‘My Brother the Minotaur’ Review: A Mythic Coming-of-Age Adventure
With the help of his loyal human brother, a minotaur recruits a fearless group of friends to uncover the mystery of his past and fulfill his destiny. On Apple TV.
A coming-of-age fantasy adventure that feels deeply indebted to 1980s Amblin fare, My Brother the Minotaur taps into that familiar “kid detectives on a mission” energy to tell a story of mythic proportions through animation. It could easily pass for a tale of suburban American kids stumbling into danger straight out of a Stephen King novel—but here, the outsider at its center is a minotaur navigating puberty and trying to uncover the truth about his origins.
In this latest production from the Irish studio Cartoon Saloon, Lorcan stands apart from other teenagers for one obvious reason: he’s a minotaur, a human body topped with the head of a bull. In practice, that difference isn’t always as dramatic as it sounds, but on the island where he lives, some locals are uneasy about his presence—for reasons that gradually come into focus. There’s also the matter of his supposed tendency toward violent outbursts, which doesn’t exactly help his case.
Haunted by dreams that seem to point to a forgotten past, Lorcan teams up with his inquisitive younger brother Charlie to investigate whether these visions—filled with labyrinths and lurking mythological creatures—hold any truth. He knows he was adopted by his human parents, but beyond that, his past is a blank. Alongside Charlie and two friends, Dana and Harper, he sets off in search of the mythical realm he may have come from, in what plays like a Scooby-Doo-style gang reimagined through a mythological lens.
Cinematically, My Brother the Minotaur is a beautiful, carefully crafted film, made with evident care and affection, and a deep respect for classical adventure storytelling—one that sets it apart from the hyper-kinetic tendencies of much contemporary animation. As they did with The Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers, the team at Cartoon Saloon—this time led by Donal Mangan—draws from Irish mythology and cultural traditions to create animated films that genuinely speak to all ages. And if there happens to be a minotaur in the family, all the better.
