《艾特熊和赛娜鼠》

    Computers are capable of great wonders when it comes to animated movies, but it’s nice to get something like “Spirited Away*” (which employed partial CG*) to remind* us of the depth and richness of more traditional cartoons.

    The delicate* watercolors are just one of the things that make the Oscar-nominated “Ernest & Celestine” such a pleasure.

    The story of an unlikely* friendship between a big, hungry bear and a small, talented mouse, this film plays out like the kind of picture book that you loved as a child and still treasure as a grown-up. It offers the perfect mix of whimsy* for kids and wit for grown-ups.

    The film is set in a world where bears rule above the ground while mice have to live in the sewers* below, and both kinds of animals are suspicious* of each other. Bears think that mice are disease-ridden devourers*, while the mice are told bedtime stories with a moral to guard against the bears who want to eat them up.

    When street-musician bear Ernest (Forest Whitaker) first meets with young Celestine (Mackenzie Foy), he’s a very hungry predator* while she has been sent out to collect bear teeth as part of her internship*.

    He wants to eat her up, but she cleverly helps him break into the candy store owned by George (Nick Offerman), who sells sweets to children so that they will finally need to buy replacement* teeth at the store across the street owned by his wife, Lucienne (Megan Mullally).

    As Ernest and Celestine begin helping each other out, they discover they’re kindred spirits* — Ernest became a musician against the will of his family, who wanted him to be a judge like his father and grandfather before him, while Celestine would much rather be an artist than a dentist*. But when their species are enemies, can these two friends find a place to be together?

    Daniel Pennac’s screenplay, based on the book by Gabrielle Vincent, has a lot to say about following your dreams and not believing societal prejudices*, but it delivers those ideas with grace.(SD-Agencies)A scene from “Ernest & Celestine.”SD-Agencies