As a person who works in animation, I don't tend to watch a lot of animation. I actually have hardly seen the features I worked on. I watched bits and pieces during the production but usually by the time they came out, I was on the next project and to be honest I couldn't bother. I worked on 6 feature productions(not mentioning the countless TV productions) of which 3 were among the most expensive Hollywood productions and 3 were European, so I worked on productions of both "worlds". None had the sincerity and appeal Ernest and Célestine has to me.
I totally missed this one while it was in production and was released(I know, it's pathetic) and only noticed it because it was nominated at the Oscars. I immediately watched video clips and thought WOW. Great art, great animation, appealing characters and the overall look was completely stunning. I knew the French are great when it comes to animation because they were among the best animators on all the Hollywood productions I worked for.
I immediately bought the DVD and was blown away. It's so sincere and endearing that it's refreshing to see this among all the generic stuff that got me tired of watching animation. Being a person who works in the industry it sounds absurd. I completely lost faith that animation still can be good after years of formula productions. I do like Miyasaki but I have to admit, I was never the super fan. It became even more apparent when I tried to watch Ponyo straight after watching this movie.
What I like about Ernest & Célestine is that I keep on watching small bits of it because I just love watching the details, the animation, the situations and everything. It's small things like when Ernest discovers Célestine in the garbage can and first kicks the can to wake her up, then pokes her, her reaction, then it goes on when Ernest tries to eat Célestine, her reaction to that and finally the starving Ernest ending up in the candy store with the scene turning into hilarious slapstick. The whole scene is pure brilliance just like the rest of the movie. It doesn't get any better than this or at least it will be hard to top. This is a must see if you really love animation.
This makes me hopeful that there might be more good stuff to come but until then this will be one of my all time favorite animation features ever.
I totally missed this one while it was in production and was released(I know, it's pathetic) and only noticed it because it was nominated at the Oscars. I immediately watched video clips and thought WOW. Great art, great animation, appealing characters and the overall look was completely stunning. I knew the French are great when it comes to animation because they were among the best animators on all the Hollywood productions I worked for.
I immediately bought the DVD and was blown away. It's so sincere and endearing that it's refreshing to see this among all the generic stuff that got me tired of watching animation. Being a person who works in the industry it sounds absurd. I completely lost faith that animation still can be good after years of formula productions. I do like Miyasaki but I have to admit, I was never the super fan. It became even more apparent when I tried to watch Ponyo straight after watching this movie.
What I like about Ernest & Célestine is that I keep on watching small bits of it because I just love watching the details, the animation, the situations and everything. It's small things like when Ernest discovers Célestine in the garbage can and first kicks the can to wake her up, then pokes her, her reaction, then it goes on when Ernest tries to eat Célestine, her reaction to that and finally the starving Ernest ending up in the candy store with the scene turning into hilarious slapstick. The whole scene is pure brilliance just like the rest of the movie. It doesn't get any better than this or at least it will be hard to top. This is a must see if you really love animation.
This makes me hopeful that there might be more good stuff to come but until then this will be one of my all time favorite animation features ever.