HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS
Starring: Olivia Graves, Doug Mancheski, Luis Rico, Wes Tank, and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews
Director: Mike Cheslick
QUENTIN
Hundreds of Beavers succeeds at everything it sets out to do in creating a live-action cartoon. The gags come a mile-a-minute, and the silent movie slapstick approach will certainly elicit some giggles. It genuinely feels like Charlie Chaplin meets Wile E. Coyote. The thing is… there is a reason that most of Chaplin’s “The Tramp” movies and classic Looney Tunes cartoons were rarely longer than 10 minutes. There is little story, and once you’ve acclimated to the dialogue-free vibe, it’s diminishing returns. Beavers‘ runtime is 108 long minutes, so it eventually gets tiresome. However, if broken down into multiple shorts, there is little to complain about.
ADRIANO
You won't find many movies nowadays that do nothing but deliver pure laughter and joy in the way that Hundreds of Beavers does. The movie takes its small budget and simple concept to ludicrous extremes while wearing its influences on its sleeve. There's some Buster Keaton, some Charlie Chaplin, and even some Looney Tunes thrown in there. As a result, the film acts as a live-action cartoon that had me laughing the whole time. I admit that it definitely didn't need to be nearly two hours, but the film never overstayed its welcome, and I never wasn't having fun.
This film was originally reviewed by Quentin as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2023 Fantasia International Film Festival.