Voices of Pierce Bronsnan, Sam Hardy, Hannah Herman Cortes, and Lilly Singh
Directed by Dave Rosenbaum and Eamonn Butler
Music and Lyrics by Bill Whelan
Let's celebrate St. Patrick's Day with one of the most Irish of all shows. Riverdance began as an Irish dance routine performed between acts at the Eurovision Song Contest. After it got a standing ovation there, it was expanded into a full-length evening of Irish step dance and song. It toured the world in the late 90's and became a sensation, reviving interest in Irish culture and dance. It even played Broadway in 2000. The CD featuring the music topped the chart in Ireland.
The show was revived for its 25th anniversary in 2020 and did well enough to inspire this animated film. How well does it represent the show? Let's begin with a hand-drawn animated sequence that introduces Keegan (Hardy), his lighthouse keeper grandfather (Bronsnan), and the legend of the Megolocerous Giganteus and find out...
The Story: Keegan is so devastated when his grandfather dies, he can't bring himself to be the DJ for the town's St. Patrick's Day party or even to turn the light on in the lighthouse. This is a grave mistake. The light keeps the Huntsman (Brendan Gleeson) at bay. He hunts the spirit of the Megolocerous, cutting off their horns and letting the river bed dry. The magical deer with their enormous golden horns dance to keep the river flowing. Keegan's Spanish friend Moya (Cortes) teaches her about his Irish heritage and why the deer's dance is so important, while Keegan encourages big Benny (Jermaine Fowler) to try his best in the big hurling game and Moya shows clumsy Penny (Singh) how to find her own dance style.
The Animation: Just as much of a mish-mash as the story. The elk look almost regal, with those enormous majestic horns, but everything around them is done in a more cartoony style. The two don't always blend well, making the elk look silly when they should look commanding, and trying to make the kids look commanding when they're more rubbery. The backgrounds are better, including the river that does flow realistically. There are some nice sequences, including the dance routine in the rain after the funeral, but most of the numbers just aren't integrated that well (including the funeral number).
The Song and Dance: Given what this is based on, "dance" is the operative word here. They do manage to recreate the energy and vivaciousness of the Irish step dance and Moya's flamenco rather well. The two kids have a lot of fun as the ones caught up in the action, and Bronsnan is appropriately warm as Keegan's beloved grandfather and regal as Patrick, the head of the elk.
The Numbers: We kick off with a brief shot of what Granddad and Keegan can do at the lighthouse before launching into our first full number. Moya and the chorus sing "Light In the Wings" before the townspeople do our first major dance routine, looking more than a little odd performing a vivacious step routine in all-black at a funeral. We even get some nifty overhead shots at one point. After they're washed down the river in a storm, Moya shows Keegan how she's able to glide and dance on the water like a mystical creature.
Our first shot of the deer shows them doing a complex Irish step dance in perfect unison, giving us actual Irish step dancing and a good idea of what an animated version of a real Riverdance show would look like. Patrick gets the intricate solo, but Penny falls out of formation. Moya tries to teach Penny flamenco, but it doesn't go well at first. When Keegan closes his eyes, we return to the opening hand-drawn sequence as he imagines his grandfather dancing in his puppet theater and everything he's seen in the river.
After the Huntsman takes Patrick's antlers, the deer and Moya bring small lights. Penny does a lovely slow flamenco routine with hers, showing that the passionate Latin dance is no less beautiful and intricate than the Irish step ones. The film ends with Keegan happily playing DJ for the town party while Moya shows off her Irish and flamenco moves and everyone else celebrates the return of the river and the light.
What I Don't Like: This is cliched to the hilt. You don't really get to know either of the kids very well before they encounter the deer, and they could do more with Keegan's grief before his great adventure. Singh and especially Fowler are out-of-place as annoying comic relief characters, their obvious American accents grating and sticking out like a sore thumb among the real Irish actors in the cast. The hurling sequence goes on for way too long and doesn't really have much to do with the rest of the movie. Some body function jokes are mainly there for the kid audience and seem a bit out of place as well, and the side plots with the frogs and the sheep mainly serve to pad the film's running time.
The Big Finale: If you want to introduce your kids to Riverdance, you're better off looking up the concerts on video or DVD. They'll get far more of an appreciation for Irish dance and culture than they would from this so-so movie.
Home Media: This is a Netflix exclusive in the US.
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