In case you fail to notice during the closing credits of the film, it’s worth noting that this English-language film is the work of Madrid’s ILION Animation Studios—which may well account for the freshness of their work. The film is the inaugural production of the studio, which was a spinoff of Pyro, a computer games manufacturer. This is all the more remarkable as the film in no way feels inspired by (or aimed at leveraging) the games market. Too bad we can’t say the same for many of our mega-budget Hollywood films. I really look forward to more from ILION. I know: it’s European. But really… that’s okay! Most of us used to be, too.

What many viewers may miss is the chance the movie provides for a glimpse into our own not-too-distant cultural past. In cultures that place far less value on leisure that ours does today, children have always represented a blessing styled as “a quiver full of arrows” by the Old Testament—but not because they are merely so many little bundles of joy. For most of human history, that blessing has been very utilitarian in nature: a means to a family’s livelihood, hands to work the fields. And history is rife with examples of parents who have simply run away because they find themselves unable to cope with the pressures of feeding them.