Hundreds of Beavers
| Hundreds of Beavers | |
|---|---|
| File:Hundredsofbeaversposter.jpg Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Mike Cheslik |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Quinn Hester |
| Edited by | Mike Cheslik |
| Music by | Chris Ryan |
Production company | SRH |
Release date | September 29, 2022 (Fantastic Fest) April 15, 2024 (VOD) |
Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $150,000 |
| Box office | $305,190[1][2] |
Hundreds of Beavers is a 2024 American slapstick comedy film directed by Mike Cheslik and written by Cheslik and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews.[3] The film stars Tews as an applejack maker conflicting with beavers to win the hand of a fur trader's daughter.[4][5]
Hundreds of Beavers premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 29, 2022. The film has received widespread acclaim from critics. The film was released Video on demand via Amazon Prime Video & iTunes in April 2024.
Plot
Successful 19th century applejack salesman Jean Kayak has his farm destroyed when a beaver eats one of the support beams of a giant keg, which rolls into his fireplace and explodes. Jean awakens in winter, repeatedly failing to catch food. He finds a group of beavers collecting logs to build a structure and attacks a pair, but is easily beaten by them. He catches fish by making his fingers bleed and using them as lures, and when he sells them to a local merchant, he notices a fur trapper turning an immense profit.
Jean buys a knife with the fish and cuts his shirt into rope. When he realizes the rabbits use a tunnel system, he rigs an exit with the rope and lures them into it, but raccoons eat his catches before he can get to them. He cuts up his pants to hoist the rabbits in the air and out of their reach. Jean catches a raccoon and runs into a Native American, who trades him snowshoes for the knife, and the merchant's daughter skins the raccoon and makes it into clothing for Jean.
Jean breaks his leg when he falls into a pit made by the trapper, who rescues him and takes him on as his protege. Wolves start killing the trapper's dogs, and when the pack attacks in full, the trapper gives Jean his trapping guide before being killed. Jean erases it and starts a new guide as he begins to master the area, finding creative ways to trap the area's animals, selling them to the merchant and trading with the Native for better gear. He and the merchant's daughter develop a mutual attraction, but the merchant demands hundreds of beavers for her hand in marriage. A Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson-esque pair of beavers begin investigating Jean's traps.
Jean realizes the wolves in the area are hoarding a large collection of beaver carcasses. When the detectives report back to the beavers, who have built a massive dam, they send a large squadron after Jean. He lures them into the wolf cave and seals the entrance with icicles, allowing the wolves to slaughter them. He brings the bodies back to the merchant's cabin, only for it to be a cardboard cutout made by the detectives, who take the bodies to be buried.
Jean sneaks into the dam, but is eventually caught and put on trial for his beaver killing. He is found guilty and set to be skinned and made into a coat, the same thing having happened to the trapper. Jean narrowly escapes his restraints and beats up the group trying to kill him. While trying to escape, he notices the beavers building a rocket ship out of one of his kegs. He accidentally pushes a beaver into it, causing it to malfunction and launch in the wrong direction, breaking the dam and creating the Green Bay with the flood.
Jean rolls the bundle of beaver bodies into a snowball, which he rides as the beavers climb on top of each other to form a giant figure and chase him. The Native latches onto the rocket with a grappling arrow and launches it at the beavers, destroying the figure. The snowball stops at the merchant's cabin, and Jean is allowed to marry the daughter.
Cast
- Ryland Brickson Cole Tews as Jean Kayak
- Olivia Graves as The Furrier
- Wes Tank as The Master Fur Trapper
- Doug Mancheski as The Merchant
- Luis Rico as The Indian Fur Trapper
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 63 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Sustaining a zany premise with stylistic bravura and inspired gags, Hundreds of Beavers is a comedic gem that gives a dam."[6] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on nine critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[7]
Dennis Harvey of Variety called the film "a sort of vast homage to comedy traditions past [...including] the Road Runner v. Coyote saga, as well as pre-talkie knockabout humor, frontier parody Cannibal: The Musical, pioneering screen fantasists Georges Melies and Karel Zeman, and so on. On paper, it would hardly be expected to remain funny for eight minutes, let alone 108. But this ingeniously home-made lark never runs out of steam."[4] Nick Schager of The Daily Beast declared the film "a marvel of slapstick invention that in terms of pure unbridled creativity puts most big-screen comedies to shame" and "an overstuffed live-action homage to the golden age of animation that's bursting with ingenuity and personality."[8]
References
- ^ "Hundreds of Beavers (2023)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
- ^ "Hundreds of Beavers (2023)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
- ^ "Synopsis". Hundreds of Beavers. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
- ^ a b Harvey, Dennis (February 17, 2024). "'Hundreds of Beavers' Review: A Singular Live-Action Cartoon of Inspired Slapstick". Variety. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
- ^ Whittaker, Richard (February 23, 2024). "Movie Review: Hundreds of Beavers". Austin Chronicle.
- ^ "Hundreds of Beavers". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
- ^ "Hundreds of Beavers". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
- ^ Schager, Nick (February 27, 2024). "'Hundreds of Beavers' Is a Gonzo, Adult 'Looney Tunes'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved March 5, 2024.