The Secret of Kells (not rated)
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Pretty much everyone who's seen it will tell you that the best thing about the movie is the art. And I agree. What I dig most about the animation style is that it kind of put me in mind of Samurai Jack. But of course, this was an Irish/French/Belgian production, and it's set in Ireland in like the 8th century. It's about the Book of Kells, which is... something I'd sort of heard of before, but didn't really know much about. (It's an illuminated manuscript; basically, a Gospel with awesome illustrations.) Of course, the movie takes a great deal of liberty with history, and mixes in Celtic folklore/paganism.

So, there's this kid named Brendan, who I guess is an orphan. He lives with his uncle, Cellach, who is the Abbot of Kells. Brendan spends as much time as he can with a group of monks (who are obviously from all over the world). They spend their time writing, I guess, whereas Cellach spends his time overseeing (and participating in) the construction of a massive wall around the abbey. He wants to protect everyone from the Northmen (Vikings) who have been attacking... pretty much everyplace. So he's obsessed with completing the wall, to the exclusion of all else. Meanwhile, the monks tell Brendan about a famous illuminator (scribe) named Aidan, from the island of Iona, who's been working on the greatest book ever. Then one day, Aidan comes to Kells (he's apparently an old friend of Cellach's, and he's been driven out of Iona after a Viking attack).

Aidan soon starts training Brendan to be an illuminator (against Cellach's wishes). Oh, and he brought with him a cat named Pangur Bán (whose facial expressions are priceless). Aidan told Brendan about some berries he needed to make a special ink. So Brendan and Pangur go out into the forest (which Brendan has always been forbidden to do). He gets lost, and is attacked by big, black, terrifying wolves. But then he meets a white wolf that drives the other wolves away. And then the wolf turns into a young girl, whose name is Aisling. She's actually one of the Fair Folk, apparently the last of her kind. At first she's not happy about Brendan being in her forest, but she soon helps him find the berries, and they become friends. Then Brendan discovers the cave of an ancient evil god, Crom Cruach, and Aisling warns him not to go in, because he could wake it up, the thought of which terrifies her.

Well, a bunch of other stuff happens, which I don't want to spoil. But like I said, the animation is awesome. And the story's pretty decent. There's humor, and lots of genuinely scary bits, sad stuff and happy stuff and inspiring stuff and sweet stuff, and some good music. Um... I could imagine some people disliking the animation and finding the story boring or something, and I'd understand if they did, but... anyway, I liked it. I do kind of wish the movie gave a better sense of just why the book Aidan's working on- which later becomes known as the Book of Kells- is so incredibly important; we're just sort of informed that it's massively important. And in the end we do see some of the illustrations, which are great, but of course there's more to it than that. But it's still a really good movie, with some decent characters. And stuff.