Movie #729: Song of the Sea

Song of the Sea is an animated urban fantasy movie starring David Rawle, Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan, Lucy O'Connell, and Lisa Hannigan.

The movie starts the way a lot of animated fantasy films do - we're introduced the family: dad Conor (Gleeson), mom Bronagh (Hannigan), and young son Ben (Kevin Swierszcz as a little tyke and then Rawle for most of the movie). The last we see of Bronagh is her stumbling off in labor with Ben's little sister, and then we cut to six years later. Conor is depressed and barely speaks to his kids, Ben is contemptuous of his little sister Saoirse (O'Connell, when she eventually speaks), who is still mute. 

Granny (Flanagan) comes to visit, trying to impose her mainland standards on the family, and Saoirse finds a box with a white sealskin inside. She wears it and goes out into the sea, and turns into a seal! All the others see, though, is her wash up on the shore, and so Conor allows Granny to take Ben and Saoirse to the mainland, while he throws the box into the ocean.

Now, it should be obvious to anyone who knows their Irish lore what's happening here - Saoirse is a selkie, like her mother, and turns into a seal when she wears the skin in the ocean. But there's a lot more going on, here. The owl-witch Macha (also Flanagan) is hunting down any fairy creature to steal away their feelings and turn them to stone, as she once did to her giant son Mac Lir. The siblings escape from Granny and go on a magical journey back home, trying to get the skin so that Saoirse can sing the Song of the Sea and restore everyone that's been turned to stone.

Thinking about it, there was a run of animated movies - maybe it's less a run and more a shift in style, since Turning Red does this a little, too - where the resolution of the conflict isn't about slaying a beast or enduring an attack but healing a wound. Encanto, Moana, Coco (up to a point; there's still plenty of "evil bad guy" in there), Kubo & The Two Strings - they're all about older characters confronting their own demons and realizing that by holding on to those hurts they're dooming the world around them. Doesn't take a genius to see the genesis of that trend, I think. Song of the Sea does that within the context of Irish mythology (from the same studio as Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers), but it's the same basic idea. The visual style is soft and beautiful, and I especially love the motif of having families of animals snoozing as the children are walking by on their journey. I also enjoy that the movie doesn't hand-hold American audiences; the characters and faeries are introduced, but Ben knows who they are and treats them accordingly. 

Song of the Sea was nominated for a Best Animated Feature Oscar and lost to Big Hero 6 (which also features healing from loss as a theme, though it's a much more traditional story in terms of presentation; it's Disney). I hadn't seen it at the time, and looking back I think it might have been my choice that year. 

My Grade: A
Rewatch Value: Medium

Next up: The Sound of Music