{"id":10789,"date":"2016-02-20T11:13:30","date_gmt":"2016-02-20T19:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=10789"},"modified":"2016-02-20T11:13:30","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T19:13:30","slug":"gregs-movie-night-song-of-the-sea-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=10789","title":{"rendered":"‘s Movie Night : Song of the Sea (2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Song of the Sea (2014)\u00a0(Goes well with : Secret of Kells and Ponyo)<\/b><\/p>\n

Our family is a fan of animation. \u00a0Sure, I\u2019ve got a 9 and 10 year old so it\u2019s obvious we\u2019ve watched a lot of animation. \u00a0Sure, I\u2019ve got a 9 and 10 year old so it\u2019s obvious we\u2019ve watched a lot of Disney animation. \u00a0However, I always yearn for more than the \u201cobvious\u201d. \u00a0There are film-makers and studios making animation films as vibrant and produced as any Disney film. \u00a0Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki immediately jump to mind. \u00a0In fact, he was doing such an amazing job Disney had to snatch him up for the American market and distribute his catalog! \u00a0Then along comes Tomm Moore and Cartoon Saloon. \u00a0Our family loved his first movie, Secret of Kells, and I pleased them when the title screen popped up with his follow up. \u00a0The anticipation was high.<\/p>\n

Song of the Sea, like Secret of Kells, is steeped in Ireland. \u00a0The foreign presentation, to me, \u00a0is refreshing. \u00a0We start on a dark watery coast where a family is expecting a new child. \u00a0The older brother, Ben, promises to be the best brother ever just before mom suddenly feels a pain, apologizes and runs off. \u00a0The father, Conor, searches in vain for his wife but is left with a son and, now, daughter. \u00a0Years later he is a broken man years later. \u00a0His young daughter, Saoirse, has never spoken a word and Ben has grown harsh and jealous of his sister. \u00a0Soon, Saoirse discovers a white coat and is called to the ocean to swim with the seals it is revealed that she is a mythical creature known as a selkie. \u00a0Grandmother takes the kids to the city \u201cfor their own protection\u201d and they promptly run away to return home. \u00a0Without her white coat, Saoirse, grows ill and so time is of the essence. \u00a0Along the way they meet fairies, giants, villainous owls and spirit dogs in a story that shows how a family that has fallen apart can come together.\"a2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Selkies are a long time Irish legend. \u00a0Our family had actually recently run into them in another movie night (The Secret of Roan Inish [1994]) so we were surprise and excited to experience them again. \u00a0Similar in nature to mermaids the fairies tales have been told for a long time. \u00a0Song of the Sea is true to the nature of these stories in that often female selkies will often run back to the sea and are strongly tied to their \u201cskins\u201d (or in this case, coat).<\/p>\n

Be aware, this is an Irish movie through and through. \u00a0Accents are thick. \u00a0My daughter \u00a0called out after just a few minutes for the subtitles to be put on because \u201cI don\u2019t want to miss a single word\u201d. \u00a0We kept them on throughout the movie but your ear should attune to the dialect after a bit. \u00a0During that accumulation you will enjoy beautiful animation but will miss the nuance of the language.<\/p>\n

Both of Tomm Moore\u2019s feature films have been nominated for animation Oscar\u2019s and you can see why. \u00a0I\u2019m not going to go on a tangent about how Oscar\u2019s can be largely crap and no indication of inspiration or ability but instead use that honor as a way to WOW you into believing me before you see this film for yourself. \u00a0The distinct style of drawing is like that of a child\u2019s picture book come to life. \u00a0The colors and the world is magical and exaggerated while the story is fantastical but the overall themes are simple. \u00a0A mixture of smooth, stunning animation with human emotion is perfect for a family movie night.<\/p>\n

Overall the themes of love and loss make the movie timeless and epic as any film your kids are used to seeing. \u00a0While we at first view young Ben as a brat you will be cheering for him to protect his ailing sister as she falls ill and is in need of getting home. \u00a0Brooding father Conor is completely torn apart at the loss of his wife and then children. \u00a0He seems to almost live with blinders on as everything falls apart but is brought back to life when his family pieces itself back together. \u00a0\u00a0There is also the ever loyal sheepdog, Cu, which quickly won the hearts of the kids. \u00a0I think our next pet, no matter what it is, will be named Cu.<\/p>\n

\"a3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the end of this magical journey our family sat quiet. \u00a0Then someone clapped and we laughed. \u00a0Days after viewing it I had both kids (and mom) bring up parts of it in conversation. \u00a0I overhead my daughter telling Mom in the other room that \u201cone day, I\u2019m going to own that movie\u201d and I smiled and thought: \u201cWonder when I\u2019m buying that for you\u201d. \u00a0Oh the joys of adulthood.<\/p>\n

I dare not give away too much of the magical adventure the characters endure. Just rest assured you and your family are in for an enjoyable time. \u00a0There are bad guys (it seems) and legends and adventure. \u00a0As the adult I ask you to also to relax the focus of your eyes a little during the story and stare at the art. \u00a0The animation is mostly hand drawn and awash with watercolors. \u00a0Spinning and alive, it is glorious.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mom says: I loved this!<\/i><\/p>\n

Best guess : All ages (accents may trip up some viewers)<\/b><\/p>\n

Grown Up Score: A<\/b><\/p>\n

Kids\u2019 Grade: We Loved It!<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Song of the Sea (2014)\u00a0(Goes well with : Secret of Kells and Ponyo) Our family is a fan of animation. \u00a0Sure, I\u2019ve got a 9 and 10 year old so it\u2019s obvious we\u2019ve watched a lot of animation. \u00a0Sure, I\u2019ve got a 9 and 10 year old so it\u2019s obvious we\u2019ve watched a lot of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1467,3957,4977,12842,17904,17927,18686,23055],"class_list":["post-10789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-articles","tag-animation","tag-cartoon-saloon","tag-cu","tag-macha","tag-secret-of-kells","tag-selkie","tag-song-of-the-sea","tag-tomm-moore"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}