20/20 Filmsight - Film Criticism by David O'Connell

You’ll know of A Town Called Panic if you are either a) a kid, or b) a stoner. The Belgian-French animated film is a spin-off from the television show of the same name, which has played in five-minute grabs on childrens’ stations throughout the world – including the Australian ABC – since 2000.

But how do you take a whacky filler-length animation and string it out for 70 minutes? The answer seems to be that you don’t, really. A Town Called Panic makes absolutely no sense – none whatsoever. And despite the target audience that’s not necessarily a good thing.

For what its worth, the story of A Town Called Panic centres on three housemates: a cowboy, an Indian and a horse named, funnily enough, Cowboy, Indian and Horse. Cowboy and Indian have forgotten Horse’s birthday and need a present ASAP. Jumping on the internet, they order a supply of bricks to build Horse a barbecue, but manage to accidentally order far too many (50 million, in fact), and as they try to hide the material they end up destroying their own house.

This kicks off a series of events that will see our non-heroes journey to the centre of the earth and back, jousting as they go with a bear, some scientists, a pointy-headed fish and a giant mechanical penguin. It makes no sense at all, which perhaps wouldn’t be a drama if director-screenwriter-animato rs Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar had bothered to even think about structure or give us a bit more character to cling to.

The most annoying element is that Cowboy, Indian and Horse’s journey doesn’t even kick off until about 30 minutes into the film – that’s a lot of mincing around to sit through with no real characters, regardless of how funny it all may be. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a film where the central plot doesn’t start until almost halfway through.

Added to this is the fact that the visual ideas floating around in A Town Called Panic aren’t particularly interesting. The filmmakers seem to think they’re far cleverer than they actually are, a lot of the creations coming across as stream-of-conscious idea generation rather than anything that’s actually imaginative.

Still, it’s hard to get too angry at this film. Despite all the weaknesses it has an ability to make you bust a gut at times, the film confirming its international appeal with a consistent stream of visual gags. It has at least made me want to dig up the television programme and check it out.

The animation style also is appealing, if not obviously impressive. Wallace and Gromit this isn’t (the television show is actually distributed by Aardman Animation, interestingly enough) but the rudimentary movements of the characters pack a certain charm, even if you suspect it was all a touch more expensive than it looks.

Ultimately, your enjoyment of A Town Called Panic is going to have a lot to do with context. If you were perhaps in a packed cinema and your pals snuck in a six-pack (not that I’d encourage such a thing, of course) then you could end up having a lot of fun with it. On your own, however, you’d probably be better off staying at home and digging up the show.


I say: An average animation film, but one that certainly has a lot of individual charm.

See it for: Horse’s piano lesson.