I had been waiting almost a year to see Sir Billi, having read lots about it, so when I found out I was going to finally be seeing it tonight, I was overjoyed. With a splendid voice cast, very nice animation and a good representative of independent Scottish animation, in fact being the first ever full-length Scottish animated feature film, I knew this film couldn’t be bad. And I was even more pleased to hear that Tessa Hartmann, the writer-director of the picture, would be visiting and joining us for the screening at Medicinema.
I am so honored to have seen the film before its general release in the UK, which is next week, so I will have to do my best to encourage you to buy this when it comes.
Sir Billi follows the elderly titular character (voiced by Sir Sean Connery) as, along with his friend Gordon the Goat (voiced by Alan Cumming), he attempts to save the last beaver in Scotland from a deranged police officer who is obsessed with catching it.
This being the first animated film of Sean Connery’s career, and his second voiceover role after the entertaining 90s fantasy flick Dragonheart, it is certainly very interesting to see an animated character with Connery’s voice, and it helps to add credibility to what is already a very nicely written animated feature. Although the story perhaps is not as fast-paced as most animated films, I assume due to the fact that it was adapted from a short animation Sir Billi the Vet, it has a very pleasant (and very Scottish) feel from the look of the animation that I simply did not care. The voices are also very well done, with Connery and Cumming acting their roles superbly.
If this is indeed the last film Connery intends to ever make, he has finished on a high note. I have preordered my copy of the DVD from ASDA – I recommend you do the same!
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