Marrying perfectly judged humour with incessant imagination, ERNEST AND CELESTINE is an absolute joy; a French animation that transcribes Gabrielle Vincent’s wholesome children’s books into an almost faultless 80-minute burst of unabashed delight. First-time filmmaker Benjamin Renner joins forces with the distinguished duo behind that glorious stop-motion oddity A TOWN CALLED PANIC – Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubert – to great effect, bringing together a film that celebrates creativity through its story of a friendship that does battle with seemingly insurmountable odds.

A palatial water-coloured world strung together by a mutual fear of the unknown, ERNEST AND CELESTINE charts the burgeoning alliance between a mouse named Celestine and a bear named Ernest. Curious and impulsive, Celestine is an orphan who constantly questions the foundations of the society in which she lives, a society governed by their combined hatred and anxiety of the bears that live above ground, especially the legendary (and apparently ferocious) ‘Big Bad Bear’. This is in fact Ernest, a gently cantankerous grisly whose perpetual hunger leads him into the bad books of the police in the nearby town. Through a handful of charming convolutions, the titular protagonists embark on a heartfelt, and innocently plutonic, relationship whilst attempting to ward off their respective communities and their unjust prejudices.

…offers further proof that, when done right, animation allows filmmakers the canvas to be as inventive as possible…

Implementing two parallel landscapes, the world depicted here is based on key oppositions; the bears live in a sleepy idyll whereas the mice below have chiselled out a bespoke, resourceful subterranean village constructed by the teeth they daringly steal from the unsuspecting bears and their cubs (whose robust incisors are desirable items). Amidst the strong sense of humour that aims, unlike A TOWN CALLED PANIC, at a more child-friendly audience, Renner, Patar and Aubert tease out the humour within a series of dynamic sequences centred on the physical as well as commodified importance of teeth, which serves as a dark undercurrent to the otherwise light and playful narrative.

Every element is sustained throughout; from the simplistic character design to the nimble grasp of plotting, it offers further proof that, when done right, animation allows filmmakers the canvas to be as inventive as possible, whilst also reminding us all too presciently of the effortless charisma of traditional 2D animation. A triumph of creativity in the face of a climate inundated with staid conventionality, ERNEST AND CELESTINE shines bright.

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