A vagabond bear and a scampering, little mouse. The tale of “Ernest and Celestine” is a delicate one, if often portrayed in a meandering manner, but as loving this little film may be, it also carries an emotional heft that is often fairly resonant.
Based of a series of picture books by Gabrielle Vincent, “Ernest and Celestine” tells the story of an orphaned mouse whose job it is to collect bear teeth (an optimal replacement once mouse teeth get dull) and a bear who lives on the outskirts of town with ambitions to become an artist.
Ernest, the bear, and Celestine, the mouse, are drawn together through a series of circumstances that involve the mass consumption of chocolate and marshmallows, as well as the robbery of dental store for bears. Ernest and Celestine are then forced to go on the run from police and they end up living together, finding that they make a rather unconventional family.
Stephane Aubier, Benjamin Renner and Vincent Patar, who directed “A Town Called Panic,” animate “Ernest and Celestine” in wonderfully rendered water colors awash in lively pastels. The offered metropolis built out of itsy bitsy pieces collected by mice builds upon their little utopia with resourcefulness.
Often the voice work by the ensemble of actors is dynamic and excellently conceived. The French version offers voices by Lambert Wilson (“Of Gods and Men”) and Pauline Brunner while the American dubbing offers a cast with Forest Whitaker (“Out of the Furnace”) and Mackenzie Foy (“Twilight” series).
The effect of putting two mismatched individuals who have no one else and then gives them a chance with each other, when both their societies have seemingly abandoned them, makes “Ernest and Celestine” so beautifully poignant, though tinged with a touch of the tragic. It’s a story built from the annals of children’s literature that retains an amusing ingenuity throughout.
The little house in the woods is where the bulk of the action takes place, with Ernest and Celestine finding safe refuge from the authorities and discovering that they make for an unconventional family. “Ernest and Celestine” slips into a charming mode of beguiling temperament and feeds upon the notion that children’s entertainment doesn’t need to be so widely frantic. There’s a beautiful simplicity to “Ernest and Celestine,” and when it’s on display, it is truly magic.
