--- title: "Ernest & Celestine: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/ernest-and-celestine/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/ernest-and-celestine" critics_score: 86 critics_reviews: 12 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Ernest & Celestine (2012): what the critics said Critics' score 86 from 12 reviews: 12 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. The reviews are uniformly warm, and the praise gathers almost entirely on the look of the film. Nearly every critic singles out the hand-drawn watercolour animation, describing it as a storybook effect and a welcome rest from louder, faster cartoons. The friendship between the gruff bear and the small mouse artist is the other constant: critics call it gentle, odd and old-fashioned in the best sense, with a message about outsiders and small-town prejudice that they think lands without lecturing. Reservations are few and small. The AV Club feels the slight story is stretched to fill a feature. Variety, the coolest of the twelve, finds it charming but pitched squarely at younger children, with only a drop of darkness to keep the adults interested. Nobody dislikes it, and the spread is narrow; the difference between the warmest and the coolest notices is one of degree rather than of kind. ## IndieWire — Beth Hanna Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 24 February 2014. The review praises the film as a gentle and delightfully weird animated treat, highlighting its resonant themes of taboo friendship and odd-couple endurance in a sweetly strange story. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/2014/02/review-oscar-nominated-ernest-celestine-a-gentle-and-delightfully-weird-animated-treat-193462/) ## Los Angeles Times — Betsy Sharkey Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 28 February 2014. The critic calls it a charming magical bonbon with a painterly watercolor touch, praising the understated mash-up of a lively tale about outsiders forging an unlikely friendship amid artistic troubles. It singles out the comforting storybook effect as a refreshing departure from hyperkinetic animation. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-ernest-celestine-20140228-story.html) ## RogerEbert.com — Glenn Kenny Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 14 March 2014. The critic finds the film the coziest of the year, praising its gentle watercolor animation style and simple story of an unlikely mouse-bear friendship that avoids Hollywood tropes. The overall integrity and message about overcoming superficial differences are highlighted as key charms. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/ernest-and-celestine-2012) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 23 May 2012. Festival review. The film is a just-about-perfect hand-drawn animated feature that melds visual style and narrative pirouettes delightfully. It follows the unlikely alliance between gruff bear Ernest and artistically inclined orphan mouse Célestine, loaded with charm, adventure, and relatable hopes and fears. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/ernest-and-celestine/5042562.article) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Jordan Mintzer Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 23 May 2012. Festival review. The critic calls it a delightfully old-fashioned children's film with a meaningful message and a clever, timeless tale of an improbable friendship between a bear and a mouse. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/ernest-celestine-cannes-review-325712/) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Rating NYT Critic’s Pick. 13 March 2014. The review celebrates the lovely animated tale of interspecies friendship between a tiny mouse artist and a bear, based on children's books, noting its ode to individuality, pluck, and happiness with those different from us. It singles out the push and pull between childlike safety and adult perils as stirring the heart. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/movies/ernest-celestine-on-the-joy-of-interspecies-friendship.html) ## Vulture — Bilge Ebiri Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 14 March 2014. The film is described as a profoundly civilized and beautiful children's fable with a wise, grown-up heart, full of visual whimsy and a graceful message of acceptance. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2014/03/movie-review-ernest-celestine.html) ## The AV Club — Mike D'Angelo Rating B+. 27 February 2014. The critic finds it an endearingly nutty hand-drawn delight with whimsical sensibility and tender relationship at its core, though it stretches to feature length. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-oscar-nominated-ernest-celestine-is-a-hand-drawn-1798179607) ## Slant Magazine — Wes Greene Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 2 December 2013. The review highlights how the film refuses to characterize the central friendship solely on isolation and praises its self-reflexive animation and endearing fable about outcasts carving their own path. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/ernest-and-celestine/) ## Variety Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). The review describes a charming animated feature with a teensy drop of darkness in its tale of interspecies friendship between a mouse artist and a bear musician-poet, adapted from children's books. It notes the 2D aquarelle-style graphics and skew toward younger audiences while highlighting the meet-cute and scrapes with authorities. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2012/film/reviews/ernest-and-celestine-1117947646/) ## The Wrap Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 28 February 2014. The critic calls the film a delightful animated import that mixes wit, warmth and watercolor visuals to spin a charming tale for all ages, offering whimsy for kids and wit for grown-ups. They single out the visual treats like the underground mouse village and the moving, sweet climax. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/ernest-celestine-review-oscar-got-right-nominating-animated-delight/) ## Eye for Film — Anton Bitel Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 6 October 2012. The critic praises the film's exposure of small-town prejudice and celebration of artistic sensitivity, while noting its elegant storybook animation style and inventive sequences of collaboration between the bear and mouse protagonists. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/ernest-and-celestine-2012-film-review-by-anton-bitel) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/ernest-and-celestine.md