Michael's Movie Grade: B
A very charming animated family film.
Despite this movie having a very wise guy sense of humor, it also works as a charming fairytale on its own merits. Really the balancing of the comedy and the fairytale magic is what makes this film work so well. The fact that this movie is successful at this should come as no surprise, when you take into account that Terry Rossio is the film's writer. Terry Rossio had also been a writer on Shrek (2001) and Aladdin (1992), both of which did this masterfully. The fairytale elements are especially well-handled here. The story has a childlike simplicity that is very charming, while at the same time being very engaging. The film creates a fairytale type world that feels quite believable. It also does not ignore the darker parts of fairytales and then are some scenes that have a legitimately creepy feel to them. This is especially true of the scene with the Pied Piper and pretty much any scene involving the villain. This is a wonderful villain (even if his identity is way too easy to guess), that not only feels intimidating but also gives you a really creepy uneasy feeling. The other main characters are also delightful here. Maurice is a wisecracking and cynical cat, but he has a heart of gold that he tries to keep hidden underneath that. Malicia as the main human girl is great and a character I automatically related too. She is a girl who has spent the majority of her life reading books and likes to imagine her own life as a storybook. While this is often used for humor, it greatly reminded me of myself. I remember as a kid imagining my life as a movie and the pure joy this gave me. The rats all have similar personalities, but they are quite likable as a whole and their optimism and constant searching for a world, where they can live in peace and comfort like their favorite storybook is delightfully charming. This film also benefits from wonderful voice acting from such talents as Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke, David Thewlis, Himesh Patel and David Tennant (who played the same character in a radio adaption of this story). There are also some scenes here that involve a Peter Rabbit type of parody, that is done in a 2d and storybook style of animation. I simply loved the look of these scenes, and they often outshine the rest of the movie in this department.
The humor can be a bit hit and miss here. The fourth wall jokes are often more clever than funny. I appreciated the fact that this film embraced this type of humor, but it didn't really make me laugh much. On the other hand, there is definitely some humor here that works quite well. Malicia's various attempts to figure out where various characters fit into this story (as if it were a book) are often times really funny and her excitement and energy in these scenes is contagious. The interactions between Maurice and Peaches (one of the rats) are often quite funny and the scenes with the mouse version of death cracked me up. The parody of the Peter Rabbit books in this film are also more clever and admirable than funny.
This film is admittedly quite predictable, and one can see much of what will happen from quite easily. The look of the movie is also too similar to many other animated films with little to make it really stand out.
This is a truly delightful animated movie and a treat for the whole family.
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