In a world where bears live in a bright little town while mice inhabit a vast underground city and both groups mutually fear and loathe each other, burly big Ernest (voiced by Lambert Wilson) is a street musician and clown struggling on the fringes of bear society. Meanwhile, Celestine (Pauline Brunner) is a smart little mouse and aspiring artist curious about bears despite all the scary stories. One day a starving Ernest finds Celestine asleep in a trash can. However, the quick-thinking rodent talks him out of eating her and sneaks him into a sweetshop instead. The next morning when the bear police arrest Ernest, Celestine springs him out of their police van. Out of gratitude, Ernest helps Celestine in her task collecting a huge sack load of bear teeth that are a prized commodity in mouse society. A friendship blossoms between Ernest and Celestine that unfortunately enrages both the bears above and the mice below.
French and Belgian animation has undergone a welcome revival over the past decade with artists like Sylvain Chomet and Michel Ocelot adding their distinctive voices to the international scene. Having first made an impression with A Town Called Panic (2009) co-directors Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar followed up that wildly surreal and sublime stop-motion effort with Ernest & Celestine, a more traditional two-dimensional outing that conforms to just about every imaginable permutation of the word: lovely. Adapted from a well-regarded series of children’s books created by Belgian author and illustrator Gabrielle Vincent, the plot is remarkably similar in concept to Gisaburo Sugii’s anime fable Stormy Night (2005), only with a mouse and bear instead of a wolf and a goat. As with the Japanese cartoon this tells the story of a friendship that breaks barriers but tackles the theme with greater clarity. It fashions a fairly clever allegory about racial and cultural divisions, satirising the tendency among the upper echelon of society to encourage prejudice among the young.
With wit, poetry and no small amount of visual ingenuity, the film observes how Ernest and Celestine, each of them misfits within their respective worlds, grow to perceive the true co-dependent nature of their existence that the rest of the mice and bears blindly ignore. The splendid ink and watercolour visuals impart a charmingly handmade feel that makes this seem like a storybook come to life. Sweet without being cloying, the feisty characterisations and riotous slapstick humour keep things lively and engaging as the plot takes increasingly dramatic turns without losing its childlike optimism. Driven out by both sides the misfits seek refuge at an idyllic country shack but the law (both rodent and bruin divisions) are hot on their trail, leading to a surprisingly emotional climax. The vocal performances are delightful, with Lambert Wilson - that’s right, the seemingly solemn art-house star of Of Gods and Men (2010) and The Princess of Montpensier (2011) plus (groan) The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - on fine gruff, growly form as Ernest whose clumsy antics may remind cartoon buffs of the old Barney Bear cartoons while Pauline Brunner is adorable as fast-talking bossy-boots Celestine. There is something especially cute about little mice speaking French.
