The Secret of Kells was almost one of the first movies I saw at the theater this year. The Secret of Kells was nominated for an Oscar and playing at the nearby Brooklyn Heights Cinema, but seeing it didn’t work out for one reason or another. Once Netflix made it available to instant stream, my desire to see it was renewed.

The animation in The Secret of Kells is beautiful. The colors really pop, especially in HD. But for a long stretch of the movie, I felt like I was just staring at pretty, moving pictures. When it came to the story, I was sitting there thinking “Huh?” for a good part of the movie. Eventually I caught up to what was going on, but more of The Secret of Kells might have been behind me at that point than ahead of me. This would be a fine way for the plot to work if The Secret of Kells was a mystery, but it’s not.

Whenever characters would look at the Book of Kells, their faces would be covered with a golden glow emanating from the book. It only took 15 years, but we now have the answer to what is that damn briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

The Secret of Kells was a bit of a let down. It was okay, but I’m guessing its Oscar nomination was due more to the gorgeous animation and not the so-so, hard to understand story.