After getting attention from cult movie fans with the berserk, monochrome genre bender Lake Michigan Monster in 2018, several of the same personnel -- though not necessarily in the same roles -- completely exceeded expectations with the wildly inventive and hilarious Hundreds of Beavers. As close to a live-action Looney Tunes cartoon as you can get, this slapstick-crazy confection was shot on a low budget with few actors and a handful of animal mascot costumes in Michigan and Wisconsin, then made its fest premiere in 2022 before getting a very successful grassroots theatrical and streaming release. As of this writing, it's actually back in theaters again to pulverize more unsuspecting viewers and work up the midnight movie following it deserves.

After beaver sabotage disrupts his applejack business (and consumption) in the dead of winter, Jean Kayak (Cole) pivots by focusing on his foes as a source of income -- namely hunting and apprehending fur. His efforts result in extensive physical comedy mayhem until he finally starts to make a deal with the closest furrier (Mancheski) and falls for his daughter (Graves) in the process. However, the win her hand he has to deliver a massive amount of beaver pelts first, a mission that escalates into a man versus nature spectacle unlike any other.

Listing all the inspirations for this film ranging from silent comedy to video games wouldn't even begin to convey the experience of actually sitting through it, and you have to be at full attention to process everything happening over the very eventful 108 minutes. You'll probably get a different answer from an average viewer over which sequence is the funniest, though an extended courtroom sequence is a strong contender with some gleeful ribbing on the usual legal cliches. You also get beaver versions of Sherlock Holmes and Watson among other bits of random silliness, and the insanely high animal body count is difficult to take seriously when the casualties simply develop "X"s over their eyes.

Immediately legendary for the record-breaking selling of its limited slipcover edition, Cartuna's two-disc Blu-ray edition (also out in a general retail edition) is a very deep dive into this film that fans will be sifting through for quite a while. The film itself was shot in 1080p and is presented as such here, looking perfect and featuring DTS-HD 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo options which both sound solid. English SDH subtitles (and Czech ones...?) are provided; you might think the English subs will come in handy for the opening song, but don't count on it. Cheslik ringleads a "sober" commentary with numerous participants including Tews riffing loosely on the making of the film from its original inception through the technical challenges of putting it all together in two primary locations mostly in 2020. The second "drunk" commentary sounds hammier and sillier but isn't all that inebriated as they rattle off lots of additional stories about the film; there's also a third "trashed" commentary (which still sounds way more lucid than you'd expect) as they drink beer and goof around walking even further down memory lane. The first disc also includes the theatrical trailer.

Everything else is packed onto the second disc, with the centerpiece being a VFX breakdown version of the film broken into four screens showing raw live action footage, storyboards, green screen and animation effects, and the final product. This also has all three commentaries if you'd rather experience it that way, too. There's also an elaborate "Trapline" chapter menu showing off the same elements while you click through icons a la the film itself. Then you get a quick 2m48s reel of short deleted scenes (more bad survival techniques and bunny hunting), a"Great Lakes Road Show Recap" (8m) showcasing rowdy highlights from the film's DIY theatrical showings in early 2024 (complete with costumes), a lyric video for the opening "Jean Kayak & His Acme Applejack" song (2m41s), sound design breakdowns (5m9s) with Bob Barrito covering the numerous elements at play in a given scene, and a 6m20s reel of commercials and promo videos. Then a podcasts and interviews section features Joe Dante and Josh Olsen's Movies That Made Me with Cheslik and Tews (68m2s), Movie Mindset with Cheslik (51m12s), and "WMSC 90.3 Montclair State University Radio" with Tews (37m33s). Finally the disc rounds out with Cleslik's high school short film Blink (16m54s) that carries over the cartoon aesthetic to a memorable pep pill experience with a school kid, plus "One Hundred Photos for One Hundreds of Beavers" (10m30s), delivering exactly what it promises set to an extended "party mix" of the opening song.

Reviewed on December 15, 2024