Apparently, there is more than one version of this film available--the original French as well as a new English language dub. I saw the French version with subtitles, so keep this in mind.

In this odd little world, the bears live in cities--just like people. But the only other creature in this odd world are the mice--and they live under the city. The two species avoid each other and the mice are convinced that the bears are all evil. However, one young mouse, Celestine, is convinced that these stories adults tell young mice about the bears are just stories and she's interested in the world above. I'm not going to go into all the details how, but Celestine eventually meets Ernest the bear. Ernest actually IS ready to eat Celestine but doesn't and they eventually become friends. However, in the process of stealing some teeth (it's a long story--just see this portion of the film yourself),they become wanted by both the mouse and bear police--and for upsetting the way society runs. What's to happen next? See the film.

The best thing this film has going for it is that it's sweet and quite adorable. Additionally, the animation is really interesting and unique. While "Frozen" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, "Ernest & Celestine" was also nominated. While most probably wouldn't agree, I think this French film should have won because it was much more innovative and entertaining. A film that's hard to hate...I sure hope we see more from the folks who made this fine movie.

"Ernest et Célestine" is a co-production between France, Belgium and Luxembourg from 2012 that is in the original in the French language (mostly) and at 80 minutes only it is not a long film by any means. This one was nominated for a Best Animated Feature Film Oscar over 5 years ago and while it received a great deal of other awards recognition, this was still a bit surprising because at other really big awards ceremonies it was not necessarily present. But not a bad choice for an Oscar nomination I'd say. I'll get to that maybe later on. At least they managed to make a story where a grown-up man becomes the best friend of a little girl not seem one bit creepy, so they definitely must have done a good job. The animation is certainly a success. You should not expect Pixar or Disney style here obviously, but instead you get a more basic approach, which still required great attention to detail. Well, what can I say. I think 75% of the time I liked both character animation as well as landscapes, houses etc. Or maybe I even loved it there. Especially in terms of the mouse protagonist I really liked it. She is so cute. I believe this film started on a bit of a high that it could not keep until the end or else I maybe would have given another 2 stars. But the scenes at the place where all the little mice are sleeping (is it an orphanage?) were just as sweet as it gets. And the old mouse who reads the stories was just a riot on at least 2 occasions. You will know what I mean when you see it. However, also true about the little mice how they aregue just like kids was really executed with precision and how it all mounts into a big pillow fight.

This was a bit of an introduction also how we see Ernest really hungry and not capable of catching the robins in his house for a meal. He is a bear after all, so no surprise he also intends to eat Célestine at first. But how he mentions her name when talking to her is already a sign that he is fond of her too. You know very well like with Thanksgiving meals, the moment you give it a name is the moment you won't eat it. So a lot that follows afterwards is the two being together then, even if initially after Célestine helps Ernest to break into the sweets store both go their own way again, but quickly they are reunited when she helps his new friend to get out of his cuffs and the police car for what he did before. This is when we find out how teeth are really a valued resource in their world. Or I should say "worlds" because basically the bears live at the top and the mice at the bottom and their paths do not really cross. Well, at least not until Célestine takes Ernest down to her world when he helps her in exchange and gets her so many teeth that she is allowed back into the society of mice after her teeth "harvest" was not really successful before that. We find out that teeth are so important there because they are the basis for being able to create extraordinary constructions for the mice. Okay, I could have done with a better explanation. Also for people who are scared of dentists, it may not be the perfect watch. But in the world of bears, there are references too. The (sort-of) main antagonist family of bears has the mother working as a dentist and the father as a sweet seller, so basically the more he sells, the better for the mother too and this is also why they do not allow their son to eat sweets because they know very well about the consequences and it is sort of an evil scheme, even if it is not referenced later on in the film in detail again. Still, the best scene involving them is probably when early on Célestine shows up at their house. They do like mice as part of stories to tell their boy and act as if it was good if they come and play tooth fairy, but when an actual mouse shows up (i.e. Célestine) then a big mess ensues and they are not happy at all about that.

So yeah, in the second half of the film, both title characters are in a big mess really and they have to flee and end up in a remote house. It almost feels like a Bonnie&Clyde film at that point in a more child-friendly version that obviously lacks romance whatsoever between the two. However, they are caught and taken to court, Ernest to a mouse court and Célestine to a bear court, so basically tables turned somehow. But there big drama happens too because a fire breaks out and both of them manage to save the judge's life and that's why their crimes are forgiven and they are granted one wish and they both say they want to be together with the other once again, so of course a happy ending here. This statement was especially funny when Célestine tells it the big bear judge and he does not understand and she says but he does live with a (female) bear too and then he says exactly that is why he does not understand. That was somewhat hilarious really, a little marriage joke that is one moment where grown-ups will also laugh. And while there is a lot of heart and soul in this film, I still think that maybe younger audiences will enjoy it more than grown-ups. But this does not mean grown-ups shouldn't watch. Not at all. It was very rewarding and I am glad I saw it. There is wonderful attention to detail and really smart and often also touching dialogue writing. Like when Célestine says multiple times that she is a castoff and nobody loves her, that felt so sad and it was sweet to see Ernest comfort her. One thing that surprised me a bit was that while there was this mention of all of Ernest's relatives being lawyers, this was not elaborated on later on despite a lot of courtroom action. Not a criticism or so, just something that comes to mind. So yeah, this film based on comic albums certainly gets a thumbs-up from me. The (surprisingly many) directors did a very good job breathing life into Ernest, Célestine and everybody else really. I am not surprised they also made a television series apparently based on the same material not too long ago. Nice success story and the Oscar nomination is nit undeserving, even if I would not say it is absolutely required either. For that the general story involving teeth at the center was perhaps not good enough. But it's really one of the very best friendship-based films of 2012 I have no doubt. So go see it. With or without your small ones. You will smile a lot here and no problem if you don't speak French. I watched the German dub and it was really good voice acting as well and I am sure same is true for your native language.

I first heard of this film when I was looking up rare animated films right here on IMDb (e.g. 'The Illusionist,' 'My Dog Tulip' and 'The Plague Dogs') and thought the original poster of the titular characters looked sweet so I was pleased when I found that I could watch it instantly online. When I finished watching it, I found it touching yet adorable despite the story having some predictable moments.

The animation style is similar to that of 'My Dog Tulip' (i.e. jerky and flickery in places but still having subtle colours) albeit with characters that are not as sketchy, are well-shaded, have a more detailed watercolour look and are more neatly drawn - likewise with the backgrounds. While the incidental music is rarely used, it has an authentic old-fashioned feel and I liked how parts of Celestine's blue outline winter painting appeared in time with the music. I found the use of subtitles helpful since the dialogue is in French and found some snippets of it hard to decipher but I picked up a few words that I'd remembered from studying the language at school. This film reminded me of other films and TV shows I'd seen such as the original 1990s Madeline series (Celestine's orphanage) 'The BFG (again Celestine's orphanage being reminiscent of Sophie's and Celestine begging Ernest not to eat her being similar to Sophie doing the same to the BFG),' 'Flushed Away' (the underground mouse village) and 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' (the young mice going to the sweet shop after school). I found certain parts of the story predictable such as the rain washing the camouflage paint design off the van, thus leaving a trail of paint for the police to follow when it rolls backwards, and Ernest falling down the cellar during his unicycle juggling trick. I still found the latter predictable part funny as well as Ernest's 'one bear band' songs earlier in the film. There was even a twist on a cliché with a female bear being afraid of Celestine rather than a human woman or an elephant being scared of her and there were some cleverly executed ideas such as Celestine attending the bears' court and Ernest attending the mice court and the fire in the mice court spreading towards the bears' court. I was especially touched when Ernest and Celestine said they wanted to be with each other forever and I liked the happier version of their story at the end. While Celestine is a talented artist who is mostly sweet-natured and innocent throughout, I liked it when Ernest became more caring towards her despite his unfriendly and selfish attitude in the first half.

All in all 'Ernest and Celestine' is yet another rare, independent animated film that was worth the watch and I would love to continue my search for films like this one. 8/10.