A Town Called Panic

Saw this on a plane back from Canada and didn't expect much - just struggling to find something to occupy the time.

How wrong I was. Hilarious, totally surreal, laugh out loud funny (hate to think what the other passengers thought of me). Other reviews link this with the Wallace and Gromit series and in many ways, the inventiveness and off the wall humour are along similar lines. The gloriously cheap stop motion animation is a world away, however - Cowboy and Indian, for instance, even have the little flat stand to hold them up like regular children's toys.

Don't take that as a criticism, however- it just makes the whole thing more endearing. This isn't Avatar - this is more like Morph: forget the budget, it's all in the skill of the film maker to tell a great story that's a laugh a minute and keeps you watching. You may struggle to understand what's going on at times, but who cares?

Hilarious, bizarre, entertaining. The sense of humor is quirky and fresh. However, some of the characters and plot elements are a bit simplistic and it's not a particularly "polished" work. These could easily be conscious choices, as the simple characters and plot are easily twisted to create the film's comedic wackiness, and the choppy animation adds to this atmosphere. But overall the work could appear somewhat amateurish, so I'm not sure it's "good enough cinema" to get more than 8 stars... but on the whole, I was thoroughly entertained! This is a fast-paced animated adventure story not specifically for kids nor specifically for adults, but simply for anyone ready to suspend belief and laugh for an hour and a half. NB: The humor definitely comes off even better if the viewer speaks the original French, and does not have to read the subtitles, but even my friends who don't speak French thought this was very funny.

A Town Called Panic is simply brilliant! It is very simple, and the film consists of Indian, Cowboy, and Horse's misadventures, but the screenplay is clever and very funny. The biggest worry one has when watching a film like this is that maybe after a while the animation style or loose story- telling technique may get one overwhelmed, I know that was my biggest worry. But There was no need! This film was entertaining from the first second to the last, and it is a very energetic film that never once stops. It the equivalent of a child bouncing up and down because he is on a sugar high. If you expect a theme or very story oriented animated film, look elsewhere. This film is all about the one-liners and the wacky situations, but it was still really amazing for a film like this to be this entertaining. Brilliantly well done, and I think it is better than two other similar animated films, Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

This film is unlike the coherent, polished style of other animated films. The stop-motion and narrative are deliberately quite crude, reminding me of a child's improvised play session, and this quality makes the film absolutely unique and memorable. The three characters (Cowboy, Indian and Horse) are quirky, childlike, energetic figures who get tied up in many surreal adventures. You know this film is going to be strange when ordering fifty million bricks is just the introduction!

Imagine a world not unlike Terry Gilliam's Monty Python animations mixed with a dash of Robot Chicken, The Mighty Boosh and finish with the wonder of the mind of a child at its most innocent imaginative play and you are close to the beauty that is 'A Town Called Panic'. Made using stop/start animation using only existing toys it mixes humour and surrealist notions in equal measure. In this world talking horses play piano and fall in love, pigs swim underwater with octopuses and scientists are mental and super strong. The main story centres on the characters Indian, Cowboy and Horse who share not just a house but adventure and after a simple present buying goes bizarrely wrong they embark on a multicoloured toy road trip that will see them visit the centre of the earth, the depths of the ocean and the icy cold of the tundra. Along the way they will meet all manner of beings and get into all manner of situations that are as funny as they are weird. Like a strange mix of Morph, South Park (although for kids it is a PG) and Laurel and Hardy its appeal should reach all age levels and keep young and old thoroughly amused and entertained throughout. An animated classic that's bold, different and magical 'A Town Called Panic' is one crazy place to visit just remember to leave the serious you at the door.