Le peuple loup

Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart's 'Wolfwalkers' is a gorgeous, impressive animated feature that will transport you back to the glory days of hand-crafted aesthetic. While the story doesn't showcase anything we haven't seen before, the movie does deliver it in a way that feels wholly fresh and original. There are beautiful messages of unity, kindness towards animals, and a gentle push for people to look outside their own comfort zone in order to see the world differently. It's an enjoyable and visually distinct experience from beginning to end.

Beautiful, stunning and magical. It's like a fairytale drawed with pencils and acuarela on an old book. A piece of art! The story is written with love and lot of symbolism. Disney is great, but this is an oasis from any angle you want to see it!

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I've always been a tremendous fan of animation. If there's one comment I deeply despise is the "animated films are for children". This preconceived notion is extremely dated, and honestly, quite childish. I don't even think it works within a teenage banter anymore since anime keeps growing exponentially around the world, and animated movies are reaching more and more people as time goes by. The whole "you watch cartoons, you're a baby" bullying statement to make friends laugh about someone is now decades-old. However, I still feel a bit of pity for people who believe animation can't have the same emotional impact than live-action, especially when a major studio like Pixar is known for making the most grown-up of adults cry like an infant.

In addition to this, some viewers think that the latter studio owned by Disney is the only company making decent animated flicks when they've been losing ground to other unbelievably talented people. One of my favorite animated films of all-time is Kubo and the Two Strings, a stop-motion animation work from Laika, the studio that also created Missing Link and Coraline. Cartoon Saloon is emerging as an awards-contender studio, by releasing movies such as Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner, and now Wolfwalkers. The main difference between this last company and the others is the style of animation: the "old" 2D animation that 90s kids like me grew up with.

That's precisely where I'm starting this review. Wolfwalkers' 2D animation proves once again that this style will never become "dated" or "less than" the current 3D design. Don't be mistaken, I love both styles! I'm not part of the whole 2D vs 3D discourse simply because I firmly believe both have their own benefits and limitations. 2D animation brings a sense of uniqueness and artistry to any story due to the distinct drawing from many skilled artists, but it's more limited than 3D when it comes to creating an immersive atmosphere and its respective world. However, the latter is becoming stagnated in its design structure since almost every 3D animated flick visually feels and looks the same.

So, there's no good or bad, right or wrong, better or worse when it comes to animation. I can offer dozens of examples of exceptional, gorgeous-looking, utterly superb animated flicks from both styles, as well as awful, corporate-like films that I try my hardest to forget (looking at you, The Emoji Movie). Fortunately, Wolfwalkers belongs to the first group. Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart direct an emotionally heartwarming tale with seamless execution of every single aspect. Will Collins' screenplay isn't particularly new or innovative though. It follows a somewhat generic, predictable story with key plot points that any viewer with minimum viewing experience will see coming from miles away.

However, it's a formula that, if executed properly, still delivers a rich, passionate, captivating narrative, which will always please both children and adults. Just from the premise, it's pretty clear that the message of the movie is inspired by cliches such as "don't judge people by their cover" or "our wants can steal someone else's needs", and it even approaches racial discrimination since the film deals with two different populations. Obviously, having in mind one of these "societies" is a pack of wolves, there's also a message towards deforestation and excessive animal hunting, leading thousands of species to their eventual extinction. All of these themes are handled brilliantly, and it never feels preachy.

It doesn't matter how unsurprising the story ends up being when I feel as absorbed by the characters and the animation as I did. Honor Kneafsey and Eva Whittaker, as Robyn Goodfellowe and Mebh Óg MacTíre respectively, display phenomenal voice work, which is then elevated by the stunning, expressive, award-worthy animation. Sean Bean is also terrific as Bill Goodfellowe, Robyn's father, who basically possesses the character arc that goes through the significant change of acknowledging, understanding, and accepting an entirely different culture and its people (in this case, animals). Every character is incredibly well-written as are all dialogues, surrounded by a Celtic-inspired atmosphere, myths, and obviously, music.

Bruno Coulais and folk group Kíla developed the movie's original score, and it's undoubtedly one of my favorite soundtracks of 2020, including one of my favorite original songs ("Running with the Wolves") in one of my favorite musical sequences of the year. "Favorite" is definitely the right one-word description of how I feel about Wolfwalkers. It's one of those films I can't really point out a single flaw. Massive praise to the drawing artists who designed such a fantastic 2D world. Their work is often unappreciated and underrated (besides being underpaid), so I want to offer Cartoon Saloon my biggest thank you, and keep making excellent cinema.

I have no doubts: Wolfwalkers is, by far and so far, the best animated feature-film I've seen all year. I know the big gun from Pixar is coming up (Soul), but it will have to be an absolutely perfect movie to surpass Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart's beautifully heartwarming Celtic-inspired tale. Cartoon Saloon continues to prove that 2D animation is still capable of delivering emotionally compelling stories through gorgeous-looking, unique, artistic drawings. Despite Will Collins's generic narrative and cliche messages, every single detail is executed perfectly, without a single flaw to point out. Outstanding voice work from Honor Kneafsey and Eva Whittaker as the well-written, captivating protagonists. However, it's Bruno Coulais and Kíla's original score that melts my heart and sends chills down my spine every time I listen to it. One of my favorite films of the year, I'd be extremely surprised with myself if it doesn't end on my Top10. Watch it with your family. It's worth it.

Rating: A

Wolfwalkers is a stunningly beautiful animation. With its striking art style and touching story, it's also a wonderfully good movie. The fact that I hesitated to watch it honestly makes me a little upset. It positively surprised me in pretty much every way possible.

Films made in the style of Wolfwalkers are mostly unknown to me. When I first saw screenshots of the film, the art style did turn me off a little bit. And although I heard nothing but good things about it, I still felt unsure about how much I would like the way the film looks. Alas, I had no reason to worry. While it did take me a moment to get used to it and stop thinking about it, as soon as I fell into the story, I started to appreciate the striking style. And while it's striking, it's also tremendously beautiful. Especially the scenes in the forest, where a big part of the movie takes place, are simply stunning.

The story, which introduces us to Robyn, a girl who dreams of becoming a wolfhunter, like his dad, is full of moments of conflict and beauty. Robyn, who ends up being bitten by a wolf, soon learns that some fairytales might be more real than others. And when she finds new friends, the dream of being a hunter quickly fades away, as she must defend them from a life-threatening threat. While the story might not be filled with twists and turns and is for the most part easily predictable, it's also beautiful and emotional. Indeed, it's the kind of story that works better when it can be predicted. Being able to focus on what the movie had to say, and how it said it, was much more impactful than worrying about what was going to happen next. It's also a surprisingly deep story, with nearly all characters facing dilemmas and having to fight against preconceived ideas.

In many ways, I think that Wolfwalkers has been the most surprising film of 2020, at least for me. Going in, I had no idea what to expect, and in all honesty, my own preconceived ideas might've caused me to doubt its greatness. To say that I was positively surprised, would be an enormous understatement. The film captured my attention with its stunning visuals and kept it with a beautiful and heartfelt story. Wolfwalkers is, without a doubt, the best animated film of the year.

This film was by far the best of this Celtic Irish trilogy and I truly hope that the pandemic and lack of box office numbers doesn't hurt it too badly. If you have not seen this film, go watch it. Get a free month of apple TV or something in order to support this film and its studio. They deserve it. If you Like pixar's films like UP, Soul, WALL-E, or Inside-Out, then you will love this film. The pacing is slow but easily builds into a fantastic climax. The acting and emotion behind the writing is absolutely stellar and I found myself laughing and tearing up many times during the watch. The animation is just so expressive and what you'd want to see if you thought of traditional animation at its best that 3D just can't match. The music is perfectly placed and evokes the best of the emotions. I'm giving it a perfect because if it got what it deserves, it would be an acclaimed masterpiece akin to Disney's renaissance films. Unfortunately with the Apple pay wall and the pandemic keeping people out of theaters I don't know if it will. I really hope this studio continues to do great things like this in the future