Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Jared Curtis Ernest & Celestine is one of the best animated films I've seen in the past five years. It's art style and character work is absolutely beautiful and charming, and nearly everything it sets to achieve is achieved. This is the classic story of two clashing worlds coming together, but done in a way that is not cheesy; the film doesn't end with the Bears who live above and the Mice who live below coming together and singing "Kumbayah" and everything is hunky-dory, but done in a very realistic, nice way. The first thing I need to say is that this film is very similar to the story and themes of Zootopia, but done in a much quieter, nuanced way, with no punchy pop song to pull tween crowd. The story focuses on Celestine, a little mouse who doesn't believe in her society's mantra that bears are terrible creatures to be feared, and instead has a cautious belief that the can be friends, and Ernest, a poor musician bear who is always in the search of a meal, and is generally a little selfish. Over the course of the film, we see the two begin to work together, but not in the way that films like this usually handle this. We see Celestine already possessing a friendly sympathetic respect for Ernest, while Ernest, though not mean-spirited, only helps Celestine out of convenience, more than compassion (that comes later). The movie really knows how to draw comparisons between it's world's view of prejudice and the real world's view of prejudice without screaming "HA! SEE WHAT WE DID THERE!", and instead flows very naturally. In terms of technical elements, the music of this film is beautiful, and compliments the water colored artwork and lower frame-storybook animation style supremely well, and it's physical slapstick and comedic dialogue carry it well, and the American voice dubbing is fantastic; Forest Whitaker as Ernest is simply brilliant in this film. My biggest gripe with the movie is its ending scene, where the two societies both bring Ernest and Celestine to court to hold them accountable for the "crimes" (Ernest in the mouse world, Celestine in the bear world). Instead of having the people who doubted or were negatively impacted by Celestine and Ernest, such as the Mouse Dentist or the Bear Family be the ones that see the error in their ways, it's simply the judges of the courts, who had not been introduced to the movie before then, to be the ones to realize this, so the impact is less. Even then, it's still handled so well. The two societies don't come together after this (at least, if they are, it's not shown), but they simply let Ernest and Celestine to go off and live together how they'd like to. They don't change the world globally through their actions, they only change it for themselves, which is something I wish a lot more films would do when talking about these types of subjects. Because of these things, this film is a work of art. I would highly recommend this film for young children, as I think it could easily become a modern animated classic, and it's a shame this film isn't more well known. I just watched this film, and I already want to watch it again. 9.0/10

Amari-Sali This was an academy award nominee amongst The Wind Rises, and the overrated Frozen, and unfortunately wasn't available to me around the time of the ceremony. But after watching it, I'm starting to think perhaps I should have a stronger interest in French cinema. For in the movies I've seen thus far from the country, they all have a beautiful complexity, even when a horror film like Martyrs, which perhaps solely comes from being too accustomed to America cinema. Leading to the question: despite an Oscar nomination, is it worth seeing this film?Characters & StoryIn a world segregated between bears and mice, bears living on the surface and mice in the sewers, prejudice is rampant between the two. Mice children are taught bears are ferocious and deadly, while bears see mice as humans do: uninvited greedy little guests. But, despite all this, mice need bears for their teeth are good replacements for theirs. As for bears, well they don't really get anything out of this deal.But teeth are what lead to the main plot of the story as one young artistic orphan named Celestine (Pauline Brunner) finds herself befriending a poor musician named Ernest (Lamber Wilson). And what starts with him trying to eat her turns into them looking out for each other, loving each other, and finding each other to fit their needs. Celestine gives Ernest the love and encouragement he needs, and Celestine receives the sense of family and a home in return. Making their crime filled journey to their own personal bliss quite the tale.PraiseOh where to begin? There is the art style, story, the characters, and the fact it packs such a well-developed story in only a little over an hour. But perhaps what should be highlighted the most is that as cute as the story is between this Celestine and Ernest, it also creates a good learning tool for talking about prejudice with kids, as well as why people in poverty steal, why people panhandle and beg, and the importance of social services. For in the movie, often times there are examples of how prejudice is learned as shown by the stories of how dangerous bears are, and how everyone is pushed to conform into prejudice beliefs over their own perceptions.Which makes Celestine interacting with Ernest a good tool for teaching kids to question what others whisper and say about others. For, using examples from the movie, Celestine was warned her whole life about bears, and yet Ernest became perhaps one of the nicest animals she has ever met. Then, during later scenes, it shows examples of negative peer pressure and how simply following along, and not speaking out, could lead to someone being judged unjustly for something they did, or did not, do. Making, overall, what looks like a simple kid film greatly complex.CriticismHonestly, the only thing worth critiquing is after the "crime spree" of Celestine and Ernest, I was confused how come the ever fearful mice were able to take a bear Ernest's size into custody. Outside of that little issue though, you'd be hard pressed to find something wrong with this.Overall: Worth SeeingComplex animated films, which are kid friendly, are sort of rare. So when films like this come out and can either be seen as simple cute films, or learning tools, they certainly deserve praise. And that is why I'm labeling this as "Worth Seeing."

richard-1787 I saw this movie last month up in Cleveland, in a movie theater. I very much liked it, with one reservation: I felt that Forest Whittaker's voice was wrong for Ernest, the bear.Now that it's out on DVD and I've had a chance to watch it in the original French, I can see that the voice does, in fact, make a big difference. The French actor who voices Ernest, Lambert Wilson, does not sound at all like Forest Whittaker, and it makes Ernest come off as less gruff. He explains, in his segment of the "Making of" film that is included on the DVD, and which I very highly recommend, that he made a conscious choice not to sound like a "Disney bear" because that was not in accord with Ernest's character and the style of the art. It really does make a big difference. You might try watching at least part of it once in French with English subtitles, to see.The story of this movie is nice, and the last scene is a lot better than just nice, as the halls of an unjust and inhumane justice come tumbling down, and Ernest and Celestine are able to escape the racist prejudices of their respective societies.But the real beauty of this movie is the art. The watercolor style is very original, and at times has a real poetry, especially when Ernest and Celestine pass the winter in his cabin and make art, he music and she drawing.Here, again, you can increase your appreciation of the movie by watching the "Making of" film that accompanies it on the DVD. The movie is based on a series of illustrated children's books by a French author-illustrator who had passed away before the movie was made. You get to see the extent to which they tried to reproduce her watercolor style, but also the things that they added that were new. Two of those things that, of necessity, had to be entirely new, and that play a big role in how you perceive the story, are the way the characters move and the music provided. If you stop to think about it, you never see Winnie the Pooh, or Charlie Brown, or any of the great British or American animated characters move in the children's books and comics that have been turned into successful movies or TV programs. Coming up with a way of having them walk, stretch, etc., that is in keeping with how we already imagine their character is not easy. But the animators have solved that problem perfectly in this movie.The background music is also very important here. Just as the jazzy music in the Peanuts TV programs played a major role in characterizing the characters, so the music here, very original, develops these characters and this story without overwhelming it. Another complete success.I don't know what a small child would get out of all this. Some parts are funny, but I don't know if there's enough action to hold small children. For "children of all ages," however, there is a very beautiful and original movie that is not to be missed.

bbickley13-921-58664 I really enjoyed watching this movie. I went into the film thinking it was more for adults, but discovered it has a story that anyone and any age can enjoy, and that's always a sign of a great movie.The movie is based on a children's book that I never herd of in which a Bear who's down on his luck befriends a mouse who's an artist at heart, beating all odds in a world where these two species are separated by fear and miscommunication.I love the animation style which I'm guessing is greatly inspired by the children's book it's based on. I especially loved the design of the mouse, Celestine. Her animation was very cute and they did a good job of making her very mouse-like with her movement and attitude while still making her relatable to humans. This was added by the voice over talent by Mackenzie Foy.I opted to watch the English dubbed version as I feel the authenticity of the dub matters less with animation. Some of you might disagree and I'm sure Lambert Wilson was great as Ernest, but hearing Forest Whitaker bring the poor reclusive bear whom Celestine befriends to life was a highlight.If you need a movie to take your kids to see, you gotta pick this one. It's a film that will put a smile on all of your faces.