A Town Called Panic (Pannique au Village) (2009)

A Town Called Panic is a frenetically kinetic stopmotion film in French (with English subtitles, if you like). The rural hamlet called Panic is little more than a crossroads with a policeman's booth, then to the right a farm run by Steven (who gruffly shouts everything he says) and Janine, and to the left a house occupied by Horse, Cowboy, and Indian. As plastic figurines, Policeman and Indian generally always have one arm up in the air and Janine holds a milk pail, though the figurines also contort themselves and gambol about as the story requires. Horse seems like a father figure to two juvenile charges, partly because he has a deep voice, often clears his throat with the words "What's this?" and asserts his authority. Cowboy and Indian occasionally show a bit of maturity though for the vast majority of the time they wrestle and snipe like adolescents. The problem arises as they scramble to come up with a belated birthday present for Horse. Their solution is to get Steven to ask Horse to drive to the schoolhouse of Madame Longree (the teacher, also a horse, and single) to fetch Steven's animals -- so Cowboy and Indian can order 100 bricks on the Internet (however, a great many zeroes get accidentally added to the order). The arrival of the bricks and how Horse, Cowboy, and Indian deal with them -- and face down all the resulting complications -- involves alternate dimensions and lots of slapstick. The voice talent is quite stereotypically French (and the subtitles don't translate *every* word!). I greatly enjoyed A Town Called Panic. 4.5 stars.