In short...an overstreched curio.

A Town Called Panic (Panique Au Village)
Starring: Stephane Aubier, Bruce Ellison, Vincent Patar
Director: Stephane Aubier, Vincent Patar
Rating: 3 (out of 5)

Summary: Animated plastic toys like Cowboy, Indian and Horse have problems too. Cowboy and Indian's plan to surprise Horse with a homemade birthday gift backfires when they destroy his house instead. Surreal adventures ensue as the trio travel to the centre of the earth, the Artic tundra and an underwater city...

If you have never seen the Town Called Panic shorts then take a quick look at the numerous episodes on YouTube when you get a spare three mintues. The usual plot sees a sensible horse, called Horse, trying to live a normal life whilst housemates Cowboy and Indian run amok and cause mayhem in the town. They are sweet and have a charm that seems so effortless that it beguiles the craftsmanship that goes into creating their world - which is beautifully and painstakingly worked on no doubt.

Upon first time exposure to Aubier and Patar's creation of the rolling hills of Panic and the unusually erratic characters that live therein, you'll experience feelings you may not have felt since a young age. The colours will seem more vibrant, the surreal nature of the whole town will make your eyes widen and the high pitched voiceover work will make you smile like watching a fellow toddler doing helium for the first time.

It's no surprise then that the initial Town Called Panic shorts have been picked up by Aardman Studios - those specialists in transferring the provincial to the mainstream with numerous Oscar winning shorts. In fact, as the love/hate relationship between Cowboy and Indian plays out, you'll notice the same low tech quirks and surrealism that made Wallace and Gromit such worldwide favourites.

Similar Aardman elements such as the out of time small town setting and the romantic relationship between Horse (Patar) and fellow equine, music teacher Madame Longree (Jeanne Balibar) are also there to help everything seem slightly familiar. But despite the best intentions of Aubier and Patar to give their heroes scope to breathe and a backstory to explain their anarchic motivations (like getting drunk on cheap wine and having a bit of a punch up with a local Gendarme), the film fails to create the same emotional resonance that the old man and dog do.

Ultimately its this emotion that is needed to take A Town Called Panic beyond its short film confines and into the promised land of feature length and despite this style of stop motion animation being something that is hardly seen by mainstream audiences, the characters fail to engage with the audience after the initial ten minutes of slapstick heavy laughs and sight gags.

Usually the voicework goes a long way in making the story more palatable, but here it's extremely hit and miss. Cowboy and Indian (Aubier and Bruce Ellison respectively) screech every line like a violated Terence and Philip and surrounding characters such as Postman and Gerard (Frederic Jannin) go the same route of more is more. The blossoming love story between the laid back Horse and Madame Longree is nicely played out but despite their best efforts there is not much to love about any of their small town friends.

A Town Called Panic is beautiful to look at and you'll spend the first ten minutes laughing at the oddity you see before you, but the joke wears thin quickly. Still, you have the shorts to give you a three minute chuckle as its 80 minute counterpart is nothing more than a beautifully constructed but overstretched curio.

OUT: 8th October