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Written by: Will Collins (screenplay), Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart (story)
Directed by: Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart
Starring: Honor Kneafsey, Eva Whittaker, Sean Bean
Rated: PG
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Plot
A young apprentice hunter and her father journey to Ireland to help wipe out the last wolf pack. But everything changes when she befriends a free-spirited girl from a mysterious tribe rumored to transform into wolves by night.
Verdict
While it doesn't feel completely original, it is a perfect distillation and embodiment of these types of stories. Not only is it touching, the animation style only adds to the effect. What results is an absolutely beautiful movie that explores outsiders, forgiveness, and misplaced malice. While the town could live peacefully with the wolves, the Lord Protector wants to take over the forest and oust the wolves. People fear what they don't understand, wanting to destroy it. To understand the other side, you must see it. In this story, Robyn gets to experience it, and that changes her assumptions and feelings about the forest and its inhabitants.
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Review
This is part of Tomm Moore's Irish Folklore Trilogy, consisting of The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014).
A town living near wolves hires a hunter named Bill (Sean Bean) to rid them of the predators. His daughter Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) wants to be just like him. She ventures into the woods and encounters the wolves. Her pet bird is injured and left behind as her father rescues her. Despite several warnings, Robyn enters the woods again to find her bird has been healed, though she doesn't know how.
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| The Lord Protector and Bill |
These aren't ordinary wolves. They're wolf walkers, people that can transform. This is the old tale of humans that want to destroy what they don't understand. The village could live peacefully with the wolves, bu they don't want to. They prefer to take the woods by force, wanting the resources. The town doesn't even realize what these wolves truly are. While the town's focus is the wolves, scavenging the forest and cutting down the trees would disrupt the entire ecosystem.
Robyn is ensnared by a trap while in the woods and freed by a wolf, though bitten in the process. That wolf happens to be a young girl, Mebh (Eva Whittaker), who reveals her secret to Robyn and heals her wound. Robyn soon becomes a wolf walker herself, though she doesn't realize it at first. She's become what she wanted to hunt. She transforms and manages to frighten everyone in the town. A wolf has breached the walls. She still visits Mebh who provides a glimpse of what it's like to be a wolf.
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| Robyn and Mebh |
Robyn no longer wants to hunt wolves. She tries to convince her father, but he won't listen. She also discovers that Mebh's missing mother is imprisoned by the Lord Protector, the one so adamant the town should eradicate the wolves. Robyn frees Mebh's mother, which leads to the finale. The Lord Proctor leads an attack on the wolf den. He's desperate to destroy it at any cost. There's a tense battle between the Lord Protector, Robyn, and her father Bill.
It doesn't feel like a new story, and it doesn't matter. This is a shining example of this type of tale. It's all the more beautiful due to the animation. The town doesn't like the wolves, though nothing has happened. It's the potential of what could occur. People fear what they don't understand, and in this case some get to see the other side of it, becoming the wolf walkers they hunted. That's the only way to truly understand. Many people, like the Lord Protector, refuse to exhibit any empathy and consider how their actions could affect others.
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| Opening Title Card |
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