Glen Weldon, NPR:

Wolfwalkers, from Cartoon Saloon, the production company behind 2009’s The Secret of Kells and 2014’s Song of the Sea, isn’t made for kids. Or at least, not just for kids.

Because there are a lot of other thematic elements jostling for elbow room in this tale of young English girl Robyn (voiced by Honor Kneafsey) and her father (voiced by Sean Bean) trying to make a go of it in the pre-colonial Irish town of Kilkenny.

And:

Layered over the anti-authoritarian theme is an ecological one: The town is growing, and Robyn’s father has been hired by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell (voiced by Simon McBurney) to clear the wolves out of the rapidly vanishing forest nearby. There’s a healthy dose of feminism in the mix, as well: Robyn only wants to help her father hunt, but her status as a young woman gets her consigned to menial scullery duties. You don’t have to scratch the film’s surface terribly hard to find a queer reading, either: Robyn and her father are desperately trying to blend in, but Robyn’s need for freedom (and her drive to point out to her father that his white-knuckle grip on their assigned hierarchical roles is wrong) endangers them both.

The upshot here is that all this is really well handled, a mix that’s compelling, rather than muddled.

Because of the film’s densely packed themes, you can pick and choose which particular “message” you’ll take away from Wolfwalkers. But whichever you pick, the feel of this hauntingly rich visual feast will stay with you much longer.

This seems a perfect movie to watch with the family over the holidays. On Apple TV+ now.