Hundreds of Beavers

At the unexpected crossroads of The Revenant, Looney Tunes, Blazing Saddles and Buster Keaton films, the gleefully and endlessly inventive Hundreds of Beavers presents an alternative version of the man vs nature story. Including deadly icicles and conniving beavers.

It might have started as foolish bar talk, but Hundreds of Beavers is proof that you can make a totally wacky adventure movie even when you do not have the money for it. Some savings, a couple of friends in beaver costumes when it is freezing -20 °C, and boundless creativity will get you a long way. Although the title suggests a nature documentary, Mike Cheslik and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews’s passion project is at once a quirky spoof on the au sérieux survival genre, a critique of American colonialism and a zany ode to slapstick cartoons like Looney Toones and Popeye. Radiant with DIY energy and packed with hilarious gags, this black-and-white curio follows a 19th-century applejack salesman who must start over from scratch in a snow-covered landscape. To go from zero to hero, he must, with the help of a mentor Santa and a local merchant, battle a vengeful beaver community gearing up for world domination.