The narrative style feels impeccable and the rhythm is very coherent. Obviously it is a style of painting that makes people dance every minute, but the result is that the picture and bgm are together. When it is beautiful, it is beautiful to death, and it makes me terrified when it is heavy.
The various symbolic metaphors in the film are quite meaningful: Dean, Ashling, Vikings, the book of Kells, walls and towers, the mysterious power of the forest, the Ouroboros in the dark cave, and so on. And the relationship and interaction between these elements is also very moving - Dean Yu Brandon's love in paternity, the changing relationship between Brandon and Ashling, the eye of light is the eye of darkness, and more. Metaphors allow the entire film to express an extraordinary imagination, and it also gives it a sense of ambiguity between ideal and reality. Quoting a sentence from the top-ranked film reviewer, "Although the protagonist has achieved his dream, what is the dream? What can the dream bring to people? Everything is unclear. The hardships encountered in the process are specific. It's true, and gets nothing in return at the end of the story."
But the metaphor is also partly a flaw in the animation. It can be seen that the ambition of this film is not only to be regarded as a fairy tale, but also to be a serious historical narrative film full of metaphors. But it does not qualify as the latter, because these mappings are too simplified and absolute. For example, the Vikings are interspersed as brutal invaders from afar, and the entire first half of the animation is shrouded in their shadows; and the book of Iona represents the ultimate beauty that can turn darkness into light. So I was expecting this book to be the last weapon Kells could use to fight off the Vikings. But no, and even by the end of the film the exact meaning of the Book of Kells seems ambiguous.
This film has a score of 7.6 on IMDB. The reason for not being able to get higher is that the plot is simply criticized, and it is probably because of the political meaning in it. Not only does it avoid mentioning all religious-related words, but also avoids Ireland and the like. Real historical elements also contain too many so-called "insulting stereotypes". This oversimplification leads to a sense of disconnect not only between before and after the film, but also between style and content.
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