Wolfwalker: An animated masterpiece that blends history and legends

Given the reputation of Ireland's national treasure animation production team "Cartoon Salon", expectations for the newly released Wolfwalker are undoubtedly high. It is the finale of Tom Moore's gorgeous animated trilogy of Irish folklore, following The Secret of the Book of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014), and the exquisite effect it presents does live up to expectations. This visually dazzling, imaginative and emotionally resonant work was selected as One of Time Magazine's top ten films of 2020, winning the Annie Awards for Best Independent Animated Film, Best Animation Director, Best Art Direction, Best Character Design, as well as many awards such as the Golden Globe Awards and the British Academy Film Awards.

In Wolfwalker, the animation artists at Cartoon Salon Studios did not simply modernize the vision of ancient Celtic art, but incorporated elements of the Arts and Crafts movement influenced by Irish art into the overall design of the film, with the effect of using a combination of traditional animation and digital technology to bring a 17th-century storybook to life. Each frame gives the impression of invoking an illustration from a beautiful old book page. Compared to the expectations of modern audiences for cartoons, this work, which unfolds the narrative almost entirely through hand-drawn animation, echoes more with the lifelike art of watercolor. Colors splash on the screen, some of the images don't seem to be completely filled or completed, and traces of the draft are still clearly visible, as if to remind people that it is a beautiful work of art, but also seems to emphasize the origin of its folktale. The figures sometimes seem to move in a flat painting, and sometimes they merge with the environment in rotation.

The unique character design and the seamless integration of history and legend make this film's artistic standard higher than that of Cartoon Salon's previous works. When urbanizing Europe experienced the Renaissance, the irish town of Kilkenny was still in a medieval state. This is the background of the era of "WolfWalker" and the reason for the colonization of the Protectorate. The film never formally mentions Oliver Cromwell, who led the British parliamentary forces to bloody colonization of Ireland in the mid-17th century, but only refers to him as the "Protector", which gives the director the flexibility to fictionalize his own affairs.

The clash of cultures, religious oppression, and confrontation between man and nature under colonialism give the film enough narrative momentum, and it is An 11-year-old girl, Robin, who skillfully connects history and legend. Her curiosity and adventurousness are both incompatible with her surroundings and in stark contrast to her loving and obedient father, while foreshadowing the friendship between her equally unruly wolfwalker girl Miba, who transforms into a wolf in her sleep further opens up two worlds that are hostile to each other. The transformation of form between the human wolves takes the form of bright golden energy detached from the shell of flesh and bone. Robin's "wolf vision" scene is breathtaking. The pristine paradise of the forest is like a colorful picture book. Crystal clear waterfalls slowly fall, badgers and squirrels pass through the verdant clearings, and running wolves undulate like waves. Norwegian female singer Aurora's agile and rather wild "Dance with Wolves" vividly sets off the beauty and sacredness of the harmonious blend of man and nature.

The cleverness of "Cartoon Salon" storytelling is that it always allows the audience to understand the motivations of each character, which makes their conflict with each other both real and believable and shocking, but the storyline is not a simple binary opposition, the characters are not purely black and white, and there is a lot of comedy intertwined in the dramatic structure. The Protector, who had just seized power from the deposed king, was in desperate need of proving to the Irish that he was capable of protecting them, and Robin demanded that his father, Goodfield, who had been ordered to hunt the wolves, stop moving. These collisions are like an unstoppable force encountering impregnable obstacles, and the only way to avoid losing both is to change direction. The first half of the film focuses on the cruelty of the child characters facing the adult world, while the second half focuses on the changes made by the cold and evil adults in the struggle of children who symbolize nature and beauty. The father who protected his daughter in the name of love repented and put down the butcher's knife, while the protector fell off a cliff alone and was redeemed.

The narrative conflict is presented in a beautiful but completely different style. The angular woodblock prints, grey tones and slightly distorted geometric patterns reflect the repressive life of the inhabitants within Kilkenny's walls. The forest world of Wolfwalker is presented with plump, fluid charcoal lines, while its lush atmosphere is expressed in a highly saturated orange and green watercolor-style background. As the story progresses, the film uses sliced split screens to show the intense action that takes place at the same time, in stark contrast to the arc-shaped scenes of the earlier scenes. Today, when Pixar and DreamWorks are all the rage, cartoon salon works are still eye-catching. The visual language of Wolfwalker is highly recognizable, and its sound effects are unique. The ethereal melodies created by French composer Bruno Cules and Irish folk bands make people involuntarily immersed in that magical land and distant times. Horner Nephthal and Eva Whitak's unadorned Northern English and Irish accents convey the passionate joy and youthful conceit of the two little girls. Goodeffel's fortitude and tragedy are refreshingly presented by Sean Bing, and Simon McBurne's indifferent voice is perfect for the protector's indifference.

Wolfwalker is a dialogue with a real and imaginary story. Oliver Cromwell really has his own people, and wolfwalkers are popular among the people. The film transforms ancient legends into adventures of human significance, while at the same time interpreting Irish history from a revisionist perspective. Saving the wilderness and wolves despised by the Protector means protecting the legends, languages, and identities of our ancestors. In a way, that's exactly what everyone involved in Moore's films does in their work, to bring vanished traditions to life and erased history to life (Cartoon Salon Studios is based in Kilkenny, where the story takes place). Screenwriter Collins even threw out an Irish phrase reminding people that ancient cultures haven't completely disappeared. Underneath its grand narrative structure is a story of love and courage that crosses racial and social boundaries, a lament about the world being crushed under the feet of a brutal ruler, a family drama between a wayward girl and her father, and an invisible art history lesson. Weaving together themes of belonging, taming and rebellion, environmental protection, and religious oppression, while building a bridge between values, dialogue, and questioning the present, it is a rare masterpiece of animation that blends history and legend.