Song of the Sea

My husband discovered Song of the Sea when he was browsing Amazon Prime for something new to delight our three-year-old.  She loves films and we have both had our fill of Frozen so we try to diversify wherever we can.

Disclaimer: Frozen is good.  I know that Frozen is good.  But I can act the whole thing out for my kid now.  The. Whole. Thing.

And - whats more - I have.

Yep.  #parenting.

So - Song of the Sea...

This is a beautiful animation by Cartoon Saloon, directed by Tomm Moore.

It draws from myths of the Selkie - people that can change their form from seal to human by shedding their sealskin (much like a coat).  The myths tend to revolve around human men forcing female selkies into relationships by stealing their sealskin.

This film does not do that.  But it does play with ideas of love and loss, and the desperation that often ensues.

We meet Ben as a very young child.  He and his mother are painting the walls in his room with characters from the stories that she has told him.  

She is also very pregnant.  She clearly loves Ben, and her husband.  It appears to be an idyllic family.  But then she becomes ill and runs into the sea where she disappears, leaving behind her baby, Saoirse (pronounced ser-sha), the last Selkie child.

Six years later, Ben's dad is emotionally disengaged, Saorsie has not yet spoken a single word, Ben resents her for the loss of his mother and he is terrified of drowning.  So scared, that he always wears a life-vest.  His only friend is his dog, Cu, who also loves and looks after Saorsie much to Ben's frustration.

In short - there is a lot that is broken in this family and in order to fix it, the characters must learn to move past their sorrow.  To begin with, this means accepting it.

What a film for both children and adults alike.

I love the myths running through it and how the human and the faerie world collide, and how everyone effectively learns the same thing.  That sorrow cannot be avoided, and that denying it turns us, bit by bit, to stone.  That we must continue to love and hope and dream and to care for one another despite our fears.

Ultimately, the characters are all restored and even though Ben's mother can never return, he has his family back.

It is exceptionally well written and voiced, and beautifully animated.  If you want to try something a little bit different, I cannot recommend this enough.  My three-year-old loves it so much that when it dropped from Amazon Prime's listing, we went ahead and bought it.  Sometimes, she even opts to watch it over Frozen.