What a fine piece of animation, highly underrated; Showcases the meaning of lifelong friendship and love that can overcome public's prejudice. Really heartwarming tale that can be endearing for kids, yet exhibits a maturity that adults can very much relate to. Highly recommended.

Ernest & Celestine is one of the cutest animated films I've ever seen. Considering that this was based off a series of children books, it doesn't even need to try to be cute; it's adorable to the core. The simplistic story of an orphaned mouse named Celestine who ends up befriending the down on his luck bear Ernest is odd at first, but there's so much genuine warmth in Celestine that it becomes charming and even emotional as the film progresses. Not to mention, they're both relatable in how much they love art, and even if they committed some crimes by accident, they just want to be with each other and display happiness and warmth through art and poetry. Yeah a bear and a mouse living together sounds odd, but if you think about it, it's not so different than an African-American and a Caucasian marrying each other, or gay marriage, or two people of a different religion being friends. It doesn't matter what they look like, what matters is that they're kind souls who just want to make what they love together. Along with gorgeous albeit simple animation, splendid voice acting, and a sweet melodious music score, Ernest & Celestine is an absolutely adorable and sweet film that children should definitely watch to not only get a touch to such charming characters, but to be reminded that it's ok to befriend someone who may seem different as long as they're passionate and well rounded albeit imperfect individuals. You'll have plenty of stories to tell, not unlike Ernest & Celestine.

This was an academy award nominee amongst The Wind Rises, and the overrated Frozen, and unfortunately wasn't available to me around the time of the ceremony. But after watching it, I'm starting to think perhaps I should have a stronger interest in French cinema. For in the movies I've seen thus far from the country, they all have a beautiful complexity, even when a horror film like Martyrs, which perhaps solely comes from being too accustomed to America cinema. Leading to the question: despite an Oscar nomination, is it worth seeing this film?Characters & StoryIn a world segregated between bears and mice, bears living on the surface and mice in the sewers, prejudice is rampant between the two. Mice children are taught bears are ferocious and deadly, while bears see mice as humans do: uninvited greedy little guests. But, despite all this, mice need bears for their teeth are good replacements for theirs. As for bears, well they don't really get anything out of this deal.But teeth are what lead to the main plot of the story as one young artistic orphan named Celestine (Pauline Brunner) finds herself befriending a poor musician named Ernest (Lamber Wilson). And what starts with him trying to eat her turns into them looking out for each other, loving each other, and finding each other to fit their needs. Celestine gives Ernest the love and encouragement he needs, and Celestine receives the sense of family and a home in return. Making their crime filled journey to their own personal bliss quite the tale.PraiseOh where to begin? There is the art style, story, the characters, and the fact it packs such a well-developed story in only a little over an hour. But perhaps what should be highlighted the most is that as cute as the story is between this Celestine and Ernest, it also creates a good learning tool for talking about prejudice with kids, as well as why people in poverty steal, why people panhandle and beg, and the importance of social services. For in the movie, often times there are examples of how prejudice is learned as shown by the stories of how dangerous bears are, and how everyone is pushed to conform into prejudice beliefs over their own perceptions.Which makes Celestine interacting with Ernest a good tool for teaching kids to question what others whisper and say about others. For, using examples from the movie, Celestine was warned her whole life about bears, and yet Ernest became perhaps one of the nicest animals she has ever met. Then, during later scenes, it shows examples of negative peer pressure and how simply following along, and not speaking out, could lead to someone being judged unjustly for something they did, or did not, do. Making, overall, what looks like a simple kid film greatly complex.CriticismHonestly, the only thing worth critiquing is after the "crime spree" of Celestine and Ernest, I was confused how come the ever fearful mice were able to take a bear Ernest's size into custody. Outside of that little issue though, you'd be hard pressed to find something wrong with this.Overall: Worth SeeingComplex animated films, which are kid friendly, are sort of rare. So when films like this come out and can either be seen as simple cute films, or learning tools, they certainly deserve praise. And that is why I'm labeling this as "Worth Seeing."

It's interesting how studios and creative people would assume they know what people want. Disney knows that people want to see fairy tale stories and grand animation making the way for memorable characters and catchy songs. Warner Brothers knows that people want to see really fast animation alongside some good visual gags as perpetrated by unique charters with a lot of heart. Most other studios seem to copy either formula in their own projects. It's not too bad of an idea as long they can make their movies just as original and unique (projects like Despicable Me or Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs).But I'm surprised with how these two formulas are the only ones that studios want to take a chance on. I've already talked about how I miss traditional hand drawn animation in movies today. You could say that children don't watch those kinds of movies anymore. But I ask of you "Why are classics like Snow White, The Looney Toons and Popeye still being watched by modern kids?". It's because they too has great legacies of good characters and memorable situations. There is always room for other options in animation that want something different. That would be one of this years Oscar nominated movies, Ernest and Celestine.In a lot of ways, this is nothing like modern Disney, Pixar, or the other big names. This tells a simpler story about friendship; a bear and a mouse. So in a world where mice live underground while bears walk and talk, living how we would, both sides agree that each species is evil and shouldn't we interacted with. At an orphanage, a young mouse Celestine is more curious about why the mice and rats are afraid of bears. She has a job of collecting bear teeth so that mice dentists can file them down for their fellow rodents to wear.She gets stuck in a garbage can where she is discovered by a starving musician bear, Ernest (played by Forest Whitaker). His first instinct is to eat Celestine, but she quickly scolds him for wanting to do so, confusing him. They make a deal to help each other, but the plan goes amiss and the two hide from the law in Ernest's home in the woods. Most of time is shown them interacting with each other and their skills; Celestine with her obsession with nature and art and Ernest and his spark for music and clowning.As I've said, this is a different offering from most of the other animated movies out. Ernest and Celestine is a much quieter movie about friendship. Though there's the principle tone about prejudice, the situation is simple at best. There's no villain or threatening force looking to destroy them. It's just this bear and mouse interacting and becoming friends. And you know what? That's all you really need with this kind of story. This is a very sweet and likable story that benefits from some really nice animation and two leads that both kids and adults would really like.Celestine may just be a young girl whose no higher then a few inches, but she still manages to be very spunky without being too annoying. It's her curiosity that rubs onto me that makes me want to learn about this world more. Ernest is a grouchy loner, but has plenty of heart that allows himself to absorb a lot of new ideas from this little mouse. The movie looks like one large watercolor painting, really letting the art taking control of the design and story. It looks beautiful. It feels more like something I would get from Winnie the Pooh; is simple but it works really well.I'll give this ten watercolor kits out of ten. Ernest and Celestine isn't exactly the most original story around, but it wins my heart with a very unique look and a gentle tone that anyone can enjoy. It's good old fashioned story telling at it's best. This is an absolute must with families.