People Are Calling the Irish Animated Movie 'Wolfwalkers' Stunning

There's something to be said for checking in with movies outside of the American blockbuster-driven studio system. While superhero movies can be great, sometimes it's nice to see films where the budgets are smaller, the stakes are less world-ending and everything takes place on a more human scale.

Irish cinema is no exception. If you're looking to tee up marathon of the best Irish movies to watch on St. Patrick's Day (or any other day), try some of these films from the Emerald Isle. Among our list of favorites, you can find movies in every genre. There are sci-fi adventures and scary stories for those who are looking for a thrill. Viewers who want to learn more about Ireland can find plenty of award-winning films that explore its history. If you're looking for a quarantine date idea, there are many yearning love stories. For kids, there are some animated movies and even an old, forgotten Disney flick, brought back thanks to Disney+. And there are plenty of roles for favorite actors like Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Emily Blunt or Saoirse Ronan, some of whom show up multiple times. (Did we miss your favorite Irish film? Let us know what it is in the comments!)

Based on the play Outside Mullingar by John Patrick Shanley, writer/director of Doubt, this film follows the residents of two neighboring Irish farms. Jamie Dornan and Emily Blunt star as childhood neighbors and friends who have to contend what to do with their land as their parents age — and what to do with their complicated feelings for each other, too.

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Made by the acclaimed Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, Wolfwalkers follows an apprentice hunter who joins her father on a journey to Ireland to hunt a wolf pack. Once there, she hears rumors of people who live in the woods and can transform into wolves at night. This movie has a 99% Rotten Tomatoes rating, but it's only available on Apple TV+.

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For something with a little more of a sci-fi bent, Sea Fever takes place on a fishing trawler, where one scientist embeds herself with the crew to study marine life. Little by little, they find evidence of a life form that no one has seen or experienced before.

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In 2019, the highest-grossing Irish movie was this horror flick, from Irish writer/director Lee Cronin. It tells the story of a woman who suspects that her son's been replaced with an imposter, so if you can't get to it for St. Patrick's Day, you can always make it your Mother's Day movie.

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RELATED: The Best Irish Movies on Netflix

This is a dark revenge drama that plays out against the backdrop of the Irish Famine. And, though it takes place in Ireland, many critics say the gritty pulpiness makes it feel more like an American Western.

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Soon to be a Broadway show, this movie is so many crowd-pleasing things at once: It's an underdog story, a coming-of-age-tale and a musical all rolled into one. It takes place in 1980s Ireland, where a young, socially outcast boy decides he wants to start a band to help make friends and — what else? — impress a girl.

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RELATED: The 20 Best Irish Songs

Mary is recently released from prison — just in time to be the maid of honor at her best friend's wedding. When the bride says Mary wouldn't be able to find a date in time, Mary takes it as a challenge and starts a hapless search for love. The movie won an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Irish Film of 2016.

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Saoirse Ronan stars as an Irish immigrant in 1950s New York City, and she has to decide between a life in Brooklyn or her old one back home. (Warning to those feeling homesick: It will make you want to call your family.) The film was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.

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RELATED: 20 St. Patrick's Day Quotes to Celebrate All Things Irish

In this pitch-dark comedy, an Irish priest played by Brendan Gleeson receives a death threat, and he has a week to figure out if it's for real. He spends the next seven days getting his affairs in order, visiting with parishioners who may be evocative of the Seven Deadly Sins.

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This movie made a big splash when, almost out of nowhere, it was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Film Academy Award, alongside Disney's The Princess and the Frog and Pixar's Up. Watch and you'll see why: The delightful tale follows Brendan, a young man in medieval Ireland, who befriends a fairy and heads off on a magical quest to fight evil.

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The setting is pretty much the only thing Irish about this movie, but we'll take any chance we can get to watch Amy Adams on screen. In this movie, she flies to the Emerald Isle to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day, since she heard it was Irish tradition that if a woman proposes on February 29, the man has to accept.

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Colin Farrell plays a fisherman who catches a woman in his nets. His daughter believes that the woman is a mythical selkie. Could she be right?

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From Steve McQueen, director of 2018's Widows and this year's acclaimed Small Axe anthology, comes a movie about a 1981 hunger strike in a prison in Northern Ireland. Not for the faint of heart, star Michael Fassbender looks emaciated in the role, reportedly losing more than 40 pounds for the film.

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A Dublin busker meets up with a Czech immigrant, and they decide to try and write and record an album together. (And with good results — the movie's signature song, "Falling Slowly," won the Oscar for Best Original Song.) This movie is for anyone who's ever been either enamored or enraged by the creative process.

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If you want to learn more about the history of Ireland in the 20th century, Ken Loach's movie takes place during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. It follows the tale of two fictional brothers who are torn apart by the conflict.

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In an early, pre-Atonement role, James McAvoy co-stars as a rebellious wheelchair user who moves into a home for the disabled and starts up an unlikely friendship with a man who has cerebral palsy. Shenanigans (obviously) ensue.

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This is the perfect date movie, in that there's something for everyone. It's part crime thriller, part romance, with a little bit of comedy thrown in. Colin Farrell plays a petty thug who comes up with an idea for a heist, and ropes in some of his friends, including John (Cillian Murphy), who is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend Deirdre (Kelly Macdonald). Watch the credits to hear Farrell sing a cover of "I Fought the Law."

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Acclaimed Irish director Jim Sheridan, who made My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father (booth on this list), directs this semi-autobiographical tale. In it, a family moves from Ireland to a tenement in New York City to pursue the father's dreams of making it as an actor.

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For more of a heavy drama, this film follows the lives of different women who are sent to live in the abusive Magdalene Asylums in the 1960s. The subject matter is rough, but the film rewards the tough sit: The movie has a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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The events of 1972's "Bloody Sunday" shootings in Derry, Ireland are dramatized by Paul Greengrass, director of other in-the-moment, news-based dramas like United 93 and Captain Phillips.

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Based on Frank McCourt's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography, Angela's Ashes is a reverse of Brooklyn — it follows the life of a young boy who is uprooted from New York City and moved to Limerick, Ireland. McCourt's writings also inspired two animated Netflix Christmas movies, Angela's Christmas and Angela's Christmas Wish.

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On a much lighter note, Ned Devine wins the Irish National Lottery — only to die from shock. (We promise, there's comedy here.) The movie follows the rest of his small town as they band together to try and claim and share his winnings, since he had no family to leave it to.

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RELATED: 15 St. Patrick's Day Wreaths That'll Give Your Home Some Good Luck

Liam Neeson stars in the true story of the Irish revolutionary leader who fought against British rule in the early 20th century. At the time of its release, this was the highest-grossing film of all time in Ireland (until it was unseated by Titanic).

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Another based-in-real-life tale, this movie follows Gerry Conlon, a man who was wrongfully accused of carrying out a bombing for the IRA. Conlon spent 15 years in prison for the crime, and the movie — which earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis — follows the courtroom proceedings that attempt to exonerate him.

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In this lighthearted comedy, a 20-year-old Irish woman gets pregnant, and the whole town starts gossiping about who the father of "the snapper" may be. Based on a book by The Commitments' author Roddy Doyle, and directed by The Queen's Stephen Frears, this might be the one you show to your BFF who can't keep her mouth shut.

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Stephen Rea and Miranda Richardson star as Irish terrorists in this twisty, unpredictable sleeper hit that went on to be nominated for seven Academy Awards. The film comes from Irish director Neil Jordan, who also made Ondine and Michael Collins, in case you want to make a double (or triple) feature.

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In yet another movie about a ragtag group of people who try to assemble a band, The Commitments follows a Dubliner who wants to break into soul music. Since its release, this film has achieved a cult status and enduring fame: The characters were featured on a postage stamp in Ireland, and cast members went on to careers in music, forming bands like The Corrs and The Frames.

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If you want a master class in acting, watch Daniel Day-Lewis (yes, again) in this Oscar-winning performance. In the amazing true story, Lewis plays the the real-life Christy Brown, an Irishman with cerebral palsy who taught himself to paint and write with his toes.

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This Walt Disney family classic may not actually be from Ireland, but it takes place in a small town in Ireland where Darby (Albert Sharpe, who is actually from Belfast), tricks leprechauns into giving him three wishes. But are the wishes all they're cracked up to be?

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Another Irish movie made by Americans — including John Wayne and director John Ford, most known for their Westerns — comes a story about an American boxer who returns to his native Ireland and tries to win the hand of a local woman.

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