Wolfwalkers (2020)

April 22, 2021 5:53 AM

A young apprentice hunter and her father journey to Ireland to help wipe out the last (?) wolf pack. But everything changes when she befriends a free-spirited girl from a mysterious tribe rumored to transform into wolves by night.

Starring Honor Kneafsey, Eva Whittaker, and Sean Bean. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

It's 1650, and Cromwell is occupying Ireland. Needless to say, he's the villain here.

posted by Huffy Puffy (8 comments total)

This is on Apple TV+ in the USA. You might already have a subscription. As was pointed out in the Ted Lasso teaser thread, if you can watch Ted Lasso you can watch this.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:54 AM on April 22, 2021

I can't wait to watch this: the studio's style is so distinctive and so gorgeous!
posted by wenestvedt at 9:02 AM on April 22, 2021

this was absolutely beautiful. the line work was wonderful, expressing the co-existence of two worlds in one. also, of course, very emotional in both the mythic and personal aspects.
posted by sapagan at 2:00 PM on April 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Really loved the animation, so refreshing. The story is sweet while also tackling deep childhood issues without the typical pandering down to children. The girls' friendship is really striking.

Also, having lived a deeply American Christian Fundamentalist childhood, this movie is almost a too perfect example of a devil movie made to corrupt the children. It's a blast.
posted by M Edward at 6:34 PM on April 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

The animation was gorgeous and perfect for the subject. This is up for an Oscar and I really hope it beats out Pixar's offerings.
posted by Karmakaze at 6:59 AM on April 23, 2021

I thought this was the best of the three films they've done. It works so well, and kept my 5 year old entranced throughout. I really hope it gets the oscar, it deserves to be seen by a larger audience.

Quite seriously, this film is animation working at every level to tell the story. Almost every shot is gorgeous eye candy that propels it along. If you have a chance to see it don't let 'kid film' or 'weird religious bad guy' scare you off. It's an utter delight from start to finish, a master of the craft.
posted by Catblack at 3:53 PM on April 23, 2021 [1 favorite]

aaaahhhh this movie was extraordinary

I cannot get over how much I loved the pre-one-point-perspective medieval woodcut style they used for the backgrounds and certain shots, especially with the wolves circled around at the end with the gap at the bottom of the screen that only felt conspicuous in hindsight
posted by DoctorFedora at 1:55 AM on April 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

one other thing that felt conspicuous in its way was the feeling, as someone who grew up in the US, that I was missing some potentially rather significant cultural relevance to certain historical bits (beyond the obvious). They don’t really cover Irish history much in American schools, y’know?

wow I loved this movie though
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:01 AM on April 25, 2021