The Red Turtle is a powerful contemporary reimagining of a dark and sometimes puzzling fable.
At first blush, the protagonist of Michael Dudok de Wit's new film The Red Turtle may appear to be trapped in a cartoon – he's a castaway stuck on a desert island – but in truth, he inhabits a full animated feature of rich themes and breathtaking imagery. Merely 80 minutes in length and without a word of spoken dialogue, The Red Turtle is a powerful contemporary reimagining of one of those dark and sometimes puzzling fables in which a sailor meets a mermaid or a frog turns into a prince; in this case, the castaway's plan to escape on a raft is thwarted by a giant red turtle. The ensuing story about life and love is made visually compelling by exquisitely crafted animation, much of it drawn in the bold and refreshing ligne claire style pioneered by the Belgian cartoonist (and Tintin creator) Hergé. That counterintuitive contrast with the mysterious, unspoken tale only makes this unusual film all the more intriguing.
Kate Taylor