A cinematic universe I didn’t expect to see, but I’m glad we got, is that of Ernest and Celestine, based on the Belgian children’s books about the unlikely friendship between a bear (Ernest) and a mouse (Celestine). After 2012’s lovingly animated Ernest & Celestine comes the equally preciously pastel Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia. Like its predecessor, this mostly registers as a gentle, quiet respite from the sort of animated mayhem that has come to dominate feature animation. This is so far away from the aesthetic of the Spider-Verse films (which, for the record, I consider the greater achievements) that they barely seem to belong to the same art form. Both of the Ernest and Celestine films are at their strongest when they stay in this placid lane, yet both do ramp up to an unnecessary degree of action by their climax. Trip to Gibberitia begins as a small conundrum about how the two friends will pay their bills after Ernest wakes up from hibernation to find their food all gone, then expands into a convoluted deep dive into the traumas, familial and otherwise, of Ernest’s youth in the title town. There is pleasure and poignancy in that adventure, even as it grows, but I was content to immerse myself in the seemingly hand-sketched, watercolor-hued opening sections. What I’ll remember most about Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitias is the pillowy tree outside the friends’ window, its loosely leafed branches moving almost imperceptibly, like the ruffling pages of a storybook, in the wind.
(10/20/2023)
