Release Date – 9th July 2024, Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 48 minutes, Director – Mike Cheslik
After the destruction of his applejack brewery, Jean Kayak (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) becomes a fur trapper, however his beaver targets are greater in number, and more difficult to kill, than he thought.
If ever a film were to best represent live-action Looney Tunes Hundreds Of Beavers would be it. The consistent cartoon style breaks out from the animation present in the prologue and spills across the humour which runs throughout the film. Co-writer (alongside director Mike Cheslik) and star Rylan Brickson Cole Tews’ drunken applejack brewer turned fur trapper, after the destruction of his brewery, Jean Kayak stands out amongst his minimal surroundings as often the only none-false thing in frame. Surrounded by false, cartoon-like scenery and visuals, alongside a multitude of towering beavers, rabbits and raccoons – each someone in a costume, a good deal of jokes sprouting from this as they prevent Jean from fulfilling his schemes.
Trying to survive after the loss of his idyllic life the half hour which precedes the opening credits plays out almost as a short film following one man’s struggle for survival in a world where the wind and snow blows in whichever way his fire isn’t covered. From there things escalate and the slapstick nature simply grows and grows. Inspired by the silent comedies of the 20s and 30s, there’s almost no dialogue throughout the black and white proceedings, although plenty of sound effects.
The ultra-low budget nature comes through in the design and feel of the film, and is wound into the world as a whole. Jokes feel, even if unconsciously, more fleshed out because of them – you can see the zippers on the back of the beaver costumes and that somehow just feels natural in the world of the film, especially with how casually our first encounter with an animal is framed.
While only just halfway through 2024, I can confidently say that Hundreds Of Beavers is the maddest film of the year. Something that simply wants to be a very silly film and successfully manages to be just that with a good deal of great gags to go along with it. Jokes which feel quick fire yet have a build-up and occasionally don’t just happen before things move immediately on, particularly in the case of running gags, of which there are a number.
As things reach the hour mark the feeling does arise that some of the jokes we’re seeing begin to feel rather similar in style. The film manages to generally succeed in a feature length where others of this nature may stumble much earlier and be better suited to a short, but the anarchy of Hundreds Of Beavers is enough to see it through the 108-minute run-time, although closer to 90 may be better. Where this is most noticeable is in an extended sequence focusing on Jean’s many attempts to capture a beaver in different locations. While the style of entrapment changes each time the overall basis of the moment doesn’t overly shift and therefore we almost become stuck in a cycle of near-repetition. Where things work best is when the basis of the joke or sequence is switched up.
Luckily, this is the case for much of the final half hour where the madcap ideas truly begin to bounce around again and the beavers become a much bigger problem for the central figure, simply trying to get enough pelts in order to marry the daughter (Olivia Graves) of a disgruntled fur merchant (Doug Mancheski). One chase sequence late in the film in particular has two great visual gags which perfectly fit into the visual style of the film and its silliness and yet still manage to come as something of a surprise in the moment. This is a film where perhaps the best jokes are such gleefully random occurrences.
There are plenty of enjoyable bursts throughout Hundreds Of Beavers and it certainly has lashings of energy to allow it to bounce around the screen like a DVD logo with a dozen energy drinks in its system. While it might dip around the midpoint feeling somewhat static in terms of moving the narrative along or bringing more to it, instead stuck in a cycle of familiar gags, there’s still a good deal of chuckles and giggles to be found. The narrative may be relatively thin, and that’s no problem, but when it’s more linked to the moment at hand there are more laughs to be found as things are on that more quick fire and pacey plain. One thing that remains the case from start to finish is that this is a chaotic comedy that makes the most of its budget. One to be best experienced with an audience, or even just a group of friends.
While there might be a dip around the circling midpoint there’s a good deal of laughs in the moments of Hundreds Of Beavers which help to ever so slightly move things along. An effectively designed visual style helps further bring out the live-action cartoon nature of the slapstick laughs, particularly in the opening and closing stretches.
Just A Little Bit Random 