Wolfwalkers is a 2020 internationally co-produced animated adventure film directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart. Produced by Cartoon Saloon, it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2020, and is expected to be released theatrically in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 30, 2020, in the United States on November 13, 2020, and on Apple TV+ on December 11, 2020.
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On September 8, 2018, Apple acquired Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart's Wolfwalkers from a script by Will Collins.[7] The film is an original concept that was created by Moore and Stewart, and its animation will utilize a unique 2D style rotating between a woodblock aesthetic and loose expressive linework.
In a time of superstition and magic, a young apprentice hunter, Robyn Goodfellow, journeys to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last wolf pack. While exploring the forbidden lands outside the city walls, Robyn befriends a free-spirited girl, Mebh, a member of a mysterious tribe rumored to transform into wolves by night. As they search for Mebh's missing mother, Robyn uncovers a secret that draws her further into the enchanted world of the Wolfwalkers and risks turning into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy.
96% of 27 reviews are positive for the film, and the average rating is 8.35/10. Critics consensus on the website reads, "A mesmerizing Celtic-inspired adventure, Wolfwalkers offers an epic ethereal fantasy matched by profound philosophies and stellar voice work." According to Metacritic, which compiled 9 reviews and calculated an average score of 94 out of 100, Wolfwalkers received "universal acclaim".
Cartoon Saloon, the studio behind “The Secret of Kells,” “Song of the Sea,” and “The Breadwinner,” returns this year with what could be their best film, arousing, lyrical, gorgeous adventure called “Wolfwalkers.” This beautiful piece of work has echoes of other art from classic fairy tales to Studio Ghibli films about man’s relation to nature like “Princess Mononoke,” but it also develops its own robust, powerful voice.
Textured in ways that family entertainment is rarely allowed to be and even more visually ambitious than the other Cartoon Saloon films, this is a special movie. Set in 1650, “Wolfwalkers” takes place against the backdrop of the English colonization of Ireland. Oliver Cromwell sends a hunter named Bill Goodfellow (Sean Bean) to a remote outpost that has seen wolf attacks as the city grows into the woods around it.
Bill’s duty is to hunt and kill the wolves, but his daughter Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) aches to join him on his daily duties, frustrated by being left behind in a city that doesn’t really want her father or her there. It’s essential to remember that Robyn is an outsider too, her father forced into duty in a way that makes her a target of ridicule by local kids.
Robyn sneaks away and follows her father into the woods, discovering that the legends spoken of in the town of a wolf walker are true. She meets Mebh (Eva Whittaker), a girl who has a wolf form that is independent of her while the human Mebh sleeps. She also has healing powers and control over the vicious wolfpack that has been tormenting people. Mesh is waiting for her mother to return from her wolf form, hoping that she will then lead the pack to a safer place.
“Wolfwalkers” unfolds almost entirely through hand-drawn animation that more often echoes watercolor art that has come to life than what modern audiences expect from cartoons. It has a mesmerizing beauty with so much refined attention to detail. The colors splash across the screen and the line detail sometimes feels like it’s purposefully calling attention to the fact that somebody drew this.
Animation sometimes feels like it’s seeking perfection in terms of CGI and detail but what I love about the look of “Wolfwalkers” was how much it reminded me that human artists created it. You can feel the passion of the art in every frame, some of which are striking enough to hang on a wall.
Visually, it’s one of my favorite animated films in a very long time, and it reminded me of other times I was struck by the beauty of a piece of animated work like “Spirited Away” or “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.
With this beautiful visual language, Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart complete what has been called their “Irish Folklore Trilogy” with a story that’s thick with adventure and tension. This is not a cautious, reserved fairytale-like what people typically expect from that genre.
It’s really an action movie as Robyn and Mebh seek to save a way of life and keep their people safe. And, of course, there are layers of subtext underneath about empowerment, colonialism, and man’s relationship with mother nature. It’s the kind of film you can appreciate with your children in a way that sparks conversation afterward about the themes and the artistry. There’s so much going on in every frame.
If there’s a flaw in “Wolfwalkers,” it’s the length. I feel like there’s a masterpiece of a 95-minute movie buried in this 105-minute one. Some of the scenes go on just a tad too long and some ideas are repeated one time too many. While the movie doesn’t feel that long because of the joy of just experiencing it, I feel like it could have been slightly tightened up and maybe been an instant classic.
Clearly, this is a minor complaint and I feel like any issues I had with “Wolfwalkers” could fade away with a second and third viewing. And more than most films I’ve seen in 2020, it’s a movie that I know I will watch again. I return to the Studio Ghibli films at different points in my life and get different things from the best of them.
I feel like “Wolfwalkers” will have a similar staying power, playing with a different energy in childhood, adulthood, and old age. Great art has the ability to do that.
Wolfwalkers Cast
- Honor Kneafsey as Robyn Goodfellowe
- Eva Whittaker as Mebh Óg MacTíre
- Sean Bean as Bill Goodfellowe
- Maria Doyle Kennedy as Moll MacTíre
- Simon McBurney as Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell
- Tommy Tiernan as Sean Óg
- John Morton as Stumpy Woodcutter
- Jon Kenny as Stringy Woodcutter
- Nora Twomey
- Oliver McGrath
- Niamh Moyles
- Sofia Coulais
Wolfwalkers Release Date
The film had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2020. It is expected to be released theatrically on October 30, 2020, by WildCard in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and on November 13, 2020, by GKIDS in the United States, before debuting on Apple TV+ on December 11, 2020. Child Film will distribute in Japan, Haut et Court will distribute in France, and Value & Power Culture Communications will distribute in China.
