The Secret of Kells didn't win (Up did), but that didn't affect the widespread good reception it received, especially for its stunning visuals. It tells the story of young Brendan, who lives in the Abbey of Kells in Ireland in the early ninth century. His uncle, Abbot Cellach, is overseeing the construction of a gigantic wall to protect the people from invasion by the Northmen, or Vikings. One day, Brendan learns the story of the greatest of the textual illuminators, men whose copying of books surpasses mere transcription and becomes art. Brother Aidan is one such legendary illuminator, originally working at the Abbey of Iona. Aidan soon arrives at Kells, fleeing the Northmen who have taken and burned Iona. His insistence that the people can only run and hide from the invaders, and that the sacred Book he's producing is their only way to have a hope to cling to, clashes with Cellach's faith in his strong walls and gates.
Brendan ventures into the forbidden forest on an errand for Aidan, and encounters dangers as well as Aisling, a forest spirit that shows him some of the secrets of her world. His belief that Aidan is right will set him at odds with his uncle and take a heavy toll.
As mentioned, Kells is a visual masterpiece. The animation is a combination of ancient Celtic art, stylized through a Hanna-Barbera motif and layered with a definite classic storybook feel. The details featured when Brendan begins his own work as an illuminator are absolutely amazing. The stolid Cellach is all plain lines drawn downwards by gravity. Brendan's face shows open joy at the world he explores. Aidan's whimsy brings the lines of his face upward, and his facial design calls to mind George Carlin's rubber mug.
But in spite of this visual excellence, the movie feels empty at its core. The actual Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript of the four gospels and is a national treasure of Ireland, on display at the Trinity University of Dublin. Celtic crosses appear every now and again on some of the buildings, and the men are monks who call each other "brother" or "abbot," but never say what they are monks or abbots of. Aidan tells Brendan that the Book needs to be brought before the people so it can bring them hope, but is unaccountably vague about just what it is in which they are supposed to hope.
Of course, not every work which illustrates the truth of the gospel has a high JPS (Jesus Per Sentence) rating. J.R.R. Tolkien intended The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion to be seen in the context of God's loving creation of the world, but he included no Christian imagery or Christ-analogs. Even in the Bible, the book of Esther never explicitly mentions God. And if Kells was simply the truth of the gospel told slant, then that core would not seem so vacant. But it gives liveliness, solidity and reality to some elements of Irish mythology (Aisling is probably one of the Tuatha De Danann, or ancient fairy-folk of the Irish goddess Danu; Brendan is menaced by the dark god Crom Cruach in the forest) while coloring Christianity as either Cellach's legalism or Aidan's flight in the face of the enemy.
Maybe it's the chauvinism that comes from my miring in traditional Christian theism, but it would seem a narrative centering on a copy of Christian holy works might consider the Christian story as more relevant than the pagan stories which it surmounted and replaced. That misstep leaves The Secret of Kells something that looks wonderful but hasn't much more at its center than froth.
(In an experiment to see what kind of experience just watching the movie with the sound off might bring, I found a lot more room for the gospel story than when the characters were speaking. Don't know if that's an intentional dimension of the movie, but it lifts my opinion of it no little bit)
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