Riverdance: The Animated Adventure
Film poster
Directed by	Dave Rosenbaum Eamonn Butler
Written by	Dave Rosenbaum Tyler Werrin
Based on	Riverdance
Produced by	Moya Doherty Joel MacDonald Adam Nagle Peter Nagle
Starring	Pierce Brosnan Aisling Bea Brendan Gleeson Pauline McLynn John Kavanagh Lilly Singh
Cinematography	Olaf Skjenna (layout) Adel Abada (lighting)
Edited by	Kevin Pavlovic
Music by	Bill Whelan
Production companies	Aniventure Cinesite River Productions
Distributed by	Sky Cinema (United Kingdom and Ireland) Netflix (United States)
Release dates	28 May 2021 (2021-05-28) (United Kingdom and Ireland) 14 January 2022 (2022-01-14) (United States)
Running time	86 minutes
Countries	Ireland United Kingdom
Language	English

Riverdance: The Animated Adventure is a 2021 animated adventure film inspired by the dance show Riverdance. The film was made by Cinesite for River Productions and Aniventure.

Riverdance: The Animated Adventure was released in the United Kingdom on 28 May 2021, by Sky Cinema,^[1] and was made available to stream on Netflix on 14 January 2022 in the United States.^[2]

Plot

The animated film follows a young Irish boy named Keegan, who’s been at a heart loss after his grandfather - a well-known dancer - had passed away. He and his Spanish friend Moya go on a journey to a magical world to learn about Riverdance as well as the dangers of the evil Huntsman.^[3]

Cast

• Pierce Brosnan as Patrick the Deer and Grandad
• Sam Hardy as Keegan
• Hannah Herman Cortes as Moya
• Lilly Singh as Penny
• Jermaine Fowler as Benny
• Pauline McLynn as Grandma
• John Kavanagh as the Gatekeeper
• Aisling Bea as Margot
• Brendan Gleeson as the Huntsman

Production and release

In 2016, it was announced that Cinesite Studios was aiming to produce nine animated movies across a five year period, one of which included a film about Riverdance.^[4] Cinesite then announced in 2018 that it had secured funding to begin working on a number of films, including Riverdance.^[5]

Production of the film began in February 2020, with an estimated budget of €35 million.^[6]

After the film received funding, Pierce Brosnan, Aisling Bea, Brendan Gleeson,^[7] Pauline McLynn, John Kavanagh and Lilly Singh were announced as joining the cast.^[8] It has Dave Rosenbaum and Eamonn Butler as directors,^[9] with Brosnan to voice both 'Patrick' and 'Grandad'.^[10] According to Deadline Hollywood, Gleeson and Kavanagh are to voice the villains in the film,^[11][12] though Kavanagh was ultimately cast as a benign character.

The film features music by Irish composer, Bill Whelan.^[13] Whelan also served as composer for the original tour of Riverdance in the mid-1990s.^[6] Whelan also composed two original songs for the film's end credits; "Light Me Up", co-written with Irish singer Lyra, and a remix of the trademark Riverdance track. A version of "Lift the Wings" featuring Hannah Herman Cortes, singing in character as Moya, was also recorded.

The film was released exclusively on Sky Cinema in May 2021 and to streaming platform Netflix on 14 January 2022.^[14]

Critical reception

Kevin Courtney of The Irish Times said the actors spoke with good Irish accents. But he worried that the movie only shows Irish people living in perfect villages and dancing all the time. He said the movie is sometimes like a Fáilte Ireland tourism advertisement.^[15]

Dierdre Molumby of Entertainment said this movie is "exhaustingly bad".^[16]