My Father’s Dragon is a bit of an unconventional animated fantasy. A little unfocused and maybe underwritten too… but super well-meaning and earnest. I’m just not 100% sure what it all means which might be a flaw in the script or maybe a flaw in my brain.

The film is about <deep breath> a young boy who wants to help his mother with her financial problems. He meets a talking cat who convinces him to take a ride on a talking whale who takes him to a sinking island full of beasts who have captured a dragon who the boy thinks can help him earn money back home but the beasts need to save the island.

I’d say “what is this movie” about… but I’d also say, “whatever this movie’s about, at least it’s about it in an unique way.” Like most children’s animated stories, there’s a moral and, by god, it’s not the exact same trite ethical education that most kid’s movies give. Believe in yourself, trust your friends, etc. That’s all in the movie, but it’s trying to say more.

I’m just not sure what. Maybe it’s an analogy for climate change and suggesting everyone’s got an idea to fix it but most of them are wrong? That can’t be right. Maybe it’s just about a bunch of animals trying to save a floating island and there’s no deeper meaning.

I appreciate the hand-drawn art style and it reminds me I really need to catch up on this studio’s other films. I saw The Secret of Kels but it didn’t impress me so I haven’t seen Wolfwalkers and their other flicks. I should fix that since this was a smart, if curious and confounding little movie.

But mainly it’s simply different from the usual animated average.

Score: 82