Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, Mongrel Media is releasing Ernest & Celestine on all home entertainment platforms today, including iTunes.  Celestine (Mackenzie Foy) is a lonely mouse living in the sewers where they fear the bears up above, and Ernest (Forest Whitaker) is a hungry bear in a town that is annoyed by the mice below.  But when the two meet, she helps him steal food in exchange for her life, and they end up becoming friends while on the run from both the mouse and bear police.

Making waves in France and dubbed into English for this release, Ernest & Celestine tells an offbeat story that deviates from the original picture books, with characterizations that are sometimes more strange than appealing.  But with beautifully simplistic hand drawn and watercolour animation, and some charming scenes as the two title characters form a sweet bond, this is an interesting curiosity that is well worth checking out on iTunes.

Ernest & Celestine is 79 minutes and rated PG.

-John Corrado