15 Essential Films You Might've Missed From This Decade (So Far)

2. Song Of The Sea

With the vast majority of animated feature films being made using computer generated imagery these days it's always a pleasant surprise to see a film firmly rooted in the tradition of hand-drawn cel animation. It doesn't hurt that Song Of The Sea is certainly one of the best looking of its kind in recent years. Produced by Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon and directed by Tom "The Secret Of Kells" Moore, Song Of The Sea takes an ancient Celtic myth and transforms it into an effortlessly fluid, absolutely gorgeous-looking animated feature which appeals to all ages, possessing an ethereal quality not dissimilar to Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. Tom Moore's feature animations have both been nominated for Best Animated Feature awards at the Oscars and both lost out to CGI movies, which is a real shame since these painterly films are every bit as engaging as their computer-generated rivals and traditional cel animation deserves to be cherished and supported as much as possible.