooking and cleaning. Her father was working for the English in their quest to kill the wolves who terrorize the villagers in this Celtic town when they cut down trees. We are also invited into the legend of Wolfwalkers (although in our case we witness them at work) who are known to be able to the wolves. One day Robyn sneaks after her father in his hunt for wolves and she became hunted herself. This led her to meet a wolf, who helped her escape Robyn’s father traps. After failed hunt attempt by Robyn on this wolf who turns into a girl named Mebh Óg, they became friends. Mebh and her mother are Wolfwalkers, we then discover that the wolves want to leave the forest, but will not move until Mebh’s mother returns with directions to somewhere safe for them. Soon, we get dragged into the challenge placed on poor Robyn as she tries to make peace with both parties and both finding it hard to meet her halfway.

The movie drove home the friendship love between Robyn and Mebh and the motherly love between Mebh and her mother. There is also the determination of a young girl to believe her mother is well and will be back for her, is another emotional journey the movie explored.

I have to say you hardly see animations take the time to write a solid plot and try their best to build a world around it. I enjoyed the effect and I enjoyed the direct take they took when addressing the sad agonizing effects of colonization. This is by far one of the best animations I have seen till date.

You can catch this critical acclaimed animation on Apple TV+.