The Secret of Kells · reception & legacy

How The Secret of Kells has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A tiny Irish indie that most people had never heard of until it crashed the 2010 Oscars with a shock Best Animated Feature nomination — before it even had a proper US release. Now it's revered as the film that launched Cartoon Saloon and the first chapter of the beloved 'Irish folklore trilogy' with Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers.

What's debated

The perennial Letterboxd debate: is the story too slight for the staggering visuals, or is 'every frame a painting' precisely the point of a film about illuminated manuscripts?

Its footprint

Pangur Bán the white cat — lifted from a real 9th-century Irish monk's poem — became the film's breakout mascot, and Aisling's haunting song is a staple of 'animation songs that wreck me' lists; the flat, spiral-filled illuminated-manuscript frames are endlessly screenshot as proof of what 2D can still do.

Where it stands

A canon climber and animation-lovers' password: the 'you must have seen this' entry point to Cartoon Saloon, sitting comfortably in Letterboxd's hand-drawn pantheon next to Ghibli.

Named by the director

Influences Tomm Moore has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998) — Moore has repeatedly cited Ocelot's folk-art-styled film as proof a feature rooted in a native visual tradition could work.
• Mulan (1998) — Moore said seeing Disney draw on Chinese art made him want to do the same with Irish art.
• Hercules (1997) — Alongside Mulan, Moore named it as a spark — Disney using Greek vase design inspired his use of Celtic illumination.
• The Thief and the Cobbler (1993) — Moore cited Richard Williams' Persian-miniature-styled epic as a model for building a film's look from a traditional art form.