Hundreds of Beavers

Brilliant concept, and for a while it had some really funny moments. The problem is, an hour and forty eight minutes of slapstick leaves you feeling quite numb at the end. There is a reason why cartoons are short or why Three Stooges shorts are less than 15 minutes. You watch too many of them and the law of diminishing returns rears it's head and you end up tuning out. I found myself looking at my computer and looking up at the TV the last half hour or so. It's a shame because if this was edited a little bit tighter I might consider this for repeated viewing but this one is a "one and done" for me.

A black and white, essentially silent film has never been this much fun, nor has it been crafted with such exuberant adolescent heart, yet Hundreds of Beavers channels all of its ambitious, lo-fi energy into one of the most exhilarating gut-busting films I've seen in quite some time. Scrabbled together with no money, six beaver costumes, and spare time with friends Mike Cheslik creates a Looney-Tunes-level physical comedy romp, enlisting endless sight gags and simple plot mechanics that only get bigger, better, and sillier. The one-note story of an applejack farmer becoming a master beaver hunter gets elevated by revenge, romance, and subtle intelligence, leading to a climax full of payoffs that have been carefully placed throughout its runtime, amplifying Hundreds of Beavers' ability and soul. While the film isn't necessarily an emotional one, I found myself moved, if not for the characters than for the filmmaking. With no studio backing or theatrical distribution, Hundreds of Beavers has nothing to leverage and nothing to sacrifice, it's inherently itself through and through to the very end. Doing so, it soars to such great giddy heights that it's unwaveringly momentous that so much imagination still exists and proves there's still so much more to make, a true testament to the power of visual storytelling.

This is basically a 108 minute Wiley E. Coyote movie about an apple orchard owner who brews his own alcoholic cider. One autumn, beavers decimate his business, leaving him to tough out the long winter without food or shelter.

I knew that premise going in and I was still not prepared for just how Looney Tunes this concept is. It has a very low budget, indie movie quality to it. All the animals are either puppets or just people in mascot costumes, with tons of green screen and simple CGI compositing to make it all work.

And it really does work. This movie knows it's incredibly dumb looking, but it leans into it, nailing the perfect tone of like, cartoon silliness meets silent film accelerated motion.

Yet the movie manages to keep a bit of an edge to it. Despite being very slapstick and Looney Tunes, I would not necessarily say this is a movie for little children. Silly as it may be, this is a story about a man learning to survive on his own in the wilderness, and there are times where it can be a little dark and adult. That's all part of its charm.

I find the whole thing very fun and refreshing, though I'm not entirely sure I'd want more of it than just this one movie. But while it lasts, this is a great movie full of lots of surprises.

Before seeing the movie at the Hamburg Fantasy Filmfest, I wondered how an hour and a half of playtime can be filled with the ideas in the trailer without getting slow or tedious. Now I actually wonder when it was the last time I laughed that much through a whole movie.

While delivering a consistent, smart, reduced and extremely efficient visual syle, the presentation doesn't let your focus away for one second, otherwise you might miss something funny. The way it symbolizes, repeats and develops the events by smart iteration in a limited universe ist ist excellent!

I highly recommend seeing it. Not for small kids.

Not at all horror but I can absolutely see why Terror-Fi festival included it. This is by far the silliest movie I have ever seen, and I mean that as a high compliment. I thought No One Will Save You would be the most wordless movie I would see this year, but I was wrong. There are about 3 actual words uttered in this one. Content warning - Hundreds of animals die in this one but every animal is either a person in a costume or a plushy puppet so you'll be alright. When you first start this very entertaining live action looney tunes movie you will wonder how they can sustain it for a full feature length run time but they absolutely manage it and it's always hilarious and entertaining.