Until now, the closest thing we’ve had to a live-action Looney Tunes cartoon was Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead and the goofy Clive Owen action-comedy Shoot ’em Up, but all of that has changed with the arrival of Hundreds of Beavers. No film this year has such a continued series of laughs as this brilliant combination of Buster Keaton-style slapstick, Michel Gondry DIY production values, early Chuck Jones animation, and macabre puppet violence by actors in ridiculous animal costumes. Literally like a series of Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner cartoons brought to life, this fur-trapping laugher has already become a cult favorite for its genuinely creative direction in pursuit of sustained juvenile hijinks.
Shot in black & white, this silent movie parody is the work of director Mike Cheslik and co-writer/star Ryland Brickson Cole Tews. Hundreds of Beavers is their follow-up to 2018’s Lake Michigan Monster which had a similar aesthetic. But I would argue they’ve elevated the madcapness to another level, and managed to keep it going for a solid 100 minutes with few drops in quality. I mean, you just never get tired of watching beavers fall into one gonzo trap after another.
We’re introduced to drunken cidery owner Jean Kayak (Tews) via a grandiose, Old Hollywood-style musical prologue, in which the oft-inebriated party animal sees everything he has destroyed by a couple of hungry beavers. Left destitute and without any other means of supporting himself, Kayak is forced to become an outdoorsman so as to not starve. But he’s kind of a moron, and his rudimentary traps only end up with him getting humiliated by the surprisingly wily creatures. There’s a video game RPG-esque quality to Hundreds of Beavers as Tews must gain experience, kill more animals and gather more pelts so as to upgrade his equipment from the local merchant, while also saving enough to win the heart of his sexy daughter (Olivia Graves), who is as good with a butcher knife as she is at flirting with our hero.
Hundreds of Beavers creates its own little comic world for Kayak, where the animals and occasional humans are just the supporting players. For instance, while the Beavers are always a threat, the stupid rabbits always seem to be on the menu, the raccoons take glee in watching Kayak’s frequent near-death encounters, a woodpecker becomes an unwitting ally, and a pack of wolves roam around this movable feast. Kayak finds companionship with another trapper and his rapidly-dwindling team of dogs, and a Native American man who repairs his horse like a mechanic offers friendly tips. It’s never safe to be in Kayak’s orbit, though, whether man or animal.
The film unfolds in a series of hilarious sketches with Kayak pulling out his ACME bag of tricks. The funniest jokes are the most simple; a spinning tree log with a spike impales a Beaver or nearly kills Kayak; Kayak falls in a fishing hole of his own making, or steps bare-footed onto a pinecone that alerts the prey to his presence. The simplicity ramps up as Kayak gets better, with his contraptions becoming so complex they involve multiple facets…which also means more elaborate ways for him to nearly kill himself. These gags come so rapid fire that you barely have time to notice the ones that don’t work. Fortunately, there aren’t many of those.
One of the biggest surprises is that Hundreds of Beavers isn’t a 10-minute-long skit, but a legit feature-length movie that keeps the humor going throughout. Much of the credit for that goes to the insane amount of physical comedy from Tews, and Casey Harris’ light-hearted critter costumes which keep the tone joyful even with so much death happening all around. You won’t find a funnier movie this year than Hundreds of Beavers. The hope is that more people will discover it, and given its availability on streaming and Blu-Ray that should happen. But if you can find a screening near you, this is one you won’t want to let slip away like those pesky Beavers keep trying to do.
