A mouse and a bear defy social convention to forge a friendship in this lovely, charming and Oscar-nominated French animated feature (now available dubbed into English with the voices of Forest Whitaker and other notables). Celestine, an artistically inclined young mouse, has been brought up to be terrified of bears, the dominant species who inhabit the world above her mouse-warren city underground. But she can’t help her curiosity, which leads her to help the hungry, ursine Ernest find food, in the way of a raid on a candy shop.
The two become fugitives from justice, and as their respective police forces vow to track them down, discover a budding companionship. It may be a familiar kids’-movie trope, but there’s a truly original beauty in “Ernest & Celestine,” from its delicate, pastel-hued animation to the look and sound of its inhabitants — the mice, in particular, scamper delightfully. Directors Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner ably give life to this finely detailed universe, in which mice depend on lost bear teeth to replace their own, if needed, as the smaller species owes their entire civilization “to our incisors.”