Last December I watched Song of the Sea and loved it. I wanted to watch The Secret of Kells (which I had sort of heard about for a few years) because its director/writer Tomm Moore also did Song of the Sea. Like Song of the Sea, The Secret of Kells did very well with critics. It was even nominated for an Oscar under Best Animated Feature but lost to Pixar’s Up.

The story is set in Ireland after it became common knowledge that viking raiders could march anywhere and cause mayhem at any given moment. The hero of the story is a boy named Brendan who serves in a Roman Catholic abbey. His uncle Cellach is the abbot, and runs the abbey of Kells. He’s deeply worried about the vikings, and is building a wall to keep them out.

A fellow brother named Aidan arrives in Kells and tells Brendan of a book that is unfinished but has magic to it. He tells Brendan that he needs ink to finish the book. However the ink only comes from the forest nearby. When he reaches the forest, he ends up crossing paths with Aisling, a supernatural creature who thinks the forest is hers. But she befriends Brendan and helps him on his quest to finish the book.

I will say that The Secret of Kells was pretty disappointing. While it has the imaginative art, and creative story like Song of the Sea it just doesn’t compare to the latter. I do like the history it is set in with vikings coming to Ireland, as it’s a fascinating period of history. However the plot ends up being rather pointless, and I never like stories that end up like that. I’m really surprised critics liked this one so much back in 2009/2010. I can see the appeal in a way, but I’ll probably forget a lot about this film a few years from now.