'Hundreds of Beavers' is Wonderfully Original if Not Repetitive
For anyone who says there are no original ideas anymore, then I suggest you see this film. Hundreds of Beavers is a slapstick comedy with the imagination of a Monty Python cartoon interlude from Flying Circus mixed with live action. The film is fun. It wasn't as fun as I wanted it to be, but a damn good effort. Hundreds of Beavers is about a guy who's had a little too much to drink, causing him to destroy his house. During a night of binge drinking, Jean Kayak (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) winds up balancing himself on a rolling barrel that collides with his home, causing him to obliterate it.
The concept is as looney as it sounds since the film itself plays as a live-action Looney Tunes. Later, Johnny finds himself at odds with Beavers, Wolves, and the chilling wilderness. There's not a lot of layers to our characters. The movie plays like a series of antics more than a narrative film, which can be a bit tiresome and underwhelming. Especially when it's the fifth time Jean has stubbed his toe on a bear trap or fallen over something. Cartoons are fun. Take it from a light head like me: I love some cartoons. With this movie being a live-action cartoon, you'd think it would be just up my alley. In the beginning, it was. But then it just kept going on and on as I grew increasingly tired.
A movie like this can be one hour and twenty minutes or one hour and thirty minutes at most. One hour and 48 minutes is too much. I love the film's originality, but it needed a little more structure to keep me interested. I know you shouldn't be looking for anything profound in a film called Hundreds of Beavers. I'm just asking for something more than endless sight gags. The film doesn't begin with anything resembling a story until the third act which is an odd choice to me. The title of the film doesn't appear until close to the movie's last thirty minutes. That's a shame since some of the funniest scenes are the ones between Jean and The Furrier (Olivia Graves). Jean develops a crush on The Furrier, who falls in love with him. However, her father, The Merchant (Doug Mancheski), tells Jean he can only wed his daughter if he collects a few hundred beavers. Then the movie cuts to its title when there's hardly any film left.
The press kit for the film says that director Mike Cheslik didn't write a script. That flaw shows, even though the movie is technically marvelous. What really makes this flick work is that there's not a line of dialog spoken. It's all visual storytelling created to look like a black and white 16mm film. It's impressive stuff since it's so wildly original. Yet originality doesn't instantly make your film work. As a movie filled with gags and gimmicks, it's pretty good stuff. However, the movie didn't particularly make me laugh, and I'm into low-brow comedy. I'll always be an unabashed fan of the Jackass series. Here's the thing, though: I think I would have had a much better experience in the theater.
Hundreds of Beavers is a movie meant for a large audience. The film is rowdy, even raunchy sometimes, which I wish it weren't. It was funny enough when it kept things clean. It could be shown with the family then as it's perfect kid's material. Until the Furrier starts ripping the guts out of one Beaver, and Jean goes on a beaver-killing spree. This flick is full of fun, especially since it's close to a silent film if it weren't for the very occasional bits of dialogue. Mike Cheslik has directed something that is impressively original. It's a movie that stylistically plays like a low-budget Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It's visually great stuff. If only it had more structure behind it. Despite its redundancy and absolute lack of a plot for more than half of the picture, Hundreds of Beavers is a stupendous comedy. If you see this film, see it with friends. Not at home in the middle of the night.
