My Father’s Dragon – Simple Yet Enjoyable Animation

My Father’s Dragon is Cartoon Saloon’s newest film and their fifth in total after critically acclaimed gems such as The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner and most recently Wolfwalkers. After moving to a new city with his mother and struggling to make ends meet, a young boy named Elmer (Tremblay) travels to Wild Island in search of a captive dragon named Boris (Matarrazo) and discovers much more than he ever could’ve imagined or hoped for.

Like every Cartoon Saloon film, the animation on display is absolutely gorgeous and stands out in a very unique way especially alongside the work of other prominent animation studios. This might be Cartoon Saloon’s finest looking and most polished film to date with the 2D animation and colorful imagery being a feast for the eyes. On top of every frame looking completely beautiful, it also sounds terrific as well with Mychael and Jeff Danna’s score being another major highlight and elevating already great scenes and moments. This film has a big heart, and it wears it proudly on its sleeve which is always appreciated and welcome in stories about friendship and discovery like this.

The entire voice cast does great work especially Tremblay and Matarrazo as the leads who both give this film their all while turning in very passionate and sweet performances that perfectly fit their characters. The friendship that develops between their characters is very heartfelt and a lot of fun to watch develop over the course of the film. As great as they are, the biggest standout in the cast was McShane who has such a powerful presence using only his distinctive voice as a character that was far more interesting and complex than how he appears at first glance. Also, any movie that features Dianne Wiest voicing a Rhino gets extra points.

The film tells a fairly simple story which is both a blessing and a curse. It’s always nice to see when a family film geared more towards kids tell its story in a straightforward fashion without dumbing it down for them but that being said, it could have been explored far better when it came to its darker themes. There are quite a few different themes that it attempts to explore but it only really scratches the surface for the most part thus missing a big opportunity questioning its lead character’s morals as he continues on his journey. This normally wouldn’t be a problem but compared to the studio’s more mature and layered work, it stands out in a very noticeable way.

At the end of the day, My Father’s Dragon might fall a little short of greatness and may feel a little more simplified compared to Cartoon Saloon’s better offerings, it still delivers a perfectly enjoyable watch with a good central message and endearing characters. It’s certainly geared more towards children and is a bit conventional but is nevertheless one of the finer animated films of the year and one that viewers of all ages can get something out of.

still courtesy of Netflix

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/