Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon has been one of the most fascinating workshops for the medium since their 2009 feature debut, The Secret of Kells. Wolfwalkers by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart is only their fifth feature since Kells. Nearly every work of theirs went on to get an Academy Awards nomination in the Best Animation Feature category, except for the 2022 film My Father’s Dragon. In 2020, in partnership with the Belge studio Mélusine and distribution by Apple TV+ in the United States, the studio presented Wolfwalkers. Setting the story in 1650 in Kilkenny, Ireland, it narrates the tale of the young English girl Robyn (voiced by Honor Kneafsey). She has moved to the county with her father, the wolfhunter Bill Goodfellowe (voiced by Sean Bean). Her mother has passed away, and her father promised to protect her from the dangers of the world. She’s confined inside their house because children are not allowed to go to the woods due to the wolves living there. Robyn is frustrated with having her freedom and hunting with her father taken away from her. She does not want to be a housemaid. Robyn seeks to explore the woods and hunt, just like her father does.
In one of her escapes to the forest from her house, she accidentally shoots her bird, Merlyn. Mysteriously, a magical creature cures it in the woods. Robyn befriends the mythical creature and learns about the wolfwalkers, protectors of the forest that turn into wolves while sleeping. Promptly, she and the wolfwalker Mebh Óg MacTire (voiced by Eva Whittaker) become close friends, and Robyn evolves into her connection between the woods’ animals and the town citizens.
The duo comes together to find a solution for the dispute between the town and the wolves, which are in danger due to the tyrannical Lord Protector (voiced by Simon McBurney), who aims to eliminate all of them. The film by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart tackles the classical story trope of friendship between unlikely individuals. However, it is a background to a bigger story about ecology and British colonialism in Ireland.
Similar thematically to Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke, Moore and Stewart’s film uses a colorful, full of shapes and charismatic lead characters to tell a serious story in its subtext. The discussion circles the ecological chase of wolves in their natural habitat and humans as the genuine aggressors. However, it adds the fantastical element of the folkloric figures of the Werewolves of Ossory, a popular telling in medieval Ireland. The ludic approach to the visual through watercolors and brushes to emulate a pencil line style is an invitation to a profound tale of culture, folklore, and history. The script by Will Collins does not abandon an emotional core to transform the storytelling into an approach that is more palpable to younger children. It goes for an adventure that intellectually respects its viewer and leans more towards the European technique in its narrative than an American studio one.
There is a crucial construction of an ambiance to Wolfwalkers that unites the pencil brushes, the predominance of red, green, and brown, and a folkish score by Bruno Coulais. It immerses the viewer in the historical era of the modern period and its colonial practices. The figure of Lord Protector follows the absolutist leader role, which believes that God has transferred the power directly to him. Thus, Protector is a dictator who jails anyone who appears to confront his unlimited power and may end his desire for blood, exploitation, and authority. It is a classical antagonistic archetype that increases the drama and emotional thread of the narrative. The subplot of losing family to Robyn and her father is a warm and relatable plot. He tries to protect her daughter while working for a ruthless man seeking power and destruction. She is frustrated with not experiencing what life may provide her. It hits the natural frustrations of adolescence and how parents clash with their role in their development.
Wolfwalkers is a tale of Irish culture, colonialism, and a coming of age about two misplaced girls. Their bonding evolves to saving their parents and the woods community to save those oppressed by a violent leader. It takes an emotional ride through its beautiful colors, shapes, pencil brushes, and score. The subtexts range from parenting, families, colonial violence, and ecology. Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, and Cartoon Saloon cultivate the importance of folkloric tales while expanding their characteristic animation style, making them one of the most respected animation studios in the world.
Wolfwalkers is available to stream on Apple TV+.
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