A charming and heartwarming tale about the unlikely friendship between a bear and a mouse in a world divided by convention, tradition, assumptions and prejudice into two territories - the bears above ground and the mice underground. Painted in bright and cheerful watercolours, the audience followed the pair of "bandits" in their adventures and encountered the self-righteous, the hypocritical, the mercenary and the conforming members of both races on the way amidst laughter. The portrayal of Céléstine was most adorable as a dreamy coquettish schoolgirl and her attachment to Ernest the street musician was touching. The French are good at engineering happily-ever-after endings minus the dowdy feelings which were made possible by the kind nature of both protagonists and this movie is suitable even for children (unlike most modern remakes of fairy tales). One more note, it is amusing watching two equally biased and opinionated societies blackmouthing each other without realizing their similarities.
Review of Ernest & Celestine
