A kaleidoscope of colour and creativity, The Breadwinner is a melting pot of myth and reality. Tanks sunk in the sand litter the outskirts of Kabul. Dust filters a sickly sun. And in the Taliban-controlled streets no one’s safe, no one’s free. Particularly not a young girl with ideas of her own and the ability to read and write. Telling stories, though, may yet be the key to Parvana’s – and her family’s – survival.

The Breadwinner is the third Oscar-nominated feature from Kilkenny-based studio Cartoon Saloon. It shares the signature warp and weft of their previous films, The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea. The earlier features, rooted in Irish mythology, used art, fable and sinuous storytelling to weave illuminated testaments to the human spirit. Hope-filled, the studio’s films never shy away from the darkness and dangers of life.

When Parvana’s father, a former school teacher who lost a leg in the recent war, is imprisoned by the Taliban, her family faces starvation. Unable to go outside - let alone be served in shops - without a male escort, the family’s food stocks are running low. After being beaten by a teenage zealot, Parvana’s mother, already grieving for the loss of her son, is losing hope. Her elder sister faces a potential marriage with a distant family. And Parvana keeps her infant brother settled with made-up stories about a boy’s quest to defeat the evil Elephant King. What to do?

Cutting her hair and wearing her dead brother’s clothes, Parvana pretends to be a boy – and soon finds that not only is she able to buy food, she can move freely. Meeting Shauzia, another girl-turned-boy, Parvana finds the key to survival: selling her literacy – 'Anything written! Anything read!' – and learning the art of bribery. But with the Taliban net closing in around her, and the sky torn with war planes, time’s running out.

It sounds like a tough watch yet it’s anything but. A loose adaptation of Deborah Ellis’ young adult novel, The Breadwinner comes alive with wonderful artwork and an excellent voice-cast. The fairytale is spun throughout the film with a richly-realised flowering of almost 3-D imagery. While Irish illuminations enriched the earlier films, the luminous intricacy of Persian art seems to have been the source for art directors Reza Riahi and Ciaran Duffy.

There's humour, too, in Parvana’s and Shauzia’s friendship and particularly in how this plays out in the fairytale – the two girls adding and rewinding the adventures together. The Danna Brothers’ score thrums with rhythms and fun when it needs to, eliding into non-western orchestral sounds to evoke threats, thoughts and dangers. Unevenly mixed sound, when the real and fairytale stories interweave and climax, is the only slight misstep.

Director Nora Twomey, a founder of Cartoon Saloon, has acknowledged Pan’s Labyrinth as a touchstone. And it shows: a fairytale mirroring the real world, where the true monsters are human. It’s what the studio does well – treating young people like the emerging adults they are. And with the strong card of superlative animation to 'sugar coat' - Twomey’s words - the effect. Violence is implied thought but seen only once with Parvana’s mother taking a stand, seizing a brandished knife-blade.

Like Studio Ghibli’s films, Cartoon Saloon makes animated movies for intelligent kids and adults. Or at least anyone willing to see the world afresh and how we can make it better. Angelina Jolie, a UN Goodwill Ambassador, who has built schools for girls in Afghanistan, executive produced, lending her company’s clout and a personal insight into Afghan culture.

A primer in Afghan history and the consequences of intolerance, the film’s nevertheless more universal than that. Believably told and with styles of animation that richly rove across the screen, The Breadwinner is a rewarding cinematic experience.

Powerful cinema can come in all shapes and sizes. In recent years there has been a strand of animation that has explored challenging subject matters in distinctive, often dazzling style. From profound poetry that seems to explore the very essences of humanity's place in the world (The Red Turtle) to an effective exploration of the care system through clay animation (My Life as a Courgette) it seems there are no limits to what modern animation can represent. And alongside these recent classics we should place The Breadwinner.

From the production company behind the equally gorgeous The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner tells the story of Pavana, a young girl growing up under the oppressive regime of the Taliban. When her father is arrested and taken from the family she must pose as a boy to support her family.

Nora Twomey's film marks the director as a talent to keep an eye on. Her film is funny, sad, and deeply affecting, rich in the tapestry of the culture she is representing. The animation style consists of hand-drawn characters given a digital gloss against detailed backdrops. It is a striking look, creating images that linger after the film, such as Pavana and a friend wandering through a row of abandoned tanks.

Central to this film is the power of storytelling. We are introduced to an Afghanistan rich in history, built on the foundations of folk lore, which the film further explores in a tangent story, the tale Pavana tells her baby brother. The film climaxes with its narrative threads, including this fairytale, culminating together, in a manner I found not dissimilar to Pan's Labyrinth.

The film boasts beautiful voice work, anchored by a powerful turn from Saara Chaudry in the lead role. All the elements of this film mesh together for a fascinating cinematic experience. The Breadwinner is a film worth seeking out, sitting comfortably alongside the Iranian animated classic Persepolis, even if it lacks some of that film's righteous fury. The subject matter it explores, the impact on day-to-day life of oppressive, institutionalised misogyny, is a necessary one. But it never overwhelms the film, managing to retain a beauty and lightness of touch even in its darkest moments.