Cannes. "A Town Called Panic"

By David Hudson on 05/22/2009

[Updated through 5/23]

"And now for something completely different," announces Allan Hunter in Screen. "A blast of freewheeling inventiveness, 'A Town Called Panic' is the feature version of the widely screened television series from Belgian animation duo [Stéphane] Aubier and [Vincent] Patar. Imagine the 'Toy Story' franchise infused with the mischievous sensibility of 'South Park' and crafted in meticulous stop-motion animation and you begin to get the measure of a film that seems tailor-made for cult status."

"There's really very little to say about this film beyond that it's absolutely brilliant," writes Peter Brunette in the Hollywood Reporter. "The main characters are Cowboy, Indian, and Horse, who improbably live together in a town called Panic. They are plastic toys, twisted into impossible positions, which rest on little stands, and it's this fact that provides a great deal of the film's novelty. Various bizarre and even surrealistic things happen to them, as they journey to the center of the earth, get stuck in something that resembles the North Pole, and discover a parallel universe of water that is populated by pointy-headed bad guys who wear diving suits and goggles and look really, really weird."

"Will Horse find true love?" asks Todd Brown at Twitch. "Will Steven fix his tractor? What will it take to stop the underwater pond dwellers from stealing the walls of Cowboy, Indian and Horse's house? Yes, boys and girls, it's the feature version of 'Panique Au Village,' the demented cult Belgian animation sensation. And, yes, it is truly a sight to behold - a very odd sight that will confuse some while leaving others on the floor gasping for breath from laughing so hard."

"[S]ome things work best at 5-10 minutes and out, even as the movie still makes you intermittently laugh your ass off," writes Mike D'Angelo at the AV Club. "I nearly had a hernia during the first ten minutes, then became gradually, slightly disenchanted over the succeeding hour or so.... If you want a sense of what it's like, take a look."

Screening Out of Competition.

Update, 5/23: This "proves you don't need fancy CGI techniques, 3D, or stunt voice casting to make a sparkly little gem," writes Leslie Felperin in Variety. "First half-hour or so is chockfull of good gags spiced with slightly more adult humor, particularly sequence showing Horse's birthday party where everyone gets a little too drunk and merry. Halfway through though, energy starts to flag somewhat, and filmmakers' lack of experience in writing feature-length scripts shows. Nevertheless, pic remains appealing to the end and was particularly warmly received at press screening in Cannes, perhaps for repping such light relief after over a week's worth of heavier, gorier fare."

Coverage of the coverage: Cannes 2009.

[Photo: "A Town Called Panic," Gébéka Films, 2009]

Tags: A Town Called Panic, Belgian Cinema, Cannes 2009