Review of Ernest & Celestine (2012) by Jerome K — 11 Feb 2014

I had a HUGE problem with this movie. While the animation and characters are very cute (it looks like a hand-drawn/painted book come to life), as a children's film, it sends mixed messages. It tries to teach the lesson of accepting those that are different than you, but fails to do it in a meaningful way.

The 2 main characters are CRIMINALS. They stole goods from 2 businesses, they hijacked a vehicle, they resisted arrest, they caused a huge amount of property damage in their escape, and they inflicted harm on civilian bystanders.

Their defense is that A) it's ok because they're poor and B) society is being racist and picking on them only because they have an interspecies friendship. Inexplicably, the charges are dropped when they save the judges' lives from a fire.

The logic makes no sense, and although discrimination does exist in their world, it had nothing to do with the charges against them. Yes, there are cartoons out there that show bad behavior, but they do it for laughs, not for teaching lessons.

I am baffled as to why this film is getting praise, when there are much better animated films out there that teach the message of acceptance without showing there is no punishment for committing a crime.

I do NOT recommend this film for children.