“It’s another glorious morning on Puffin Rock.” For parents of small children, Chris O’Dowd’s voice at the beginning of Puffin Rock episodes has the effect of a bell sounding the start of meditation. The animated TV series about a young puffin called Oona and her impossibly cute little brother Baba – “Baba booooo!” – is a soothing, gentle-going delight. It’s routinely included in top 10 lists of shows that parents actually enjoy watching with their kids, and I have to admit it was practically the only thing my daughter watched between the ages of three and five that I could stand to be in the same room as.
Now comes the film, and it’s business as usual. The same exquisite animation by Cartoon Saloon, the Kilkenny-based studio behind equally gorgeous films The Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers. Their house style – so magical, so distinctive – puts them fully in the same league as Studio Ghibli and Pixar. Here, too, they fill every frame with an absolute wonder and joy in nature. O’Dowd is present and correct with his goofy-dad narration, chortling away at his own jokes as he gives a running commentary on the action.
Speaking of action, regulars will be used to the light jeopardy of Puffin Rock, the odd seagull flying menacingly overhead. Be warned: for the movie, the film-makers have upped the ante with a storyline involving the climate emergency as extreme weather events have forced puffins from neighbouring islands to flee to Puffin Rock. Not quite so soothing then. Still, what a low-key pleasure this is, and at the grand age of six-and-a-half, my not-so-little one sat through all 79 minutes. Older kids may protest.
• Puffin Rock and the New Friends is released on 14 July in Irish cinemas and on 11 August in UK cinemas.
