In the oversaturated world of film, breaths of fresh air are few and far between - when they arrive, we have to cherish them. This is what Mike Cheslik's comedy Hundreds of Beavers feels like: a breath of fresh, hilarious, slapstick-ridden air.
A live-action Wile E. Coyote cartoon but with a twist. In Hundreds of Beavers, an applejack salesman named Jean Kayak finds himself in a bizarre winter landscape. His mission? To outsmart hundreds of beavers (or actors in identical mascot-esque beaver costumes) and win the heart of a fur trapper's daughter. The result is a series of vignettes that feel more Hanna-Barbera than live-action, adding a refreshing twist to the film's madcap nature.
Not only is Hundreds of Beavers' premise unique, but its overall aesthetic sets it far apart from its contemporaries. The film is shot in high-contrast black and white to emphasize the winter conditions and its animated influences; the film is a chaotic visual treat that stimulates the senses. It's fast-paced, whacky, and able to fit in several gags a minute. What this reviewer found slightly taxing, personally, was the runtime. There was a reason this type of comedy was typically reserved for shorts in its heyday: it could tread dangerously along the lines of "too much of a good thing." Sight gags like this usually work better in a shorter fashion and feel repetitive in a feature-length setting. Despite this, it's a small flaw that can be overlooked in light of the filmmakers' sheer gumption.
This is a team that had a unique, hare-brained vision and accomplished it with a microbudget. These are the filmmakers we, as cinephiles, should be championing more, for they are the future of this medium. We need to pay attention to what Cheslik and his team do next because it's sure to be groundbreaking and inspiring.
Watch Hundreds of Beavers