Ben, a young Irish boy, and his little sister Saoirse, a girl who can turn into a seal, go on an adventure to free the fairies and save the spirit world.
A young boy in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids is beckoned to adventure when a celebrated master illuminator arrives with an ancient book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers.
In 2001, Afghanistan is under the control of the Taliban. When her father is captured, a determined young girl disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.
Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her, but ultimately she must confront her fate, the punishment for her crime.
Director:
Isao Takahata
Stars:
Chloë Grace Moretz,
James Caan,
Mary Steenburgen
After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident while hunting for food for their children, a young woman must find ways to raise the werewolf son and daughter that she had with him while keeping their trait hidden from society.
A little girl lives in a very grown-up world with her mother, who tries to prepare her for it. Her neighbor, the Aviator, introduces the girl to an extraordinary world where anything is possible, the world of the Little Prince.
Director:
Mark Osborne
Stars:
Jeff Bridges,
Mackenzie Foy,
Rachel McAdams
The Clock family are four-inch-tall people who live anonymously in another family's residence, borrowing simple items to make their home. Life changes for the Clocks when their teenage daughter, Arrietty, is discovered.
When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.
Saoirse is a child who is the last of the selkies, women in Irish and Scottish legends who transform from seals into people. She escapes from her grandmother's home to journey to the sea and free fairy creatures trapped in the modern world.Written by
Anonymous
The few lines at the very beginning of the movie ("Come away, O human child!/To the waters and the wild/With a faery, hand in hand,/For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.") are from "The Stolen Child" by Irish poet William Butler Yeats, who was also a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival. See more »
Goofs
When Granny finds the ghosts in the bin on Halloween, she threatens to call the police. Being Irish and living unmistakably in Dublin, she would not use the term police, but would instead threaten to call "the Guards" (or "Gardaí" in Irish), the usual term for police in Ireland. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Bronagh:
Come away oh human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy, hand in hand, for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
See more »
Crazy Credits
"Behind the scenes" wireframes and animatics from the production are shown beside the credits as they roll. See more »
Alternate Versions
In the cinema release, the words 'Feic Off' are written on a wooden door. On the UK Blu-ray release they have been removed. See more »
Our story begins with a pregnant mother giving her first-born son Ben – a young boy – a conch shell so that he can hear the sea and be reminded of the mystical Irish folktales she has shared with him. When she disappears into the sea after giving birth to a daughter Saoirse ('Seer-Sha'), the story fast-forwards 6 years into the future where we find a broken family. The father and devoted lighthouse-keeper (voiced by Brendan Gleeson) is distraught and empty after the loss of his wife, Saoirse has yet to utter a word and is thought to be mute, and Ben would sooner be in the company of his loyal dog Cu than mind his little sister like he is supposed to.
The night their meddling grandmother comes to try and take the children away to the city, young Saoirse is led by an illuminating force to a coat among her absent-mother's belongings and subsequently wanders into the ocean where she is transformed into a seal. We later find out that she is part selkie – a magical being that is capable of such transformation. Finding her human again and washed up along the beach asleep (and having come down with a cold), the grandmother sees no alternative other than to 'rescue' the children from such a hostile environment and proceeds to take Ben and Saoirse to Dublin.
Disheartened by their new home, the children quickly escape on a journey to find their way back to their father and the lighthouse. Along the way, Ben and Saoirse find themselves engulfed in many of the same fantastical stories their mother always talked about. Additionally Saoirse discovers her ability to tune into the spirit realm and nature through her gifts as a selkie and with the help Ben's conch shell.
It's a story of love that is infused with rich mythology and folklore. Beautiful is a term that I seldom get to use as a cinephile, but beautiful is the only word I can use to describe Song of the Sea. Director/writer Tomm Moore has created a wondrous and vibrant style that immediately calls to mind the works of Hayao Miyazaki that Moore has cited as his personal inspiration.
Whereas Miyazaki draws upon the wealth of his Japanese heritage to create internationally acclaimed works such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, Moore celebrates the folk stories of his native Ireland as he did in his 2009 Oscar nominated film The Secret of Kells. With Song of the Sea, we get tales of spirits, selkies, fairies and the like that seems as if they've been immortally captured in a children's storybook and jazzed up with a modern family drama. Moore's animations are infused with Celtic designs and an eerie mysticism that seem as if a painting has come to life before your eyes.
There is something absolutely enchanting in the way Moore and his animation company Cartoon Saloon are able to use traditional animation to tell such a compelling story. The characters are engaging and the story is both poignant and inspiring, but the real beauty in this film is the swirling palettes of color that captivate the audience with each passing frame. Set aside all that digital garbage and be refreshed by a style of animation that is truly magical.
I tried to think of the perfect descriptor for this film, but the best I could come up with is to liken it to the equally beautiful film Pan's Labyrinth if it were a Studio Ghibli film. It has dark elements, a timeless and engrossing story, and an aesthetic mastery that will see you through these otherwise barren months of cinema.
Read the full review and others like it on the Drive-in Zeppelin website
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Our story begins with a pregnant mother giving her first-born son Ben – a young boy – a conch shell so that he can hear the sea and be reminded of the mystical Irish folktales she has shared with him. When she disappears into the sea after giving birth to a daughter Saoirse ('Seer-Sha'), the story fast-forwards 6 years into the future where we find a broken family. The father and devoted lighthouse-keeper (voiced by Brendan Gleeson) is distraught and empty after the loss of his wife, Saoirse has yet to utter a word and is thought to be mute, and Ben would sooner be in the company of his loyal dog Cu than mind his little sister like he is supposed to.
The night their meddling grandmother comes to try and take the children away to the city, young Saoirse is led by an illuminating force to a coat among her absent-mother's belongings and subsequently wanders into the ocean where she is transformed into a seal. We later find out that she is part selkie – a magical being that is capable of such transformation. Finding her human again and washed up along the beach asleep (and having come down with a cold), the grandmother sees no alternative other than to 'rescue' the children from such a hostile environment and proceeds to take Ben and Saoirse to Dublin.
Disheartened by their new home, the children quickly escape on a journey to find their way back to their father and the lighthouse. Along the way, Ben and Saoirse find themselves engulfed in many of the same fantastical stories their mother always talked about. Additionally Saoirse discovers her ability to tune into the spirit realm and nature through her gifts as a selkie and with the help Ben's conch shell.
It's a story of love that is infused with rich mythology and folklore. Beautiful is a term that I seldom get to use as a cinephile, but beautiful is the only word I can use to describe Song of the Sea. Director/writer Tomm Moore has created a wondrous and vibrant style that immediately calls to mind the works of Hayao Miyazaki that Moore has cited as his personal inspiration.
Whereas Miyazaki draws upon the wealth of his Japanese heritage to create internationally acclaimed works such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, Moore celebrates the folk stories of his native Ireland as he did in his 2009 Oscar nominated film The Secret of Kells. With Song of the Sea, we get tales of spirits, selkies, fairies and the like that seems as if they've been immortally captured in a children's storybook and jazzed up with a modern family drama. Moore's animations are infused with Celtic designs and an eerie mysticism that seem as if a painting has come to life before your eyes.
There is something absolutely enchanting in the way Moore and his animation company Cartoon Saloon are able to use traditional animation to tell such a compelling story. The characters are engaging and the story is both poignant and inspiring, but the real beauty in this film is the swirling palettes of color that captivate the audience with each passing frame. Set aside all that digital garbage and be refreshed by a style of animation that is truly magical.
I tried to think of the perfect descriptor for this film, but the best I could come up with is to liken it to the equally beautiful film Pan's Labyrinth if it were a Studio Ghibli film. It has dark elements, a timeless and engrossing story, and an aesthetic mastery that will see you through these otherwise barren months of cinema.
Read the full review and others like it on the Drive-in Zeppelin website