Song of the sea - review

Rating 10/10

This is the kind of heartwarming movie that grows on you. The 2D painting didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would when I saw the trailer. Instead the colors and the painting style made the movie into an art piece. You can pause whenever you like and you will still get a perfect postcard. The movie was enchanting and while watching it my mind took me to the age of a four-years-old where everything made sense, even the magic.

The story revolves around a four-year-old child, Ben, who is the son of a lighthouse keeper. It all starts with a happy family, how Ben and his mother try to prepare the nursery room for Ben’s little sister. The mother tucks Ben in for the night and he promises that he will be the best brother. Unfortunately that night the mom is going missing leaving the newly born daughter behind. We soon discover that Ben’s mother is a selkie, a seal-person, whose time on land has ended and she needed to return to the sea.

You can feel the suddenness of the mothers departing and how the resentment Ben has for his little sister, Saoirse. Ben and his sister soon are being packed off to live with their grandmother on the land/city. But after a while away from the sea Saoirse suddenly gets sick and it soon revels that she has inherited her mother’s seal-form and gift. Ben has to get his ill sister to their mother’s seal skin and the sea at the lighthouse.

But the journey isn’t that easy. On the way they meet fairies and they need to help them in the war with the owl-witch, Macha. This war becomes with nice visual and narrative clues the grieving process of the children. And something that makes the witch villain even better is that she isn’t a typical villain, she has a granny look and behavior and you can feel sorry for her. You know why she acts like she does. She isn’t evil for the sake of just being evil.

Everything in all it’s a good movie and i'm not surprised to hear its been nominated for oscars. A movie I feel most people should probably see at least once. Feel how the atmosphere of the movie drags you in, feel the four-year-old child in yourself and enjoy the magic. 

With love,

Miss Melpomene