Susannah The TiredJun 7, 2023

#KittenWatches Wolfwalkers (2020) by Cartoon Saloon

I don't give out many 5 ⭐ ratings but WOW - this is purrfection!

This magical, stunningly hand drawn, colonisation-judging, furry, Irish folklore outing is utterly divine!! I'll be surprised & impressed if this movie doesn't end up being my favourite new watch of 2023!

Watch out, #Disney!

Link - Read my ★★★★★ #MovieReview of Wolfwalkers on #Letterboxd
https://boxd.it/4ltuFH

#Movies #Film #KwFurries #Animation #FilmMastodon #CineMastodon

A ★★★★★ review of Wolfwalkers (2020)

I adore Wolfwalkers! It's perfectly my vibe in both story & art - an adventure I want to go on! I'm taken aback by the level of both beauty & meaning in this unique, powerful piece of cinema! It simultaneously creates a fun, happy adventure and tells a brutal story of xenophobic colonisation, of climate damage & species extinction. It's so layered - & clever as hell for it! It's a story of found family - between Robyn, a little English girl living in the crushingly tyrannical town, and Mebh, a young Irish Wolfwalker, who lives in the surrounding forest. And wow, do they

Show threadKevin Karhan Jun 7, 2023
@KittenInACave Reminds me that I need to watch this one!
Show threadSusannah The TiredJun 7, 2023

@kkarhan

You most definitely do! And I need to catch The Secret of Kells because that's the one I haven't yet done!

Have you seen Song of the Sea too? I gave that one a 5 star rating too!! 🤯

Show threadKevin Karhan Jun 7, 2023
@KittenInACave not yet either...
Show threadSusannah The TiredJun 7, 2023

@kkarhan

It's absolutely gorgeous! The theme didn't hit me PERSONALLY as hard, but it's every bit as talented and great a movie! Cartoon Saloon are definitely a company to keep our eyes on!

Link - My ★★★★★ review of Song of the Sea on Letterboxd https://boxd.it/45qVFf

A ★★★★★ review of Song of the Sea (2014)

A central theme of this beautiful Irish folklore story is lost hope & the re-finding of it. Of holding hard to reasons to go on & learning to love again, despite fear. Selkie stories always feel bittersweet to me - this is no exception - it's beautifully woven through a trail of grief & pain, loss & forgiveness! The lesson to embrace all of those emotions within yourself is certainly a powerful one, too! Song of the Sea has some of the most charming hand drawn animation I've seen, honestly an absolute treat for the eyes! It's so emotive, and a unique style all

Show threadMy Little PonfarrJun 7, 2023

@KittenInACave @kkarhan just to crash this conversation, I can also highly recommend Song of the sea. Easily the best Cartoon Saloon film (although The Breadwinner is a serious close contender!)

As an interesting aside, Cartoon Saloon also collaborated with Hosada and an ex-Disney character designer on Belle. Worth watching to see if you can spot their background art!

Show threadSusannah The TiredJun 7, 2023

@BongoMcnulty @kkarhan

Woah really!? OK I'm gonna have to find Belle! Thank you so much!!! Bit exciting!!

I haven't reviewed the Breadwinner yet, but I'm rewatching soon so I can!

Show threadMy Little PonfarrJun 7, 2023
@KittenInACave @kkarhan Belle is wonderful, but like a lot of Hosada's work, the end is a bit of a mess. The journey to the end more than makes up for this with some of the most amazing visuals I've seen in an animated movie, and an absolutely stunning soundtrack. If subtitles aren't your bag, the English language dub is still a wonderful thing :)
Show threadSusannah The TiredJun 8, 2023
@BongoMcnulty @kkarhan
I far prefer works in original language w/ subs but more often than not it's an accessibility issue for me, cos I use subtitles on everything & that double imput helps me actually hear and process everything. (so it's great to hear the dubs are good!) However... FINDING dubbed versions is often ridiculously hard... & a quick search on my phone shows almost everywhere only has the Japanese audio to rent, except apple who charge almost literally x2!
Show threadSusannah The TiredJun 8, 2023

@BongoMcnulty @kkarhan

It's honestly staggering how little care most of the major UK streaming apps give to accessibility. Most of them don't even give a crap about having the most basic things like subtitles! 🙄

I will track something down, I'm determined! Or I'll have to wait till a rare good brain day. 😬 😂

Show threadKevin Karhan Jun 8, 2023

@KittenInACave @BongoMcnulty *nodds in agreeement*

I mean having subtitles as a toggle-able option doesn't hurt anyone and even benefits abled people in situations where using earphones or increasing the volume isn't an option...

Show threadSusannah The TiredJun 8, 2023

@kkarhan @BongoMcnulty

Absolutely! And honestly if there are whole websites dedicated to having (free) subtitle files for every conceivable movie, how is it acceptable that those we PAY for our media do not have them as standard? 🙄

Show threadSusannah The TiredJun 8, 2023
@kkarhan @BongoMcnulty I watch movies a lot with people in other countries and we'll even find things like, Prime US will have captions but Prime UK won't. 🤦🏻‍♀️
Show threadKevin Karhan 
@KittenInACave @BongoMcnulty that's because #subtitles are more traditional in the #USA - in fact the US doesn't have #Teletext because that bandwith was allocated for the mandatory #subtitling feature courtesy of the ADA...
Jun 8, 2023 at 1:24amWeb
Show threadSusannah The TiredJun 8, 2023

@kkarhan @BongoMcnulty

Oh hey I didn't know that! Interesting!

There's really jsut three of my regular streaming sites I can trust will *always* have subs - that's bbc player, Netflix, and Disney. Disney I put the caveat on, that they often have censored subtitles because God forbid disabled people have to read swear words that everyone else is hearing spoken, I guess. 🙃🙄 Infuriating!