Song of the Sea (Tomm Moore, 2014): Ireland/Denmark/Belgium/Luxembourg/France

Reviewed by Vanessa Garnreiter. Viewed at AFIFest 2014.

The Director Tomm Moore created a lovely story for people from all walks of life. His work invites us into a virtual world of a little family living on the beach. The irish history talks about a creature called “Selkie” who can be a sea lion in the water as well as a human. After the pregnant mother leaves her husband and little boy, a little girl is born who is half human half selkie. The only thing the mother leaves her son is a shell where he is able to listen to the “song of the sea”. As the kids grow older the girl finds a white coat what makes her a sea lion in the water. When she blows into the sea shell she there are beautiful little sparkles everywhere that lead the way. The father of the kids doesn’t want to loose his girl and throws the coat in the ocean.

The selkie gets taken away by the mean owls and the bad witch starts taking her emotions away. Some of the creatures are in danger that if they lose their emotions they turn to stone. The owls are able to take and capture emotions in glasses. The little brother needs to bring the coat back to his sister in order to help her otherwise she would turn to stone. We are invited to go on an adventure with the little boy to find his sister’s coat to rescue her. The colourful story leads us to different creatures, the mother told stories about. By blowing into the sea shell the boy and girl are able to convince the mean owl to let them go and find the coat. In the end the mother comes back however leaves the girl with her father and brother, because she is the only thing they have. The mother leaves with the coat and lets her girl live as a human. The fact that the mother has to leave her family a second time because she is a full selkie touches my heart. Tomm Moore tells a beautiful story every kid should watch to understand love between them and their parents as well as with their siblings. – At the end of the day, family is the most important!