Kells has a decidedly pleasing-to-the-eye, retro-cartoon vibe ( ... ) an intriguing and rare artistic subgenre

| Nov 13, 2013

Tomm Moore's Irish animation, drawn with painstaking reference to both Celtic myth and medieval manuscripts, possesses a lively originality that shows Europe's animators not far behind America's and in some ways in front of them.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 6, 2010

The look of the film is simply ravishing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 30, 2010

A low-key pleasure.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 30, 2010

A feast for the eyes that manages to be both whimsical and sinister.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 30, 2010

Unlike anything else you've seen, and very much worth seeking out, this is a unique and beautiful creation.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 29, 2010

The story is a bit tangled, and there is too much of it packed into nearly 80 minutes, but little kids won't be bothered when the animation is so magical.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 29, 2010

The movie equivalent of Kim Kardashian - delightful to look at in motion, but after a while you realise there's not a lot going on.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 29, 2010

A breathtaking mixture of Celtic mythology and creative animation.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 13, 2010

At only 75 minutes in length, The Secret of Kells doesn't waste a lot of time on its undernourished plot. Its images, however, will linger for much longer.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 7, 2010

The Secret of Kells has elements of a quest adventure and a coming-of-age story, but it's more beautifully stylized and astutely abstracted than the average kiddie cartoon.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 6, 2010

In the end, the film is about a magical book, but you never really have a sense of what makes the book magical.

| Original Score: C | Apr 23, 2010

Its hand-drawn two-dimensional animation springs to life with color and meticulous technique, filigreed and curlicued like the luminous book at its center.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 9, 2010

The film's final image is a poetic paean to the Book's living power—a power that The Secret of Kells, like Aisling, recognizes without, perhaps, fully understanding.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 2, 2010

If filmgoers ultimately feel bogged down in its densely layered fable and allegory, it's a spectacular thicket to get lost in.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 2, 2010

The soul of the film lies in its ravishing colors, and in exuberantly stylized images that pay homage to Celtic culture and design, together with techniques and motifs that evoke Matisse, Miyazaki and the minimalist cartoons of UPA.

| Apr 2, 2010

The Secret of Kells is a magical adventure unlike anything we've seen on screen before.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 1, 2010

A glorious throwback to the more stylized, painterly work of decades past, the kind of vividly colored, fanciful pictorials that are usually confined to the small-scale realm of animated shorts.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 1, 2010

I think it will appeal to children young enough to be untutored in boredom, and to anyone old enough to be drawn in, or to appreciate the artistry.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 1, 2010

This Irish feature won't impress anyone with its character drawings, but the backgrounds remind us what stunning imagery once resulted from nothing more than a pen and all the time in the world.

| Mar 25, 2010