Song of the Sea review – a wonderful family animation, rich in Irish folklore

No animation has ever won the Oscar for best film, yet this year’s animated feature nominees – which included The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, The Boxtrolls, and Song of the Sea – proved that some of the world’s most adventurously entertaining cinema is being created outside of the “live action” arena. This superb Irish animation from the director of 2009’s The Secret of Kells is a treat; an enchanting and very moving “family film”. Once again, the story is rooted in Irish folklore, with selkies, giants and faeries slipping in and out of a tale of a vanished mother, a grieving father, and two lost but resourceful children trying to make their way home.

Opening with the WB Yeats quote that echoed talismanically through Steven Spielberg’s misunderstood A.I. (“Come away, O human child…”), the magically melancholy narrative leads us from the ethereal beauty of a jutting island and an underground lagoon to confrontations with scary-eyed owls and the mesmerising Macha – the latter as fearsome as any wicked Disney witch.

The animation is gorgeous, at times recalling the painterly hues of Studio Ghibli (there are touches of both Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo and Isao Takahata’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) with a hint of Sylvain Chomet. Yet the overall style is distinctly director TommMoore’s own, refined over a period of years with artistic director Adrien Merigeau. A lyrical musical score by Bruno Coulais, working closely with folk band Kíla, perfectly fuses the film’s ancient and modern themes.