ERNEST & CELESTINE: A TRIP TO GIBBERITIA

Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia, GKids

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 31, 2023

The ending of the delightful Ernest & Celestine promised there would be more stories about the eponymous bear and mouse, who become friends after some bargaining, a couple of capers, becoming outlaws, and a pair of legal proceedings. That film's charm was not only in its warm-hearted but mildly rebellious story. It was also in the style, which used hand-drawn animation—a form that was becoming rarer and rarer to find new examples of in the early 2010s—to mirror the look and feel of both water-color art and the Gabrielle Vincent children's books that inspired the film.

The good news is that the sequel Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia possesses its own charms, although the less-good news is that this follow-up's charms never quite match the simpler ones of its predecessor's story, characters, and appearance. The second film, written and directed by an entirely different team, gives us a more intricate tale, revolving around an authoritarian government, and a lot more detail in the hand-crafted animation, which is becoming even rarer about a decade after the initial film's release.

Both of those descriptions might sound like positive elements for a sequel, especially if one is of the opinion that more of something is often or always better. It's difficult to tell if that's the case with material that so prided itself previously on utter simplicity, but even if the follow-up sometimes feels like a separate entity to its predecessor, it's still wholesome, slightly rebellious fun.

We return to the lives of Ernest (voice of Lambert Wilson), the bear, and Celestine (voice of Pauline Brunner), the mouse, as the two now live a comfortable, if financially fraught, life together in a two-story house in a small village. Ernest has just finished a months-long sleep to awaken to the end of winter and a sunny day, but the house is pretty much out of food, save for a couple bowls of hot chocolate that the pair consume immediately. It's time to make some money, and for that, the bear will have to head into town with his trusty violin and other instruments to panhandle for cash.

In a rush to help, Celestine trips and falls down the stairs while carrying Ernest's prized "Stradibearius" (Cutesy puns are allowed and welcome in something like this). After first asking if his friend is okay (That little detail lets us know the new filmmaking team does care about the friendship first and above all other concerns), Ernest is devastated to see his violin broken. It can only be fixed by the bear who made it, but that would require a trip to his homeland of Gibberitia.

It's obvious our bear protagonist has no desire to return there, so Celestine stows away on a bus and hitchhikes her way to the Russia-inspired realm to get the violin fixed. Ernest follows, worried what might become of his mouse pal in a place where there are no mice—because the bears ate them all.

The rest of the tale is mostly and somewhat disappointingly a lot of plot, involving the quick discovery that Gibberitia has become a place where all music that uses any note other than middle C has been outlawed (A piano concert introduces this, in a great aural gag that reveals a funny visual one, too). This is an outrage for the musically inclined Ernest, of course, who gets into trouble with the law for daring to play many more notes on his accordion, leading to a foot chase that starts and stops based on the numerous street lights and pedestrian signs that make the city a veritable maze of confounding traffic laws.

Such details both are amusing and show just how much thought has been put into the design of this world, which serves as such a stark contrast to the small-town warmth of the characters' first adventure. This is a place of labyrinthine walkways and staircases, decorated with an imposing statue of a judge's gavel in the town square, where the natural, mountainous terrain becomes the foundation for its layout. The prison, where our heroes soon find themselves and return to as matters become complicated, sits on both sides of a giant gorge, and cable cars and zip lines help transport bears and contraband musical instruments wherever they need to go.

Gibberitia is fleshed out, not only in its design, but also in its visuals, as co-directors Julien Chheng and Jean-Christopher Roger ensure the artists give it a distinct color palette and, well, just more color than Ernest and Celestine's home town. It feels stricter in its look, which is entirely appropriate, even if the level of detail feels a bit too different from the early scenes and the entirety of the last film.

As for the rest of the plot, it has Ernest trying to decide between his ambitions and those of his father Naboukov (voice of Michel Lerousseau), a judge who wants his son to follow in professional footsteps in accordance with Gibberitia law. Meanwhile, Celestine takes it upon herself to find the Musical Resistance, led by the mysterious and bird-masked EFG, and repair her friend's violin, so that he might remember how important music is to him.

There's a lot, in other words, going on in this entry, and if the imagination on display in Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia extends to its world-building and story, it might leave behind its main characters just enough in the process. They're still here, as kind and sweet and caring as before, and maybe that's just enough in a sequel that comes close to overshadowing this gentle relationship with a lot of plot and visual business.

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