OVP: The Secret of Kells (2009)

Film: The Secret of Kells (2009)
Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Evan McGuire, Christen Mooney, Mick Lally, Michael McGrath
Director: Tomm Moore
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Animated Feature)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

When the Oscars were announced in 2010, I was fairly certain that Tom Sherak had made a mistake while announcing the animated feature list.  I believe the exact words out of my mouth were, "I believe it's pronounced Ponyo."  The Secret of Kells is one of those rare Oscar nomination morning surprises that absolutely no one saw coming, and in this case, it was for a film almost no one had seen, as it wouldn't be released wide for several more weeks.  Sadly at the time, I missed it in theaters and just came across it this past week when it popped up in one of my Netflix envelopes.

The movie and its story are likely unfamiliar to all but our Irish readers.  The movie gives us the fictionalized story about how the mythical Book of Kells (an eighth century work of art illustrating the Bible that is currently on display at the Trinity Church Library in Dublin) came into existence.  We find young Brendan (McGuire), an apprentice to his nephew, the stern Abbot Cellach (Gleeson), who is confused as to why his uncle wants to spend all of his time building a giant wall rather than helping the great Brother Aidan, who is an illuminator creating the Book of Iona, which is to eventually become the Book of Kells.  After some hemming and hawing, Brendan helps Brother Aidan work in secret on the book, and disobeys his uncle by heading into the woods.  There he meets a forest spirit named Aisling, who helps him to find the green ink he desires and eventually helps him defeat the evil Crom Cruach, a pagan diety.

The film from there gets a bit misty, as we endure a battle, and eventually Brendan runs away and finishes the book, with his uncle realizing that finishing the book was the most important lesson.  It's an odd message, honestly, as you'd think that fortifying the wall would have been slightly higher on the priority list, but since the wall ended up doing nothing, the film sort of says "you were all going to die anyway, so you might as well have enjoyed life and made a more lasting contribution."  You have to search a little bit for that underlining message, but it's there.

The film's plot is razor thin, and coasts primarily off of the whimsy that Aisling brings and the beauty of the animation.  However, this only works when Brendan is in the forest.  When he is, you get to see the animators come alive, throwing out greens and tans and blues, as if the actual Book of Kells has come to life.  Whenever they're not in the forest, however, which is well over half the movie, the film drags, and becomes weighted down.  The film doesn't seem to have the patience to do the crusty uncle/defiant nephew plot, and seems to skate through this by assuming we'll get the deal, but it's such a tired animated story trope that while we get it, it becomes a bit of a yawn without some sort of depth or nuance.

We'll get to more of the category and theories on how such a small film got such a big nomination over more well-known competition like Ponyo and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs later, but in the meantime, what are your thoughts on this film?  I don't have much more (it's a very short film), but do you think it warranted this nomination, perhaps even higher than the fifth place most pundits put it in?  Share your thoughts!