Directed by Vincent Patar & Stéphane Aubier • Animation • 2009 • 75 minutes
Hilarious and frequently surreal, the stop-motion extravaganza A Town Called Panic has endless charms and raucous laughs for children from eight to eighty. Based on the Belgian animated cult TV series (which was released by Wallace & Gromit’s Aardman Studios), Panic stars three plastic toys named Cowboy, Indian and Horse who share a rambling house in a rural town that never fails to attract the weirdest events.
Cowboy and Indian’s plan to gift Horse with a homemade barbeque backfires when they accidentally buy 50 million bricks. Whoops! This sets off a perilously wacky chain of events as the trio travel to the center of the earth, trek across frozen tundra and discover a parallel underwater universe of pointy-headed (and dishonest!) creatures. Each speedy character is voiced—and animated—as if they are filled with laughing gas. With panic a permanent feature of life in this papier-mâché burg, will Horse and his equine paramour—flame-tressed music teacher Madame Longray (Jeanne Balibar)—ever find a quiet moment alone? A sort of Gallic Monty Python crossed with Art Clokey on acid, A Town Called Panic is zany, brainy and altogether insane-y!
Up Next in Animation
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Adama
Directed by Simon Rouby • Animation • 2020 • 82 minutes
ADAMA is a modern and universal story, the coming-of-age tale of a young African boy searching for his brother, just as a new world is about to emerge from the chaos of war.
12-year-old Adama lives in a remote West African village. Beyond ...
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The Tune (Bill Plympton)
Directed by Bill Plympton • Animation • With Daniel Neiden, Maureen McElheron • 1992 • 71 minutes
Legendary animator Bill Plympton's first feature, a musical comedy set in the surreal, delightful town of Flooby Nooby. A songwriter in love with his demanding boss's secretary enters an alternate, ...
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The Pied Piper (Jiří Barta)
Directed by Jiří Barta • Animation • With Oldrich Kaiser, Jirí Lábus • 1986 • 53 minutes
Czech director Jiří Barta's stop-motion animated masterpiece, based on "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," is set in a dark and twisted medieval village of narrow streets and weird Gothic arches inspired by German ...
