The Secret of Kells

Perhaps the biggest surprise when the nominees for last year's Oscars were announced was The Secret of Kells in the Best Animated Feature category. There, among entries from Pixar and Walt Disney, was a tiny picture from Ireland that had no general release in the U.S., and would ultimately gross less than a million dollars. It is finally on DVD.

What is most striking about the film is its distinctive visual style. It is simultaneously primitive and ornate, and has an almost dream-like quality to it. Some of it looks a lot like Saturday-morning TV, but I don't mean that in a pejorative sense, I just indicate that many animated films that are released in theaters are huge productions with dozens of animators. The Secret of Kells seems hand-drawn, even if it isn't.

The story is not quite as interesting. It is a fictionalized version of the creation of the Book of Kells, one the most famous illuminated manuscripts in history. We are introduced to the monks at Kells, an Irish village. Brendan is a boy, the nephew of the very stern abbot. An illuminator, Brother Aidan, shows up with his partially completed book, and Brendan becomes captivated by it and the process. When Aidan asks Brendan to get him some oak berries to make ink, he defies the rules and goes into the forest.

There he meets a fairy, Aisling, who helps him find the berries. Later he returns to nab a crystal from the cave of a nasty creature, and all the while the threat of invasion by the Vikings casts a pall over everything.

Even at only seventy-five minutes, The Secret of Kells seems long, as not much happens. The pleasure comes from the trippy animation, and a gentle mingling of Christianity and Celtic mythology (though we are among monks, there are no Christian buzzwords spoken). The voice-actors include Brendan Gleeson as the abbot, and Mick Lally, a popular Irish actor, as Aidan. I was sorry to see that he died this fall.

For review, the other nominees for Animated Feature were: Coraline, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, and Up, with the latter winning. I have no major quarrel with that, though if I had a vote it would have been for Fantastic Mr. Fox.