Upon cozying up to the splendid French-Belgian animated feature Ernest & Célestine, one quickly discerns its unabashed sweetness. In an era when wry cynicism has elbowed its way into most kiddie fare, it's gratifying to discover all-ages animation that never winks or smirks. Ernest & Célestine has a familiar outline, being a tale of fear-mongering societies and the outcasts who rebel against stifling rules. However, co-directors Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, and Benjamin Renner don't permit allegory to muscle its way to the foreground. Ernest & Célestine is foremost a charming bedtime story. Its ambitions are modest, but it fulfills them so completely and endearingly, it's impossible not to smile.
Célestine (Pauline Brunner) is a precocious orphan mouse in a subterranean rodent city, where she and other younglings are taught to avoid the fearsome bears that dwell in the surface world above. One of those bears is Ernest (Lambert Wilson), a down-on-his-luck musician who has recently stirred from hibernation—and is accordingly ravenous. Events eventually bring the mouse and bear together, and after the requisite distrust and quarreling, they establish a loyal friendship. This doesn't sit well with the authorities of either species, and Ernest and Célestine are soon on the run.
Like the marshmallows that Ernest devours with abandon, the film is a morsel of straightforward and delectable pleasure. Ernest & Célestine has an irresistible warm ‘n’ fuzzy appeal, one rooted in a sentimentality that never shades into the saccharine. The film touts the virtues of connection, devotion, and compassion, and manages to wring genuine pathos from a cartoon mouse's tears. Equally essential are the film's visual wit, spry action, and marvelous character animation, all presented with precision and whimsy. While Ernest & Célestine is hardly groundbreaking or profound filmmaking, it's something just as vital: plain old ordinary cinematic delight.
