Quickcard Review A Town Called Panic

Directed by: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar Cast: Horse, Indian, Cowboy Running Time: 1 hr 15 mins Rating: unrated

COMPLETE COVERAGE – 33rd Portland International Film Festival Country: Belgium

PLOT: This stop-motion animated film tells the story of accidental troublemakers Indian and Cowboy. They order too many bricks for Horse's birthday, and chaos ensues. It's in French with English subtitles.

WHO'S IT FOR? If you're an animation freak, this is a chance to realize sometimes simple is better. The comedy is pretty good as well.

OVERALL

It's crazy and terribly fun. Imagine that Pee Wee Herman made a stop-motion movie. No, I don't mean Paul Reubens. I mean Pee Wee. Imagine he gathered up some of his toys, and just started playing with them, creating a nonsensical plot to go along with it.

Cowboy, Indian, Horse and all the other characters are little toys or objects you would see decorate a train set. The toys don't always match up in size, but that's part of the fun. Cowboy and Indian are the Abbot and Costello of the stop-motion world. Or maybe they're two of the "Three Stooges." When the two order 50 million bricks online (instead of 50), they have to do something with those extra bricks. Somehow this leads to a journey to the center of the Earth, and an alternate underwater universe with some odd kleptomaniac creatures. Horse is there to try and keep them in line, but really he just wants to get to his piano lessons.

This little film (and short as well) is a charmer. The odd animation is something that endears instead of distracts. Just look at the poster. Simply put, it's amazing that this anti-quality animation can get as much out of this subject. I was worried it would be better as a short film (yes, I know this is only 75 minutes, but I mean a technical short film which is shorter than 40 minutes). The longer this goes, the more you start to actually care and root for these characters instead of simply laugh.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10