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Nominated for an Oscar out of nowhere in the Best Animated Film category, Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey's Irish fable didn’t stand a chance against a heavy hitter like Pixar's Up, but it deserved the nod. Brendan (Evan McGuire) is a medieval boy monk-in-training at the Kilkenny abbey of Kells headed up by his stern uncle, Abbot Cellach (Brendan Gleeson). Brendan becomes fascinated by Aiden (Mick Lally), a famous manuscript illuminator who was run out of his former home by invading Norsemen. When Aiden needs assistance in completing the holy Book of Kells, he calls upon the plucky kid, who ventures outside the abbey walls and into danger, only to be saved by Aisling (Christen Mooney), a sprite-girl with long silver locks. The story feels a bit cluttered and compact, but the film’s saving grace is its astounding animation. Half-CGI and half-hand drawn, Kells is made to look like an illuminated manuscript (drawing inspiration from the real-life Book); it's saturated with bright colors and full of geometric shapes that leap off the screen just as much as any 3D, computer-generated wonder. —Molly Eichel

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Official Site: thesecretofkells.com

Rating:	No Rating
Director:	Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey
Cast:	Mick Lally, Evan McGuire, Christen Mooney, Brendan Gleeson
Release Date:	March 5, 2010 (NY), March 19, 2010 (Limited), April 2, 2010 (Limited)
Running Time:	75
Distributor:	GKIDS
Producer:	Didier Brunner, Tomm Moore, Viviane Vanfleteren, Paul Young
Genre:	Animation