A Town Called Panic

My favourite film at the moment is a hilarious, charming and madcap Belgian stop-motion animation that is a perfect relief from the current stream of serious, gritty thrillers. 

The film follows Cowboy, Indian and Horse (yes, those are their names!). Cowboy and Indian are searching for a present for Horse's birthday and Indian comes up with the idea of a barbecue. But they end up accidentally ordering 50000000000000 bricks. Their house is destroyed, again by accident! The plot thickens and becomes increasingly crazy as the trio go off in search for their (rebuilt) house. They travel to the center of the earth, meet polar bear fighting scientists and discover an underwater universe. I did warn you it was strange!

As crazy as it sounds, it is pulled off brilliantly. It looks amazing: everything is made by hand and the characters are just children's toys. The voices are perfect with the highlight being Steven, the constantly irate farmer who adores his tractor more than his wife Janine. There are so many brilliant visual jokes along with the brilliant script. The film is 75 mins and it never flags or slows. The jokes fly fast and thick, everyone funnier than the last. The film is in French but the subtitles are easy to keep up with, even with the madness on screen. 

Overall, A Town Called Panic is a film which knows that it is stupid and crazy and doesn't care one bit. You can see how much love has been put into this mental rollercoaster ride of a masterpiece.