Movie review: 'Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness' (2022)

Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness (trailer) is a 90-minute 3D kids animated adventure-comedy film. Released in 2022, it's important to note that this is an nWave Studios producion, a Belgian company whose output since 2008 has consistently ranged from "awful" to "thoroughly meh".

It's rare for their average IMDB score to go higher than 6 out of 10. This one was directed by Benjamin Mousquet and Ben Stassen, written by Dave Collard, and was very loosely inspired from graphic novels by Chris Grine.

I think Chickenhare has been the studio's... "best" work so far, but that's not saying much. Their second-best would probably be either The House of Magic (2013) or Son of Bigfoot (2018).

What I find fascinating about Chickenhare is that it's just on the edge of being okay. Most of its elements use well-worn tropes that you typically get in kids films, but other things are... different. Cheerfully absurd. It's not taking itself entirely seriously. It's solidly aimed at a young audience - but there's this odd, subtle undercurrent that only adults might notice, when they're not being bored. It's really difficult to put into words.

The story takes place in an animal world with many islands and vast seas. There's great prestige in joining the Royal Adventure Society, whose members embark on Indiana Jones-style quests to bring back plentifully available fabled artifacts. Two such adventurers were brother hares, Peter and Lapin, who failed in their quest but discovered an orphaned baby, half-chicken, half-hare, whom Peter adopted. ("Lapin" is the French word for... rabbit. So in the French version, the brothers are named Arthur and Harold.)

Peter turns out to be King Peter, the ruler of a happy island kingdom. Lapin, his evil brother, is locked up in a cell for trying to overthrow him. Peter's adopted son, Chickenhare, has identity issues stemming from not being a normal species. And after failing the membership trial to join the Adventure Society, Chickenhare seeks to prove himself by going to find the legendary Hamster of Darkness, accompanied by his royal servant Abe (a tortoise). They're soon joined by Meg (a skunk), a talented adventurer and martial artist. And of course they're up against Lapin, who's escaped from his cell.

I can't discuss further aspects of the film without spoilers, so if you want to stop reading here, just be aware that the sarcastic dialog of Abe the tortoise is what single-handedly stops this film from being good. If you can stand him, you'll be ok. The animation and voice acting are decent, and Lapin is properly evil and hammy! It's currently available in the U.S. on Netflix.

Ok, time for random observations with spoilers. Abe's constant complaining is the worst. I get it; writing good comedic dialog is hard, but Abe, just SHUT UP already. I think I enjoyed his lines... once? Maybe twice? And what's really annoying is that he becomes important to the story, but not until the last quarter of the film. Sorry writers, too little, too late.

Meg, on the other hand, she's great! You know the low-effort jokes in kids films that use huge clouds of bodily miasmic smoke as cheap fart humor? (Looking at you, Bad Guys.) Meg actually uses it sparingly, at points when it makes sense, and it forms an important part of her back-story.

Then there's a lot of little silly randomness. The gorilla and his kid. Chickenhare being ironically bullied by a chicken and a hare. The existence of a wild feral crocodile (that probably ate Chickenhare's parents) while the island kingdom has anthro crocodiles. The Minecraft-esque pigs that appear silly at first, then threatening. The Adventure Society's obstacle course.

Peter, why, why did you name your kid Chickenhare? That's like... "Allow me to introduce my adopted son, Hybrid Mutant." No wonder he's got issues. (In France this was avoided by calling him Hopper.) Something nice about the film is the message it's going for: Instead of feeling ashamed for being different, accept yourself for who you are.

The problem is that... finding self-acceptance and identity can be really difficult, especially when you are different. There's no single path or method to achieving it, so just saying it feels a bit cheap, without further advice. On the other hand, Meg and Abe serve as "but we've also struggled with it" examples, so that's a tiny bit helpful. When Chickenhare finally embraces who he is, to me it was uncomfortably reminiscent of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. Will people appreciate him for who he is, or for what he can do?

Still, I'm really glad Chickenhare figured himself out in the end. So it's upsetting when some of the promotional material for the film (don't click this) spoiled the entire point. What the hell were you thinking, marketing department?!

So if I haven't ruined it too much for you, I'd say give this film... a cautious try. If you go in with low expectations for a kids film, and with the ability to withstand Abe's annoying dialog, I think you might like some of its odd little moments. And in the last month, a sequel came out! Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog. It's got a lynx antagonist. (Coincidence, or Zootopia 2 influence?) Given the history of nWave Studios, I'll be waiting for other reviews before risking it.