Interesteg What makes it different from others?

Sexylocher Masterful Movie

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

siderite This is a true family animation film, as it has a sweet story, but one that can be enjoyed by adults, a simple animation that doesn't go into weird and complex techniques that confuse the eye but instead focuses on context and characters and a benign kind of plot. That is perhaps because it is based on a series of children's books of the same name published by the Belgian author Gabrielle Vincent.The story is that of two societies that are content to live separately and leave each other alone: bears and mice. However a young mouse is intrigued by the world of bears and befriends one other outcast: Ernest the penniless street artist, while both cultures are trying to punish the transgression.It is not a perfect film. The character of Ernest, while lovable some of the time, it is mostly annoying. Celestine herself is poorly defined as a character, as well. But the flow of the story is smooth and the film fun. I recommend it, especially if you have small children.

richard-1787 I saw this movie last month up in Cleveland, in a movie theater. I very much liked it, with one reservation: I felt that Forest Whittaker's voice was wrong for Ernest, the bear.Now that it's out on DVD and I've had a chance to watch it in the original French, I can see that the voice does, in fact, make a big difference. The French actor who voices Ernest, Lambert Wilson, does not sound at all like Forest Whittaker, and it makes Ernest come off as less gruff. He explains, in his segment of the "Making of" film that is included on the DVD, and which I very highly recommend, that he made a conscious choice not to sound like a "Disney bear" because that was not in accord with Ernest's character and the style of the art. It really does make a big difference. You might try watching at least part of it once in French with English subtitles, to see.The story of this movie is nice, and the last scene is a lot better than just nice, as the halls of an unjust and inhumane justice come tumbling down, and Ernest and Celestine are able to escape the racist prejudices of their respective societies.But the real beauty of this movie is the art. The watercolor style is very original, and at times has a real poetry, especially when Ernest and Celestine pass the winter in his cabin and make art, he music and she drawing.Here, again, you can increase your appreciation of the movie by watching the "Making of" film that accompanies it on the DVD. The movie is based on a series of illustrated children's books by a French author-illustrator who had passed away before the movie was made. You get to see the extent to which they tried to reproduce her watercolor style, but also the things that they added that were new. Two of those things that, of necessity, had to be entirely new, and that play a big role in how you perceive the story, are the way the characters move and the music provided. If you stop to think about it, you never see Winnie the Pooh, or Charlie Brown, or any of the great British or American animated characters move in the children's books and comics that have been turned into successful movies or TV programs. Coming up with a way of having them walk, stretch, etc., that is in keeping with how we already imagine their character is not easy. But the animators have solved that problem perfectly in this movie.The background music is also very important here. Just as the jazzy music in the Peanuts TV programs played a major role in characterizing the characters, so the music here, very original, develops these characters and this story without overwhelming it. Another complete success.I don't know what a small child would get out of all this. Some parts are funny, but I don't know if there's enough action to hold small children. For "children of all ages," however, there is a very beautiful and original movie that is not to be missed.

Mr-Fusion "A storybook come to life" is the best way to put ERNEST AND CELESTINE, a delightful piece of animation candy about friendship and unlikely bonding. A bear and a mouse, both on opposite sides of societal convention, band together as misfits. And to see the two warm to each other is the emotional core of the movie - and really, Celestine (and Mackenzie Foy's performance) is about the sweetest damn thing imaginable.ERNEST AND CELESTINE doesn't run short on heart and magic, and the movie's all the better for it. Gotta hand it to the French to bring to life something this pure and whimsical.7/10

Elliot1976 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.