In the Irish village of River's End a boy named Keegan (Sam Hardy) is raised by his Grandma (Pauline McLynn) and Grandpa (Pierce Brosnan) and grows up learning of Irish traditions and tails such as the legend of the Megaloceros Giganteus whose dancing keeps the river and life alive and of the lighthouse which keeps the emissary of darkness, The Huntsman (Brendan Gleeson), at bay. When Keegan's grandad passes away, Keegan finds himself soured on the traditions he used to take joy in and becomes depressed. Keegan's friend from Spain, Moya (Hannah Herman Cortes), takes it upon herself to cheer Keegan up, and she takes him to the Megaloceros Giganteus where they meet their king Patrick (Pierce Brosnan) and two others with Penny (Lily Singh) who struggles with Riverdancing, and Benny who's self-conscious about his small antlers and short rotund physique. Keegan, Moya and the Megaloceros Giganteus' engage in dancing, curling, and other activities unaware The Huntsman has made his way to their domain.
Based on the stage show of the same name by Bill Whelan and Donal Lunny, the song Riverdance was first performed as an interval act on the 1994 Eurovision with lead performers Michael Flatley and Jean Butler where it was a rousing success receiving a standing ovation from the 4,000 attendees and spurring expansion to a full length show. The expanded Riverdance: The Show became a massive success and its success lead to performances in New York City and the United States and becoming a stable of the 90s whose legacy endures to this day. The show serves as a showcase for predominantly Irish Folk music and dance as well as some bits of The Russian Dervish, Spanish Flamenco, and even Gospel. Production began in 2016 as a joint UK-Ireland venture with The Riverdance Company including Bull Whelan who returns to do the music with two new original songs. Initially released on Sky Cinema in the UK in May of last year, Riverdance: The Animated Adventure makes its debut internationally on Netflix. While the movie does feature the music and choreography of Riverdance, it doesn't really work all that well with this rather slopy narrative they've wedged it into.
Riverdance primarily being a showcase for Irish dance and music didn't really have any overarching narrative or story to it so it's understandable to a degree the filmmakers would create one, but the movie feels really misguided with its opening death of Keegan's grandad which is treated with the weight it needs for about 20 seconds before immediately transitioning to the song Riverdance and its accompanying choreography, and when I say immediately I mean still in their funeral clothes. There's this really uncomfortable subtext throughout the movie where Keegan is bombarded with all this bouncy exuberance from the community and festivities and it plays really tone deaf in this context because grief at the death of a loved one isn't something you can just "dance away" and the fact that this is all happening seeming mere hours after Grandad's funeral is just really grating. The movie is written by Dave Rosenbaum and Tyler Werrin and co-directed by Rosenbaum who've done production work on a number of Illumination Entertainment films and "mini-movies" and there is definitely a feeling that they're trying to capture that same bouncy aesthetic to the animation and it just doesn't work for something of this tone.
Outside of the ill advised take on loss of a parent/parental figure, the movie has ill advised comic relief and slapstick elements with Lily Singh and Jeramine Fowler as Penny and Benny playing a Megaloceros Giganteus "comedic" duo who obnoxiously spout slang and modern day dialogue in some of the most grating performances I've heard in a recent animated film with some truly cringe worthy lines like "Pull the alarm cuz Penny's on fire" or "O-M-G". We also have a number of creatures such as frogs and sheep who do very minions-esque humor that only provides more excuses for tonal whiplash including multiple fart jokes and a scene where the sheep do the "ball thing" from Critters 2.... I'm not even joking. The one element I thought worked reasonably well was Pierce Brosnan's dual role as Patrick and Grandad which while not executed flawlessly did at least seem like it had a nugget of a good idea, and despite sporting a character design that looks like a mixture of Elmer Fudd and Doctor Robotnik, I rather liked Brenden Gleeson in the role of The Huntsman even if he wasn't used all that well.
I will say the songs and choreography are reasonably well done and they do try to capture the form and energy seen in the show, but with the show being what it is, it often feels like the movie often stops dead just so it can have a dance number from the actual stage show because when the dances are done our main characters of Keegan and Moya often are pushed to the background while it happens and it's basically a dead stop in the story until the dance ends. The story is also pretty thin because the major source of conflict is resolved in the hour mark and the movie keeps going for another half hour fifteen minutes of which is made up of credits. If that's not an admission that this movie's not anorexically thin, I don't know what is.
Riverdance: The Animated Adventure takes the largely plotless stage show and painfully adapts it to bouncy slapsticky animation that feels like an Illumination imitation with the Riverdance songs and dances crudely inserted. The movie tackles thematic elements it's not capable of properly addressing, and while the Soundtrack and Choreography of the show are captured in movie, they often feel like tangents from the movie's anemic narrative and stop what little story there is dead in its tracks. If you want to expose your kids to Riverdance just show them one of the stage show recordings, if you want to show them a quality animated film about Irish culture, watch Wolfwalkers, Song of the Sea or Secret of Kells.
