You know that world famous stage show featuring Irish folk dancing and music? The one where the dancers don’t move their bodies above the waist, but their legs do a jig on steroids? Yeah, that is Riverdance.
Now imagine an animated film with giant, magical deer up on their hind legs doing that same dance, and human characters with spindly Jack Skellington legs also breaking out into that familiar Celtic clop. And imagine that animated film breaking into those dance numbers way too many times. That is the new film ‘Riverdance: The Animated Adventure’
It sounds bad on paper, right? I mean, something that’s impressive to see a human do – like, say Moonwalk in 1983, is not so astonishing for an animated character to perform. After all, animated characters can fly and speak and pilot rocket ships. So that’s kinda strike one.
The story does start out on a sweet and emotional note as the cool grandfather of an Irish boy called Keegan, passes away. Keegan feeling in the dumps is joined by his energetic and adventurous friend Moya, also a dancer, who takes him on a journey through a magical land of weird and wondrous stuff, including those aforementioned deer, the leader of which is voiced by Pierce Brosnan. The villain on this route will be The Huntsman, voiced by the always great Brendan Gleeson.
The color palette is attractive and the music is that familiar Riverdance music, which I quite like. But in spite of some positive messaging, I’m afraid most kids will be bored with it. The trip is too trippy, the dance sequences too frequent. The narrative never quite catches fire and without an exceptional character to bring us along, for example Mirabel in Encanto, we fade before the curtain comes down.
