Song of the Sea (2014)

Song of the Sea is a magical, mythical hand drawn animation full of Gaelic stories and memorable songs.

On the night Ben’s sister, Saoirse, is born their mum disappears. This makes his Dad sad and Ben angry and leads to Ben and Saoirse going to the city. While trying to get home, three fairies tell Ben a secret about his sister which leads to Ben going on a quest to find her and at the same time to become a better brother.

The writer and director, Tomm Moore, has included features of Gaelic myths, songs and paintings in this film. There are many Gaelic myths about selkies and they don’t have a completely happy ending, just like this story. There is a myth in which the husband stops his selkie wife from leaving, in the same way as the Dad tries to do with his daughter.

The music in this film is beautiful and stayed in my head for a long time after I had watched it. It sounds like traditional folk music. The main song is part of the story and helps save the day. The music made me feel very calm.

The animation is different to other animated films because it is influenced by paintings rather than other animation styles. I could see this because in the flashbacks and stories, the animation looks like a watercolour painting. In the Extras, I learnt that the animation is multi-layered and is a combination of hand drawn and computer animation.

Colour and light are used to represent magic. It becomes much brighter when there is magic about and little lights that look like fireflies follow Saoirse about.

I was surprised that the voice of the Dad was the actor of two characters that I like from two very different movies. In this film, Brendan Gleeson sounds very different to Madeye Moody in Harry Potter and Knuckles in Paddington 2.

This film made me feel several different emotions. Overall, the landscape scenes and the music made me feel very calm. At other times, I felt happy but some parts might make you a little bit tearful.

This film was nominated for an Academy Award for best animation. I can see why.

Anyone who loves animated films should watch this.