A lot of animated films in the U.S. tend to have a similar feel about them- you can always count on the tongue-in-cheek tone, the topical references, lately the ironic, self-aware dialogue that sounds as if it's attempting to mimic the way people speak in real life. It gets kind of annoying when you see enough to notice a similar sheen that's spread throughout all of them, no matter what other great qualities the specific movie might have. Homogenization of taste has become more of an issue with the release of these movies in the last decade, so when you see one from overseas, in this case France, it's such a welcome breath of fresh air that all you can do is simply marvel at the uniqueness of style, tone, and character. It's an utter delight to experience.
Ernest & Celestine tells the story of a little girl mouse who lives in a universe only populated by mice and bears, who are mortal enemies of each other. The big bears run the city above ground, while the mice inhabit the world below the sewers, which is another separate universe within the one created in this movie. Celestine is an orphan whose job in the society she's a part of requires stealing teeth from the bear world, so that the mice can prolong their survival by the constant replacement of incisors. Needless to say, she's not very good at this task and her trouble gets her involved with a bear called Ernest, a homeless bum who, like her, doesn't feel an automatic hatred of the other species that each are supposed to feel, and so an odd couple friendship is born that they can both use to their advantage. The friendship between this childlike yet grown-up bear and the mature beyond her years, yet actual child mouse is adorably sweet and loving, and believe it or not, reminiscent of a kind of older man-young girl relationship in other notable French films (specifically, Leon: The Professional and City of Lost Children).
