'Hundreds of Beavers' (2024)
A Film Appraisal
IMDb | Wikipedia
Premise: A nineteenth century applejack salesman becomes an expert fur trapper, hunting animals portrayed by people in mascot costumes.
Audience: Teens+
While my taste in escapism is very much on the populist side, my sense of humor is more peculiar, and nothing else I’ve seen from this decade embodies this peculiarity quite like Hundreds of Beavers.
For as hard as this decade’s Weird: The Al Yankovic Story and Quiz Lady made me laugh, Hundreds of Beavers is an unparalleled achievement in absurdist anarchy. An homage to classic slapstick Hollywood — from Buster Keaton to the Looney Tunes — that no Hollywood producer today would touch with a ten-foot pole, and not just because of its cartoony aesthetic composed largely from practical effects!
Its world also features video game functionality (including Zelda homages!) and a crass (at times lewd) edge that classic slapstick Hollywood wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, and not just because classic slapstick Hollywood wouldn't know what a video game is! Said crassness prevents me from giving the film a full A, but boy does so much of this unhinged wackiness steal my heart.
Its humans and beavers even show an affinity for Catholicism! From humans crossing themselves at the deaths of others to beavers collecting crucifixes and leading a funeral procession in priestly robes swinging incense. Heck, it opens with text quoting Saint Augustine: “Lord, make me chaste, but not yet!”
Granted, I wouldn’t say such motifs are depicted exactly piously. Yet, I also think they’re covered in too thick a layer of absurdity to feel exactly malicious, as is the brutality against all the animals. For example, instead of blood splattering everywhere when a beaver gets crushed or its head gets blown off, it’s styrofoam!
As soon as I finished my first viewing, I knew I had to watch this with my best friend. He went into it knowing nothing but a glimpse of the premise, and he was glad he did. His wife also walked in during the finale, which is the most insane place she could have possibly started! She couldn’t help but be impressed by the creativity, though. And then they both thought of people they’d show it to!
There are so many gags jammed into this film that I'd even forgotten a number of them, so this second viewing was partially like watching it again for the first time! It was also the second movie featuring raccoons that had my friend and I asking at times, “Is this a horror movie?” — the first being Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
While this cinematic madness won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s certainly my friends’ and I’s cup of tea, and it’s quickly growing a cult following. A one-of-kind experience that couldn’t have been made by anyone other than a group of indie filmmakers unconcerned with commercial appeal, making it only for the love of it.