Wolfwalkers Deep Dive

Wolfwalkers is the only new movie I've really liked in over a year XD The more I watch it, the more I love it. It's definitely my favorite movie from their studio, and it may be one of my favorite movies. So I'm analyzing it.

I'll start with the ecology part. Then I'll dive into the plot and characters. 

This studio is always gorgeous. And I love how their movies are set at real points in history, even though there are also fantasy elements.  In this case, the setting is Ireland while the English are taking over. The people and land of Ireland were another victim to colonists. It's happened all over the world, caused by many different countries. And Wolfwalkers shows how much an English father and daughter suffered, in a different way than the Irish people did. It may not be as obvious, but suffocating societies can do a lot of damage to their own people. It's all around us today, although in a different form.

A large part of that is our disconnect from nature. The villain of the film, the Lord Protector, says: "What cannot be tamed must be destroyed." That line of thought has lead to the destruction of most of the planet. But when we destroy the wild places in nature, we destroy ourselves. And not just because of the depth it gives life. We literally rely on forests for air, rain, medicine, and so many other things.

The opening to Wolfwalkers is beautiful, with the pristine, dark, mysterious forests. Then a couple minutes later,  the forests are cut down and the animals no longer have a home.  

Throughout the movie, more and more of the forest is gone. By the end, even the tree where Mebh and Robyn sit has been cut. You can see when the destruction is right at the edge of the little clearing. And less than a hundred years after this movie takes place, all the wolves have been hunted out of Ireland.Today, no one thinks of Ireland as being covered in forest. People only think of green grassy hills. Though some people are trying to bring the forests back. That's a long process, and new forests won't have the diversity of old growth forests.

Humans often have an irrational hatred of wolves. People target wolves with a viciousness rarely seen against other animals. For example, when Europeans first arrived in America, there were about a million wolves in the central 48 states. By 1930, only 5% were left. People killed off all of the wolves prey, poisoned them, shot them, and more. In contrast, free wolves have killed humans in North America twice on record. Twice. And those were probably sick wolves. Wolves sometimes go after livestock because humans have moved in and kicked out all of the natural prey. There's nothing else for them to eat. 

Wolves are very much like humans, in a lot of ways. For example, they're the only animal besides us where the males help gather food, feed babies, raise young over several years, and protect their families. Wolves help care for sick and injured pack mates. They'll care for cubs that belong to other pack mates. They'll even go around and visit members of the family that have moved away. And they mourn their losses.

This hatred of wolves continues, even today. Wolves are still very rare in the 48 states. You can't say they're recovered by any means, except maybe in a couple pockets. And yet they were taken off the endangered species list yet again. Humans could kill all the wolves they wanted.

 

And now onto plot and characters. 

I love Mebh's animation.  It's similar to Aisling's, with the way their hair flows and moves, almost with a life of its own. (The Irish names aren't often pronounced like you'd expect - Mebh is "Maev" the wolf girl. Aisling as "Ashling" from Secret of Kells) Mebh is so bouncy, like when she's leaping around on the fences or climbing walls. And her face is simple, yet so expressive. You can really feel her rage and her sorrow. And even when she rubs her face the simple lines show the movement of her nose and cheeks (she's always rubbing snot off with her hands XD  little wild child. Also, when Robin brushes her hair, a mouse comes out).

Merlyn is adorable. 

 

The animation of the wolves is so fluid. They look frightening when they're aggressive, but then they can be friendly and obliging. And the two adult wolfwalkers are so beautiful. I love them. 

The studio does amazing stuff with perspective, scene changes, and lighting. They'll have scenes meld into each other, or several scenes in one frame. The shadows are so telling. Wolfwalkers has such simple, yet powerful lighting for the fires with stark reds and whites, instead of the usual warm yellows. 

That Running with the Wolves scene is breathtaking. So beautiful, in both music and animation. 

I'm curious about the sketch lines, especially around the ending. I wonder if they were pressed for time and didn't get to clean up some of it. But either way, the animation doesn't suffer. It kind of works, actually. 

(Also, there's a little cameo of the crystal from Secret of Kells, while Mebh is riffling through Robyn's stuff. Plus Robyn mentions selkies, which is a reference to Song of the Sea).  

 

The scenes after Robyn first meets Moll (the mother Wolfwalker) are so heartbreaking. Robyn's trying not to fall asleep, because she's afraid her own father will try to kill her. Mebh breaks down and starts crying because her mother's missing. 

From there Robyn gets dragged off to the scullery, her dad gets dragged off to build a stage, and Mebh is stuck waiting and waiting, after having so much hope about finding her mom.

That poor guy that ends up in the stocks (his name is Sean) is more important than he seems at first. He introduces Robyn to wolfwalkers. And he cheers as Robyn rides out of the city on a giant wolf. He's the only person who isn't terrified. He also encourages the townspeople at the end, telling them the howling of the wolves is lovely music.

The Lord Protector is the epitome of the evils of colonization, and how people can twist religion in such destructive ways. No matter how much a belief encourages people to show love and peace, some people find a way to misread it. History is full of examples.

I've saved this topic for last because it's the most fascinating to me. The dad. Goodfellowe (Okay, I just looked up his name and started laughing. Bill Goodfellowe. I would not have pegged him as a "Bill," but I'll refer to him that way to help me get used to it) If the Lord Protector is the evils of conquering, Bill is the perfect example of all the people who get swept along, not realizing that what they're doing is awful. He's the character that changes the most (oh my god, between Hector Rivera, Lio Oak, and Bill Goodfellowe, dads are tortured so much in recent movies! Even in Song of the Sea)

Goodfellowe loves his daughter so much, and all he wants is to keep her safe. 

 

But he's gotten all this dangerous weight from society. He says several times, "do as you're told. It's for your own good. I'm just trying to keep you safe." And he also does as he's told by his superiors. And when Robyn tries to get rid of Mebh, she uses the same words her dad had been using with her: "It's for your own good. I'm just trying to keep you safe." 

At the beginning, Bill is a confident hunter. But as the movie wears on, he can't catch anything. He gets more and more frustrated, fraying to the breaking point. When they have Moll on stage, he starts to crack. Mebh is running circles around him, everyone's laughing at him, and he has the threat of losing his position, and possibly his daughter. He tries to chain up a little girl which he probably wouldn't have done at any other time. 

Then once again Bill does as he's ordered, getting ready to shoot Moll in the cage. When Robyn tries to stop him, he terrifies her and she nearly retreats Then she finally stands up to her father. (As it says in Harry Potter, it's easy to stand up to enemies. It's a lot harder to stand up to people you care about) Robyn tells him that the man he's following is wrong. He shouldn't be following orders from him. 

 

All four of the main characters get locked up at some point, and they all break free on their own, and sometimes with a little help. Moll is locked up for most of the movie. She breaks out of her muzzle to protect her daughter. Then Robyn releases her from the rest of her chains. Mebh breaks a cage to help her mother. Robyn herself locked Mebh in that cage, trying to keep her safe. Just as her father was keeping her in a symbolic cage, to keep her safe. When Robyn takes down her hair, it's the symbol of her breaking free from the rules and restrictions of society. And when her father still tries to hold her back, she escapes as a wolf. Bill gets chained up too. His wolf form breaks free to save his daughter. So in the end, all of them break free to protect those they care about. (Even Merlyn spends time in a cage, but then Robyn sets him free too).

The scene on the stage, and just after, break Bill down in a lot of ways. Shortly after Moll escapes, he finds out that he's tried to kill his daughter several times. Then she leaves him to try to fix the problems he helped create. He's utterly crushed, probably fearing he's lost her forever (let's not forget that the Lord Protector rides up and sees him on the ground, holding his daughter who looks kind of dead. And the first thing he does is to chain him up. He chains up a father holding his dead-looking daughter. What a monster). 

As Moll's spirit passes through the wall of vines, the vines shrivel up and die. Then the soldiers have no trouble finding the den. 

That final battle brings Bill closer and closer to becoming a wolf. His transformation is a lot faster than Robyn's, since Mebh had partially healed Robyn. When the cannon explodes, Bill uses himself to shield Robyn from the blast. But he can't protect her wolf half. When he can't pull free of his chains, he becomes a wolf and finally turns against the man who had been causing them so much pain. 

It's hard to tell if he was actually trying to kill the Lord Protector, but he's certainly not bothered when it happens 

(Heheh. When Robyn hugs him, I can just picture her saying, "Dad, don't lick me!")

Once Moll is healed, it hits Bill all over again about what he's done. He hurt all of them. He tried to chain up Mebh, he almost killed Moll, and he never listened to Robyn when she tried to tell him about the wolfwalkers. Plus he nearly killed Robyn several times. 

Jeez, poor guy. 

Luckily Moll is forgiving, Just as Mebh forgave Robyn. 

It looks like despite everything, they get along well. They earned a peaceful home. And it looks like they even take the Lord Protector's horse with them!