A Town Called Panic

A Town Called Panic unwinds like a Gumby and Pokey cartoon set in a bizarro alternative universe and extended to feature length (albeit a merciful 75-plus minutes). This French animated stop motion import (a.k.a. Panique au village) goes for surreal laughs and a crowd inclined to ignore mainstream narrative will fully embrace this wacky concoction.
The plot revolves around plastic toy figures judicially called Cowboy, Indian and Horse. The motion is herky-jerky and the look definitely low-fi. Cowboy and Indian seek to surprise Horse by getting him a birthday present, only they mess up big time and order 5 million bricks. At least half of the film has them trapezing around and over bricks with sound effects approximating their clumsy steps. Later the film moves underwater but since the main characters are plastic it's not a stretch for them to create aquatic havoc as well.
A Town Called Panic has its share of laughs, in particular a femme horse music teacher with a lusty mane who keeps calling Horse to find out why he isn't in class. But frankly, this whole concept would've played better as an extended short. Look at the recent Academy Award animated winning short Logorama, which was also produced in France. A Town Called Panic opens exclusively this weekend at the Angelica.
- Michael Bergeron