Wolfwalkers

I feel like I’ve been giving out a lot of 5 stars lately but sometimes u just watch a lot of good movies. Anyways yeah this movie’s fantastic!! Obvi the animation is where this shines the most but the story and characters are so compelling on their own. Without getting too into spoilers I feel like this is a masterclass in cinematic parallels especially with Robyn’s dad and Mebh’s mother. Speaking of them I think them as individual characters were fleshed out and utilized really well. It would’ve been easy for Mebh’s mother be a sort of damsel in distress in the story, but they really give her agency once she’s properly introduced on screen. Idk it’s something small that I really appreciated. Robyn and Mebh themselves have such a well developed relationship, it was really fun to see them grow a sisterly bond throughout the movie.  Alright now incoming ramblings about parts of the animation I liked lol.  I really loved how the backgrounds looked in this. Anytime there’s an establishing shot or wide shot from an upward angle they do a thing w the perspective where it looks flat. I mean that as a compliment though, it was always consistent and went w the overall design so well and added to the storybook kind of vibe. Very very cool I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in an animated movie before.  Another thing i noticed like halfway through was how the actual animation of the characters changes depending on the setting. During scenes in the town, the linework is very clean and rigid. In the forest the lines are instead more sketchy and less polished. Everything has a heightened feeling of movement which mirrors it being a more wild environment. This is taken a step further any time we’re shown a POV shot from Robyn in her wolf form. Literally everything moves, from the linework to the colors of the background. The art direction of this movie overall is so strong and beautiful.