There’s no room for waffling on this movie. You will either love it or absolutely hate it. The creativity of the never ending goofball burlesque fills every frame. This black and white movie doesn’t have dialogue. but it’s anything but silent. Imaginative, inventive whacky fun. Hundreds of Beavers aims to do no more than entertain and it succeeds monumentally.
Writer/Director Mike Cheslik goes all in for slapstick gags. This live action frozen cartoon stars Ryland Brickson Cole Tews (yes, he has 4 names) plays the happy inebriated Applejack maker Jean Kayak who finds himself in Looney Tunes type warfare against his arch enemies the beavers, hundreds of them with big teeth and flat tails.
Cheslik gives the look of the film an old time veneer look, but it us anything but retro. There are well over a thousand FX shots along with variable speeds applied to the action, plus original music and a constant barrage of outrageous sound effects. A cartoon sustains this frantic pace for minutes, but Beavers starts in high gear and keeps its foot on the accelerator for the full run time of 108 minutes.
The Cinematography from Quinn Hester gives the film a unique look by accentuating the blacks against the stark snowy white landscape so there is a noir-esque flavor to the lunacy. For a film with a tiny budget, Cheslik’s goofy, cheap looking costumes and props play a great counterpoint to the crafted special effects along with the physical pratfalls and stunts.
The film opens somewhere in the Great White North (Cheslik is from Milwaukee) with Kayak enjoying imbibing his Applejack to the fullest when disaster strikes, initiated by beavers, and his whole operation goes up in flames.
Destitute, naked and freezing in the snow, Kayak must learn to survive. His attempts at trapping and fishing are utter failures. Slowly, he acquires the tools to hunt (there’s plenty of cartoonish gore) and get rewarded by The Merchant (Doug Mancheski) and his daughter, The Furrier (Olivia Graves) whose virginity is protected by Daddy but she knows just how to tease Kayak with her ribald antics.
The hero’s journey takes Kayak into battle against all sorts of woodland creatures. When Kayak whistles, rabbits, wolves or aggressive woodpeckers coming running to attack. This all leads to the ultimate battle with the beavers themselves, hundreds of them who are costumed actors walking upright dressed in poor-fitting full-body suits with oversized heads. If you’re keeping score of the body count, Cheslik makes it easy by putting x’s over their eyes to let you know an animal has expired.
This is inventive moviemaking at its core, yet it clearly pays homage to comedy history and greats like Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Then add a bunch of Chuck Jones and Wile E. Coyote. There are just too many laughs here to say Hundreds of Beavers isn’t original. Though many might write this off as stupid, adolescent humor, you can’t overlook the artistry and commitment that Cheslik used to craft this unique piece of comedy. It finds the funny bone over and over again.
Filmhub 1 hour 48 minutes NR
In theaters, Streaming on Apple TV+ and Prime Video
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