A short, almost entirely spoiler-free review (because spoiling anything in this film would genuinely be a huge shame) of "Hundreds of Beavers," a 2022 comedy I saw with my girlfriend recently and really really enjoyed.
The most consistently funny, entertaining, creative movie I can think of in recent memory - the last time I enjoyed this film this much was the similarly bombastic, inventive House. Even more than I can't think of any other film truly like House, I can't think of any other film truly like this one.
I couldn't believe that this film managed to keep its consistency over a ludicrous almost two hour running length, and it's worth saying that the film's biggest flaw is that I think it barely scrapes over that line. Some of the gags definitely overstay their welcome, and the adventure game sequence in the last third of the movie especially drags, but it's more than worth holding on for a finale that escalates into truly jawdropping levels of cartoon absurdity.
I have to imagine on a rewatch I'd be more sour to the parts of this movie that feel overstuffed, but what works REALLY works. A lot of feature-length films, especially cartoons, have attempted to be feature-length versions of classic Looney Tunes shorts and have completely flubbed the landing by attempting to slavishly replicate them. There's things you recognize in them, but no understanding of what made them work.
But the love here, for silent comedies and classic cartoons, feels sincere, instead of just shallow parroting. This film can only work because its pacing, creativity, and the increasingly elaborate Rube Goldberg machine of a platoon of Chekhov's guns, manages to feel not just authentic, but fresh. There are just so many novel, inventive sequences in this movie, and as the length goes on, it increasingly takes advantage of just how many things you can set up over a full length film. It feels like a perfect mixture of dumb lowbrow humor and really smart filmmaking.
Not enough credit has gone to the visuals in this film either. They're brilliant. I've seen the film compared to "a feature length version of the AVGN bit where he beats the shit out of Bugs Bunny" and aesthetically those are definitely the vibes. But ultimately it feels like MST3K, where the intentionally "bad" effects were used to sell the humor and increase the charm. There's just no way I can call the way the film blends compositing, hand-drawn art, mascot suits, and even Muppet-style puppets anything but genius. It's a joy to look at and had to have been a real labor of love.
This film is an absolute must-watch and one of my favorite films in recent memory. Highly recommend.
But I do have to knock it for one thing that totally baffled me... how do you manage to have a homophobic joke in a silent film made in 2022, and how do you think that joke is so funny that you end the entire movie on a callback to it? What a weird sour spot to end this movie on.