Slapstick Comedy Movie Hundreds Of Beavers Is As Much Video Game Let’s Play As Bugs Bunny Cartoon
More and more video games are seeing adaptations into movies, but Hundreds of Beavers might be the most video game-like movie I’ve ever seen.
That’s not necessarily apparent from first blush, especially because Hundreds of Beavers’ other influences are so clear and stark. Following the story of a 19th-century fur trapper as he faces off against various woodland creatures in a wintery Wisconsin, it’s a black-and-white, mostly dialogue-free throwback to silent-era comedies, full of the kind of slapstick jokes that have made Bugs Bunny and Road Runner cartoons so enduring for so many years. It’s obviously channeling Buster Keaton, Tex Avery, and Chuck Jones, among a whole lot of others. Oh, and all the animals are played by average-sized adult humans in animal mascot costumes.
As it goes on, though, Hundreds of Beavers starts to work in gags that call back to video games. When the trapper, Jean Kayak (played by co-writer Ryland Brickson Cole Tews), finally manages to grab some of those mascot-costume furs, he sells them to a trader whose stand carries a game-like shop menu and sports music and sound effects reminiscent of the merchants in The Legend of Zelda series. Every time Jean manages to kill an animal, his “score” is briefly tracked on-screen. Later in the movie, there are very distinct references to Super Mario. It’s clear that Tews and director and co-writer Mike Cheslik are fans of video games, having previously cited inspirations like Super Mario Galaxy and Donkey Kong Country.