Hundreds of Beavers

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.

This is probably one of the most creative bits of home brew filmmaking I've seen in quite a while.

Incredibly creative and funny. Wonderful gags from start to finish.

Unfortunately the film's greatest strength can also be its greatest weakness at times.

The choice to have no dialogue is fun, but it denies the opportunity for the film to slow down at any point. This results in the experience being a little exhausting.

Jokes that should be funny whiz by at times, since the brain is so overstimulated.

The non-stop, rapid fire pace can be greatly appreciated in short bursts, but if you hold down the trigger the barrel is going to overheat.

Still, greatly appreciated this movie. Plenty of laugh out loud moments. I have a soft spot in my heart for films like this where it's clear the people involved have a lot of passion and love for movies.

Highly recommend, probably going to check out "Lake Michigan Monster" next.

Cheers!

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 film was excellent for the first half hour. The premise the look of the film, and also the comedic timing was spot on. I commend all of the filmmakers for the do it yourself style.

The only in major issue with it is it's way too long. There isn't a world where this film needed to be two hours long. If it was 80 minutes and a little faster paced in the middle this would have a very higher score.

But the cinematography and the editing was excellent. Wes Anderson would be proud. I'm excited to see what this filmmaker does with his next project which I hope is a little more focused and tight.

Endlessly inventive in the style of a 1920's silent movie, Hundreds of Beavers asks the question, what do you get when you cross Wile E Coyote with Buster Keaton and set him loose in the wilds of a Wisconsin winter? The answer is a damn good time despite - and in some cases because of - the low budget effects and cheap production values.

Blending animation with live footage, the movie is a series of pratfalls, skits and visual gags that could just as easily be tasks in a video game, or else a drunken dream brought on by imbibing too much cider.

Humans wearing animal onesies are a terrific stand-in for anthropomorphized cartoon characters. Similarly, the fact that the over the top violence more often than not results in death also seems more appropriate to the live action genre.

It's unlikely that Disney will come calling anytime soon (unless they discover a market for a pole dancing princess), which means you'll just have to take a chance and discover the charm of this movie's raw, unpolished nature on your own.