Hunky "Jean" (Ryland Tews) has quite a successful little cider business until the pesky beavers manage to destabilise the whole enterprise leaving him homeless with nothing but the clothes he stands up in - and with an hard winter approaching. It's only now that he realises just how much the terrain favours the critters who must now become his prey if he's to survive and not starve to death. The rabbits are no slouches, the fish no fools and the beavers - well they are actually quite brutal as they fell just about every tree they can find to fuel a construction that makes the Aswan dam look like the work of an amateur. Luckily, there is a trader (Doug Mancheski) with a beautiful daughter (Olivia Graves) who will supply all sorts of useful things in return for pelts, so with the help of an expert trapper (Wes Tank) and his carefully drawn map of the lares and snares, off he sets on a series of frequently laugh-out-loud escapades that almost brings the best of Warner Bros. cartoon artistry to life. The comedy is quickly paced slapstick and you can usually see the punchlines from space, but it does work amidst this snowy wilderness where our hero must eat or be eaten. His gradually honed skills see him use a bit of science, grim determination and loads of blind luck to gradually increase his visits to the trader, become better equipped and more loved-up. The title gives us a clue as to what price the man has put on his daughter, and so that's soon the concluding task for "Jean" but them toothy-beasts ain't just going to surrender - especially when we do find out what is going on in their industrial-scale complex on the water. It's much too long, though, and at times it's a bit like a board game where we just go round and round (gathering points) rehashing the same old scenarios and jokes, and I felt the last twenty minutes did drag a little - but for the most part it's part Chaplin, part Harold Lloyd with bits of "Grizzly Adams" thrown in too. It's entertaining and who knew you could do so much with a beaver's innards...?
