Jean Kayak (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) is a man whose apple cider business is destroyed by beavers. Homeless and hungry, he tries in vain to hunt and eat assorted woodland critters (played by guys in furry suits) for survival. Eventually, he hooks up with a seasoned trapper (Wes Tank) who shows him the ropes of trapping varmints. One night, the trapper is killed by a wolf (another guy in a furry suit) who takes all their beaver pelts back to his cave. It’s then up to our hapless hero to reclaim his furs.
This black and white mix of animation, live action, puppetry, and people running around in basketball mascot costumes reminded me of something you would see late at night back in the day on Night Flight. It sometimes feels like a mash up of a Looney Tunes cartoon, silent movie one-reelers, Cannibal! The Musical, Monty Python, and a Commodore 64 video game… If it was made by a furry.
A little of this goes a long way, but boy, there sure was a LOT of it. I admire the style and the creativity that went into making the film, not to mention the overall weirdness of it all. (The finale inside the beavers’ lair is especially well done.) However, it is something of a chore to watch. It might’ve worked had the movie took a page from its Looney Tunes inspiration and was broken up into ten-minute shorts. (Or if it was… you know… laugh out loud funny.) At a hundred and eight fucking minutes, it is a tough sit to say the least. In fact, at one point, I was sure the movie was wrapping up, only to discover by hitting the “INFO” button on my remote that it wasn’t even halfway over.
Fans of cinematic oddities may enjoy it (if you ever wanted to see a wolf mascot get killed by an icicle made of snot, then this is your movie), but everyone else will want to steer clear.
I wasn't crazy about this one either, definitely don't get all the high scores.
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