Don’t make the same mistake I did and see this in a theater. This is an Oscar nominee for Best Animated Film that 99 percent of people will never hear of, and I think it would be a much better movie to watch at home when expectations are a lot more…”reasonable.”
What Works: It’s a story seeped in Celtic myth and centered around something called a Selkie: a mythological being that lives as a human on land but as a seal in water. I’m always fascinated in finding out the mythology of other cultures, and the last third of this movie is especially interesting. When the children wind up in an old witch’s house surrounded by magical jars, well, it may not sound like a highlight, but it’s when the film finally takes flight and imagines its full potential.
What Doesn’t: A lot of the first two thirds feels slightly aimless and aimlessly slight, and I can see this being described as a nice “little” movie that is maaaaaybe just a little too twee for its own good. Plus, even though this has a very short runtime of 94 minutes, it feels longer than that.
What I Would Have Done Differently: All in all, this is a fully drawn world that will pull you in if you’re in the right mood, but that “mood” is probably if you’re watching it for free at home on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Grade: B-