A Town Called Panic

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1:51

A Town Called Panic

PG,

2009,

1h 15m,

Kids & Family/

Adventure/

Comedy/

Fantasy/

Animation

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A Town Called Panic: Double Fun: US Release Trailer

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81%

72 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

2,500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

81%

Tomatometer

72 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

In this animated film, Cowboy (Stéphane Aubier) and Indian (Bruce Ellison) plan to construct a barbecue pit for the birthday of their friend, Horse (Vincent Patar). The delivery of an accidental purchase of 50 million bricks rather than the intended 50 destroys their house, and attempts to rebuild are foiled when their walls are continually stolen. Determined to track down the thieves, the trio travels to the center of the earth, where they discover the culprits are a group of mad scientists.

Critics Consensus

A Town Called Panic is a raucous, endlessly creative animated romp with a quirky, adult sense of humor.

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Nicolas Rapold

Film Comment Magazine

Sep 24, 2014

The frenetic scenarios should play fairly well as energizing for kids and ridiculous for adults.

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Robbie Collin

News of the World

Oct 10, 2010

2/5

A very small amount of this would be funny. But here, there's 77 minutes of it. And that's about 76 minutes and 30 seconds too much to stomach in one sitting.

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Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Oct 8, 2010

5/5

Bounces around with a hyperactive dementia that somehow never flags.

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Kathy Fennessy

Seattle Film Blog

Jan 31, 2026

3.5/4

According to Indiewire, A Town Called Panic is "the first full-length stop-motion animation to screen at Cannes." If the film's figures are cruder than those of Fantastic Mr. Fox, it's just as enjoyable, if more anarchically silly.

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Ellie Lucas

From the Front Row

Aug 5, 2019

3/4

Aubier and Patar aren't trying to make any profound statements about life or create any existential conundrums, they're just looking to entertain, and in A Town Called Panic, they have found a gloriously wacky avenue to do just that.

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Rachel Wagner

Rachel's Reviews (YouTube)

Feb 13, 2019

8/10

This is film is so hard to describe but it's just absurdist and ridiculous and...funny.

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Hagrid S

Jan 8, 2018

One of the most gloriously random animated comedies of all time, with hilariously rapid-fire gags erupting all over the place while maintaining a surprisingly strong theme of community.

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Hagrid L

Sep 27, 2017

Horse, Cowboy and Indian live on one hill. Horse is the brains of the household, Cowboy and Indian the adolescent creators of chaos. Steve, his wife, his cows and his precious tractor live on the other hill and Steve is permanently pissed off. Whether you ring his doorbell or touch his studio, I mean tractor, you're gonna get yelled at. Imagine all of this as a French stop-frame animation using little plastic toys that live in a town called Panic! In a nutshell It is Horse's birthday. Cowboy and Indian decide to build him a "braai". (I kid you not.) For this purpose they need fifty bricks, but as fate would have it, they accidentally order fifty million bricks! On horse's account! The bigger problem is not how to hide the bill for fifty million bricks from Horse, but the actual fifty million bricks! Mood of the film Panicky! Raucous! Over the top. Best performance Cowboy wins the Oscar. He carries a gun and lasso, wears cowboy hat and boots, but he still screeches like a banshee at the mere sight of trouble. (Or dons flip-flops, shorts and a Hawaiian-style shirt and books a flight to Miami!) Stand-out scene The whole film is one crazy, over-the-top scene after the other. In fact, the scenes follow one another so fast, I had to pause and rewind a few. One I watched three times is Horse coming home late at night. He drives "through" the new braai. The centre strip of the car, including the engine, gets stuck behind the braai. The two sides of the car end up in front of the braai. Horse goes straight over it. It is funnier when you watch it, I promise. Negatives? I love any type of animation. The Triplets of Belleville is one of my favourite films ever. Even though it is French, it does not need one subtitle, because there is no spoken dialogue in the film. Animation is not everybody's cup of tea. Is the film relevant today? Brilliance such as A Town called Panic is sorely needed in an ocean of mediocre film. If we all strive towards brilliance in life we'd live in an awesome society. The film is also a good laugh!

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Kylo P

Feb 27, 2017

Magnificent just a perfect movie verry funny and the story is verry good i love it

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Stéphane Aubier

Director

Vincent Patar

Director

Stéphane Aubier

Cowboy

Jeanne Balibar

Madame Longrée

Nicolas Buysse

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A Town Called Panic: Double Fun: US Release Trailer

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Synopsis

In this animated film, Cowboy (Stéphane Aubier) and Indian (Bruce Ellison) plan to construct a barbecue pit for the birthday of their friend, Horse (Vincent Patar). The delivery of an accidental purchase of 50 million bricks rather than the intended 50 destroys their house, and attempts to rebuild are foiled when their walls are continually stolen. Determined to track down the thieves, the trio travels to the center of the earth, where they discover the culprits are a group of mad scientists.

Director: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar
Producer: Philippe Kauffmann, Vincent Tavier
Screenwriter: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar
Distributor: Zeitgeist
Production Co: Les Films du Grognon, La Parti Production, RTBF, Gebeka Films, Made in Productions, Mélusine Productions, Beast Productions
Rating: PG
Genre: Kids & Family, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Animation
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 16, 2009, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 12, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $165.3K
Runtime: 1h 15m
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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