‘A Town Called Panic’ screening around L.A.

It wasn’t one of the five finalists in the Oscar’s best animated feature category, but that doesn’t stop this zany and surreal comic mash-up from being the wackiest film you’ll see all year. The first stop-motion animated feature to be an official Cannes selection, the French-language “Panic” is made with an anarchic, anything-goes spirit that has made it a cult favorite across Europe. Focusing on Cowboy, Indian and Horse, three amigos who share a two-story house way out in the sticks, this is truly a film, not to mention a town, where you never know what’s going to happen next. Playing Thursday at the Nuart in West Los Angeles, starting a full run Friday at the Beverly Center, and showing at 11 a.m. this weekend at Laemmle Theaters in Encino, Pasadena and West Hollywood.

-- Kenneth Turan