A Town Called Panic (Panique au village)

I hate to start a review with trite expressions, but my face was literally hurting while watching this movie. ¬†I can’t remember the last time I sustained a smile for 75 minutes but I’ll certainly never forget my experience watching A Town Called Panic (Panique au village). From start to finish, there’s more energy in this film than I thought possible. ¬†You do get chances to catch your breath, but just barely. I’ll assume you don’t know anything about this movie because it’s playing in such limited release and is also a Belgian stop-motion animation film made from toys. ¬†Plus it’s in French with English subtitles. ¬†I was a bit concerned that the humor wouldn’t come across in the subtitles but in actuality, I think it kind of helped me enjoy the shit out of this movie. ¬†You’ll get the impression that I have some money invested in this movie over the course of the following paragraphs. ¬†While that is certainly not the case, this is the best movie I’ve seen this year.

A Town Called Panic started as a series of 20 or so cartoons made in the early 2000s. ¬†Basically, Cowboy and Indian live in a home with Mr. Horse and hijinks ensue. ¬†No one has a job and the characters make decisions based on desires with short term returns. ¬†It’s tailor made for the ADD crowd. ¬†So enter the full length feature movie. ¬†There is a legitimate if not schizophrenic story going on here but I won’t go into great detail as the pleasure of watching it unfold and go off the rails is half the enjoyment. ¬† ¬†Cowboy and Indian wake up one day to discover that it’s Mr. Horse’s birthday and realize they’ve forgotten to get him a gift. ¬†They cook up a plan to get Mr. Horse out of the house and begin planning to build a barbecue pit from bricks for Horse. ¬†Unfortunately, a slight mistake in their brick order results in them having far too many and leads to the eventual destruction of their home. ¬†From there it’s a race to rebuild the house before the whole town unravels.

It’s silly and does escalate beyond that but it’s perfectly lovable and quite humorous. ¬†It actually gets uncontrollably humorous at times and I’m sure I missed some jokes because I was laughing so hard.¬† And that’s with me reading the damn dialog! ¬†The film handles this irreverent humor in a way that was actually quite surprising. ¬†I’m not going out on a limb to state that there’s a certain type of humor that comes with animated films. ¬†I think even Fantatic Mr. Fox conveyed a sense that its humor was toned down but I didn’t get that same feeling with A Town Called Panic. ¬†I remember early in the film thinking to myself, “this humor could fit into almost any movie let alone a film with a talking toy donkey.” ¬†This isn’t to say the humor is inappropriate but that it’s just different than something you normally get from a “toon.”

So while an insane story and spastic humor were to be expected, what I didn’t anticipate was that the movie actually looked kind of beautiful. ¬†The only trailers I had seen were from the Alamo’s server feed for their pre-show entertainment, which tends to desaturate the colors. ¬†The toys themselves look a little silly, especially in close ups. ¬†But the design, bright colors, and detail of the sets and worlds the characters travel to is actually rather awesome. ¬†Having the visuals helps to build this world and just make it seem real. ¬†Well, as real as a snowball chucking penguin-tank can look. ¬†But I think you get the point- the animation, although crude, is kind of gorgeous in it’s own way.

This is one of those movies where I really can’t fault anything. ¬†I’m sure someone might be put off by the way the story progresses. ¬†But only if you’re an asshole. ¬†And I know a lot of people don’t like subtitles but I have to admit, the way the characters are voiced just sound funny because I can’t understand what they’re saying. ¬†That’s not said to be derogatory to non-English speaking individuals but I would be remiss to not admit I was laughing at how the foreign dialog sounded in this movie. ¬†I’m willing to bet it’s something that plays better here in the states than in the film’s native country of Belgium simply because of that.

I mean this in all sincerity- please go see this movie. ¬†Maybe it doesn’t release in your town. ¬†Find a way to watch it. ¬†If you consider yourself a fan of film at all, this is one of the best experiences I’ve had watching a movie period and I would jump at the chance to go watch it again should it be afforded to me. ¬†I’m sure some of what I’ve written about the film doesn’t make any sense. ¬†A Town Called Panic is one of those movies that I simply can’t¬†explain without showing you something. ¬†So here is the trailer-

Recent posts by Dustin

• SXSW 2012 Reviews: Days 5 and 6 - March 15th, 2012
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