Friday 27th November until Thursday 3rd December 2009 @ Watershed, Bristol

Stephen is a twenty something recluse; a wet drip who’s forgotten how to live life. After his heart is broken for the umpteenth time, to take his mind off it, his best and only friend, Bunny, drags him travelling across Europe. All sorts of anarchy ensues and Stephen and Bunny experience all the best and worst of Poland, Switzerland and Spain. Stephen takes a little time to be coaxed out of his shell but Bunny jumps into the experience headfirst, daring himself on at every opportunity: Bunny races crabs; Bunny sleeps with girls; Bunny has eating competitions; Bunny swims through frozen rivers; and eventually, Bunny fights a bull.

Bunny & The Bull is the feature length debut from Paul King, director of The Mighty Boosh, and the sense of fun and surreal adventure that made the TV-show such a success is apparent throughout. Sadly though, the film is a bit overindulgent. King is so eager to jump straight into the story and start showing off all the interesting techniques, animation and shooting styles he’s used that he’s forgotten to put in nearly enough jokes or any kind of character depth. Stephen and Bunny are pretty hollow characters and far from being charming and driving the story forward, they become boring and irritating.

However, the beautiful scenery that has been creatively manufactured out of everyday objects (like the motorway built from newspaper piles) is enough to make the first half interesting. As you’re counting the minutes down to the film’s predictable ending though, the film is dragged in a sharp u-turn and the last 30minutes are delivered with such passion, heart, soul, charm and depth that it redeems everything you’ve just watched and you leave Bunny & The Bull on a complete, mesmerising high!

www.watershed.co.uk

Matt Whittle