''The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily'', also known as ''The Bears and the Invasion of Sicily'' in the United States (; ), is a 2019 Italian-French traditionally animated

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

directed by

Lorenzo Mattotti Lorenzo Mattotti (born 24 January 1954) is an Italian comics artist as well as an illustrator. His illustrations have been published in magazines such as ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'', ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'', ''The New Yorker'', ...

. The screenplay by Mattotti, Jean-Luc Fromental and

Thomas Bidegain Thomas Bidegain is a French screenwriter, producer and film director. He is noted for his collaborations with the director Jacques Audiard. He received the César Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2010 for ''A Prophet'' and Best Adaptation ...

is based on the 1945 Italian children's book ''

The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily ''The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily'' () is a 1945 Italian children's book written and illustrated by Dino Buzzati. It tells the story of an armed conflict between the bears and humans of Sicily. It is written in novel format, with a great dea ...

'' by

Dino Buzzati Dino Buzzati-Traverso (; 14 October 1906 – 28 January 1972) was an Italian novelist, short story writer, painter and poet, as well as a journalist for '' Corriere della Sera''. His worldwide fame is mostly due to his novel ''The Tartar St ...

. The film was selected to be screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the

2019 Cannes Film Festival The 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2019. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu served as jury president. The Palme d'Or went to the South Korean film ''Parasite'', directed by Bong Joon-ho; Bong became t ...

Pathé Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French people, French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest ...

distributed the film in France on 9 October 2019 and by BIM Distribuzione in Italy on 7 November 2019. It received critical acclaim.

Cast

Production

The film is produced by the French company Prima Linea Productions. It is co-produced with

and France 3 Cinéma in France and Indigo Films and Rai Cinema in Italy. It has a budget of €11 million. It received financial support from

Canal+ Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

and the

CNC Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a ...

. It received 375,000 euros from the Ile-de-France region's Support Fund for Film and Audiovisual Technical Industries. The project also won the Gan Foundation's Special Prize for 2016. The visual style is inspired by Buzzati's illustrations but also independent from the original book. The landscapes are inspired by real Mediterranean landscapes with liberties taken in order to create a fairytale-like atmosphere. Mattotti's ambition was to create a timeless visual style so that people who view the film in the future will not be able to see when it was made. The film was in production in November 2016. In a November 2016 interview, Mattotti expected it to be released in two or three years.

Reception

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews. Oneofus.net called the movie an "charming experience" and "refreshingly different" giving the adults a strong recommendation to take children see it.

References

External links

* *
Official website
Animated films about bears French animated feature films Animated films based on children's books Films based on works by Dino Buzzati Films set in Sicily Italian animated films Films with screenplays by Thomas Bidegain 2019 films 2010s French films {{2010s-animation-film-stub