Ernest and Celestine was released earlier this month on DVD and Blu-ray and is an Academy Award nominated film. It features some great voice talents – Forest Whitaker, Lauren Bacall, Mackenzie Foy, Paul Gimatti, William H. Macy, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, and Jeffrey Wright. Ernest and Celestine is based on the classic Belgian book series by Gabrielle Vincent.
Mice fear bears and bears fear mice, but somehow through the prejudice for one another, Ernest, a bear, and Celestine, a mouse, wield an unbreakable friendship. It’s like a non-romantic Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending. This story takes place in a city located in France with a water-colored world that the bears live in and the mice live under it.
Celestine is raised in an orphanage. Her daily duty is to find teeth and bring to a dentist. The dentist primarily replaces falling out teeth of the adult mice in her city. Prized teeth are those of bears, which are super strong. Celestine ventures above to the city and befriends, Ernest, the bear. She helps him find food and he in return helps her find a bounty of deciduous bear teeth in a storage garage.
They return below where Celestine is praised for her findings and Ernest, in the meantime, has fallen asleep in the orphanage. He wakes up and widespread hysteria among the mice erupts. Ernest is chased out and Celestine is banished for bringing a bear into her world. Ernest is sought above by the bears for breaking into the storage garage for the teeth and stealing a van.
Ernest and Celestine escape to his home where they find refuge. Eventually, the police from both worlds find them and they stand trial for their wrong doings in opposite worlds. Eventually, they manage to convince patrons that mice and bears can be friends.
Ernest and Celestine is rated PG for some scary scenes and has a run time of approximately 80 minutes. Its genre is animation/family. My children needed to take a break and watch Ernest and Celestine in two viewings to complete the movie, but it is cute with showing the importance of equality.
