Review 139
Panique au village (2009)
For some reason, I keep finding myself watching family-friendly films this year. I guess after a particularly stressful semester, I had to resort to child's entertainment to find the necessary love and humour. I mean, seriously, guys, I have never reviewed this many kids films! Regardless, I am here to talk about Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar's Panique au village, or A Town Called Panic in English, although the proper translation should be "Panic in the village". Aubier et Patar lend their voices for Cowboy and Cheval (Horse) respectively, and Bruce Ellison voices Indien (Indian/Native). Now, there also exists an animated television series for Panique au village, but I will focus on the film. I watched an episode from the show, which can be found here (no subtitles, sorry guys), but it really is in the same style, so regardless, you'll get the idea. Onwards!
Cowboy and Indien room with Cheval and after they find out it's Cheval's birthday, they decide to make him a barbeque. But when the delivery goes wrong, the trio are thrown into a bigger mess than anticipated, all while Cheval tries to make it to his piano lesson with Madame Longrée (Jeanne Balibar).
I was already familiar with Aubier and Patar's work given that I had watched Ernest et Célestine with my boyfriend about a year ago. I had enjoyed it, but I can't say it had left an impression considering I barely remember the film... Anyway, I still remembered the film being beautifully animated, and while Panique au village is different in its animation style, it's superb. Oh my god. Guys, I loved this film. Sticking with the discussion of its animation style, I am a big sucker for stop-motion. And to be honest, the style presented was reminiscent of Robot Chicken. While I've never been a fan of the humour of Robot Chicken, I have no beef with the animation. I used to live on Klay World growing up thanks to my cousin, and I guess it could only go up from there. So if you're a sucker for stop-motion animation, Panique au village is one hundred percent your thing.
Now, the film is for kids, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a great laugh with it. I have a feeling once I get my boyfriend to watch this, I'll be yelling, "Cowboy!" much more often. I loved the voice acting which got me laughing each time. Oh my god, Steven, voiced by Benoît Poelvoorde had me dying. There's something about yelling that gets me every time (watch and you'll understand). Anyway, the voice acting was there, it was great. Then the violence was there, but given it's stop-motion, it just gets me so much more. Something about Indien getting thrown in a wall and crashing head-first just made me die. I guess the real-not-real element just makes it real without making the violence too much for little kids. Anyway, the slapstick was there and it was well executed. The plot, going everywhere and nowhere, was interesting, and brought you to different imaginative scenarios, which I really appreciated. It kept me guessing and smiling and laughing. It was just awesome.
Otherwise, what else do I have to say about Panique au village? Not really much else. It was a funny watch, and I highly recommend it for the child in you. I will definitely show my kids this one day. I guess my only issue is that it's very difficult to find online, and I actually only found a French version, which for me wasn't a problem, but makes it unavailable to the anglophones, hispanophones, lusophones, and all the other -phones potentially. However, a quick search seems to produce a subtitled Blu-ray copy available on Amazon in English. But for those who are looking to see if it's their thing, you do have the series available on youtube, although it isn't subtitled. Nonetheless, if you can somehow find a subtitled version - or you speak French (it is pretty basic French) - check it out. I highly, highly recommend it.
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