Film Review: Cartoon Saloon step beyond Celtic mythos with My Father's Dragon
My Father's Dragon
- My Father’s Dragon
- ★★★★☆
The Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon (Song of the Sea, Wolfwalkers) tends to imagine the world that little bit differently, so it’s no surprise to discover that the hero of My Father’s Dragon (PG) isn’t the traditional fire-breathing monster of legend. Actually, the story’s real hero is young Elmer (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), who vows to restore his family’s fortunes when he and his mother Dela (Golshifteh Farahani) are forced to move to the city of Nevergreen in search of work.
Informed by a talking cat (Whoopi Goldberg) of a magical dragon who lives on Wild Island, Elmer sets out to capture the exotic creature, only to discover that the dragon, Boris (Gaten Matarazzo), is in dire peril. Adapted by Meg LeFauve from Ruth Stiles Gannett’s book, and directed by Nora Twomey, My Father’s Dragon is a charming affair of derring-do pitched at a younger audience that delivers a quietly forceful message about climate change. As Elmer is drawn deeper into Boris’s world, he realises that his individual quest has consequences for a world he never even knew existed, a theme that echoes that of Cartoon Saloon’s The Breadwinner, in which the personal was very much the political.
With the canvas a lot broader than that of the Irish-set Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers, the studio has adopted a less overtly Celtic style, offering a setting and aesthetic that is significantly less culture-specific. The quality of the animation remains high, however, and particularly in the dramatic scenes in which Elmer’s imagination runs riot, during which it seems that Nora Twomey is paying homage to the more fantastical aspects of Studio Ghibli films. (Netflix)
