My Father's Dragon

"8/10 — fantastic animation, nothing like the book, interesting reimagined story line"

"It’s a cutesy movie to watch for children. I preferred the books better as a kid."

"I'm not sure why this release went so overlooked considering it's from Cartoon Saloon, the people who made the critically acclaimed Wolfwalkers! I honestly enjoyed this one better! Gorgeous animation and backgrounds, lovable characters, nice voice acting, laughs and tears... All tied together with a great message of not giving in to your negative feelings! Quickly became a favorite, and maybe even a comfort, of mine."

"Netflix family fantasy animation movie from Cartoon Saloon, the makers of The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, and Wolfwalkers, based on the classic children's novels. The art looks like it comes from a storybook. The storyboarding, direction, writing, and acting are all great. This is the story of a boy who leaves home to save a dragon for financial gain amidst an economic crisis. His hometown becomes a ghost town, and he and his mother are forced to move to the city. While there, stress mounts upon the usually kind and loving mother, resulting in her accidentally revealing how dire their situation is during an uncharacteristic outburst. He leaves home to find the dragon under fantastic circumstances, and finds that he's been tethered to the earth of an island that's inhabited only by talking animals and that's sinking into the ocean. The sinking is an effective metaphor for financial hardship. Individual nuances of the story relate to Elmer's home life and the experience of struggling in poverty, in general. My one minor complaint is that the story wraps up a little too neatly after the climax. Every Cartoon Saloon film I've seen has had the same problem of having a very narrow effective target demographic. The stories, including this one, are usually very serious, only occasionally being punctuated with jokes, and allegorical in a way that prevents them from appealing heavily to small children. However, the art and story elements (a dragon and a school-age boy, in this case) are clearly geared toward smallish children. I've yet to be able to get my 6-year old to sit through a Cartoon Saloon film, and my teenagers now think they're too old for them. A few years ago, though, they loved Song of the Sea, so, as I said, narrow age range. I thoroughly enjoy them, though. "

"Cute story. I wonder if some elements were lost in translation/animation, but I enjoyed it. The story of a boy who learns how to connect with his mom and realize how hard it is to be responsible. "

"Somehow Cartoon Saloon's movies get better and better production value, not necessarily more beautiful (they're always beautiful) what they do never Ceases to amaze people amd everyone."

"I haven’t seen the movie, but my first grade teacher actually read us the book such a long time ago and every so often I still think about this book when I reminisce about the days before I was mentally ill. I barely remember anything, except for a dragon and a cat and tigers and gum, but I think I liked it."