A legionnaire is summoned to Caesar's tent and given a message to deliver to the barbarian camp on the other side of some dense woodland. As the mission is under the white flag of a courier, the legionnaire assumes that this will be a piece of cake and indeed so it is, until he reaches the forest and finds that it is home to a group of bears, the matriarch of which does not like to have her home disturbed or messed up.
This short film is a student project from France and as it starts you feel like you know where you are since this is Asterix country and visually things reminded me of those books. Once we get to the forest though, it becomes more in common with Looney Tunes as the main character tries and tries again to get across the woods, only to be stopped in some way by the bear. If you like these cartoons then there is much to enjoy here as generally you have that quick-fire physical comedy of those great cartoons. At this point I understood the film but then suddenly it changed what it was again and we are in a chase sequence which is pure Hollywood blockbuster, with speeding vehicle (a horse) and a wooden helicopter.
It sounds silly but the delivery of all of it is spot on – even the genre standards of the action movie (the camera angle, the music) is pitched perfectly so the film has you where it needs you – it works so very well that even the rather questionable choice of "squirrels in suicide vests" works. The animation is of a very high standard and is put together very well with music and tone to produce something that looks very professional indeed; in fairness this is often the case with such films from ESMA (I think Electro came from here too), but it is common that the content of the film doesn't live up to the computer animation. Here it is not the case and this short film not only looks great but it has plenty in it that is clever and funny.
This short film is a student project from France and as it starts you feel like you know where you are since this is Asterix country and visually things reminded me of those books. Once we get to the forest though, it becomes more in common with Looney Tunes as the main character tries and tries again to get across the woods, only to be stopped in some way by the bear. If you like these cartoons then there is much to enjoy here as generally you have that quick-fire physical comedy of those great cartoons. At this point I understood the film but then suddenly it changed what it was again and we are in a chase sequence which is pure Hollywood blockbuster, with speeding vehicle (a horse) and a wooden helicopter.
It sounds silly but the delivery of all of it is spot on – even the genre standards of the action movie (the camera angle, the music) is pitched perfectly so the film has you where it needs you – it works so very well that even the rather questionable choice of "squirrels in suicide vests" works. The animation is of a very high standard and is put together very well with music and tone to produce something that looks very professional indeed; in fairness this is often the case with such films from ESMA (I think Electro came from here too), but it is common that the content of the film doesn't live up to the computer animation. Here it is not the case and this short film not only looks great but it has plenty in it that is clever and funny.