Hundreds of Beavers brings wackadoo cartoon charm to Screenland this Friday
In Hundreds of Beavers, a drunken applejack salesman is thrust into the frozen wilderness after a massive explosion. In attempt to find a way to survive, he crosses paths with St. Nick, and finds himself by extension entering the fur trapping business. In order to win the love of his life, and make a small fortune, our hero will need to dispatch the many beavers living in the frozen woods—before they can take him out.
If that all sounds very Looney Tunes, it really is. This live action/animation hybrid caper brings a degree of zany cartoonishness to the big screen with a scope and scale that the bygone eras it harkens back toward would be wildly jealous of this bastard offspring.
Mike Cheslik (writer/director/editor/VFX) and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews (writer/producer/star) use Hundreds of Beavers to produce a black & white throwback to the silent film era, by way of an Adult Swim infusion of derangement. The exceptionally DIY, self-made indie title takes its hyper-stylized frenetic energy and somehow accomplishes increasingly impossible gags on no budget has a Michel Gondry-esque flair.
That it maintains momentum for a 108 minute runtime is, frankly, nothing short of a miracle.
To say they don’t make them like this anymore is, at minimum, an understatement. If the golden era of early animation or the golden era of early weirdo internet Flash animation/bizarre self-produced YouTube back at its infancy speak to you, this is not to be msised.
The film screens, with filmmakers in attendance, this Friday night at Screenland Armour [408 Armour Rd].
