What happens when you mixes unique water color visuals, a coherent plot, good voice acting both in English dub and in the original French, and have a an entertaining story representing powerful themes. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you Ernest & Celestine. Original title (Ernest et Célestine)
Before I begin I would like to note that I did a lot of things just to find out there was a DVD release.Sorry to keep you waiting let's begin.
The best place to start this review is the story. The story line of the film is that a mouse and a bear become friends in a society where mice live underground and despise bears, and bear live above ground and treat mice like humans do. Okay, I know that the story sounds pretty silly. But it's not. In fact it very well done. The way they represent that hatred and fear between mice and bears is funny, serious, and the prejudice is tamed enough for children to watch. The key word is enough. This film is not afraid to hold back on a few parts. Besides I'm an American. Where I come from we have tons of sillier, and worse sounding film plots that usually get terrible reviews in the end. The way that Ernest the bear and Celestine the mouse meet and become friends in the end shows us the world they live in and is also very understandable keeping up with the films continuity. The ending itself is very unique and respectful. The film Ernest and Celestine is based on a book with the same title made by Belgian author Gabrielle Vincent. The ending isn't anticlimactic or anything, but it does beg the question of why the film makers couldn't continue afterwards. It's because they wanted to respect the now dead author's way of making the books.
Visually this film looks not shorter than the word outstanding. I believe this is the first 2D animated film to be done in water color, and a bit of Computer animation. Ernest & Celestine's graphics are beautifully well painted. This is one of the few films in history where you can pause the film any time and it will look like a portrait. Anybody who has a DVD like I do can take pictures of the film in HD and make our own portraits of them. However there's one thing that can be criticized. The visuals are not always used that to their maximum potential. What I mean by that is that there are not a few scenes in the film where the visuals are used to open the world were looking at on screen with ease. That may sound like an opinion but if you watch the film you'll see. I should note that if you want to enjoy this film looks to the fullest, I recommended that you by the DVD. If you plan on watching this online and can't find it in High Definition then some of the visuals in the film will come off blurry. Depending on how much you like the film clearly will help you decide if you want to but the DVD.
Lastly the Voice acting is supremely good. I know by now some people might think I'm just over praising this film now, but really these voice overs are amazing. Gkids the translators deserve a big applause for translating this into English voices. Every voice in the film fits perfectly.
Overall Ernest & Celestine is a delight. I'm happy to say waiting for this film was worth it. It's also nice to revisit this film. The best way to describe its re-watch ability is like this. You're being told a story at night time. The characters are your milk, and the visuals are you cookies. By Facts this film deserves a score of 9.5. The majority of people who will watch the film will definitely like it and come back for more. The score for the majority is an 8.7. And here are the other scores. Animation 9.6/10, Story 9.5/10, Characters 10/10, and Pacing 9/10.
Before I begin I would like to note that I did a lot of things just to find out there was a DVD release.Sorry to keep you waiting let's begin.
The best place to start this review is the story. The story line of the film is that a mouse and a bear become friends in a society where mice live underground and despise bears, and bear live above ground and treat mice like humans do. Okay, I know that the story sounds pretty silly. But it's not. In fact it very well done. The way they represent that hatred and fear between mice and bears is funny, serious, and the prejudice is tamed enough for children to watch. The key word is enough. This film is not afraid to hold back on a few parts. Besides I'm an American. Where I come from we have tons of sillier, and worse sounding film plots that usually get terrible reviews in the end. The way that Ernest the bear and Celestine the mouse meet and become friends in the end shows us the world they live in and is also very understandable keeping up with the films continuity. The ending itself is very unique and respectful. The film Ernest and Celestine is based on a book with the same title made by Belgian author Gabrielle Vincent. The ending isn't anticlimactic or anything, but it does beg the question of why the film makers couldn't continue afterwards. It's because they wanted to respect the now dead author's way of making the books.
Visually this film looks not shorter than the word outstanding. I believe this is the first 2D animated film to be done in water color, and a bit of Computer animation. Ernest & Celestine's graphics are beautifully well painted. This is one of the few films in history where you can pause the film any time and it will look like a portrait. Anybody who has a DVD like I do can take pictures of the film in HD and make our own portraits of them. However there's one thing that can be criticized. The visuals are not always used that to their maximum potential. What I mean by that is that there are not a few scenes in the film where the visuals are used to open the world were looking at on screen with ease. That may sound like an opinion but if you watch the film you'll see. I should note that if you want to enjoy this film looks to the fullest, I recommended that you by the DVD. If you plan on watching this online and can't find it in High Definition then some of the visuals in the film will come off blurry. Depending on how much you like the film clearly will help you decide if you want to but the DVD.
Lastly the Voice acting is supremely good. I know by now some people might think I'm just over praising this film now, but really these voice overs are amazing. Gkids the translators deserve a big applause for translating this into English voices. Every voice in the film fits perfectly.
Overall Ernest & Celestine is a delight. I'm happy to say waiting for this film was worth it. It's also nice to revisit this film. The best way to describe its re-watch ability is like this. You're being told a story at night time. The characters are your milk, and the visuals are you cookies. By Facts this film deserves a score of 9.5. The majority of people who will watch the film will definitely like it and come back for more. The score for the majority is an 8.7. And here are the other scores. Animation 9.6/10, Story 9.5/10, Characters 10/10, and Pacing 9/10.