Tomm Moore

(On Cable TV, May 2019) All right, what’s wrong with me? Writer-director Tomm Moore’s Song of the Sea is a top-notch fantasy animated film, wonderfully animated in 2D, reminiscent of Miyazaki, heartfelt and story-driven like few other contemporary animated films … and I didn’t actually like it all that much. I’ll play the “personal preferences” card here—the film’s 2D animation is in a cute style that doesn’t grab me, and it leans hard on Irish mythology, which is not something I respond to. I would strongly recommend having a look at the film’s trailer before committing to a full viewing—if you like what you see, then jump in because the film is exactly that. As for myself, I’m vexed—I think it’s a high-quality film, I wish there were more of those, I would rather see/recommend/praise this film than most of what I watch, yet I can’t muster up any enthusiasm for the result. I’ll note that I had a similarly muted reaction to The Secret of Kells from the same director [April 2022: … and to the later Wolfwalker, also from the same director] so there may be something there that is just not working for me, for now. Ask me again in a decade and we’ll see.