An all-star cast has a lot of fun doing it in this adaptation of a Terry Pratchett novel about a bunch of con rats who get unstuck from a con gone bad.
The rodent in charge of the rescue mission explains that picking up the scent of his missing comrade was easy: "It moved all the way." Just one of many hilarious lines in this family-friendly animation adapted from Terry Pratchett's children's novel about a crew of con-riding rodents. My favorite moment is when a rat at death's door comes face to face with the shadowy screecher.
Directors: Toby Genkel, Florian Westermann
Writers: Robert Chandler, Toby Genkel, Terry Pratchett
Stars: Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke, David Thewlis
Terry Pratchett was a man who knew the rules of traditional storytelling and characters, and that knowledge allowed him to manipulate them in interesting ways that retained a touch of the original while remaining original in and of themselves. So it is with this family story running on Sky TV this Christmas in the UK.
The main focus of the story is Maurice, a large red-haired moggie with a mouth full of teeth who would put the Cheshire cat in the shade and who is forced to remind people at regular intervals that it is pronounced "Maureeees". He's a sarcastic guy, after all he's a cat, and Hugh Laurie's voice suits him perfectly. Maurice's companions, who have lost the top spots in the transition from The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents source book to the film, are a pack of rats. They are much more chatty than most after having dinner at the magical dump near Unseen University and also have a young human named Keith (Himesh Patel) in tow. Keith has a large part to play in the small gang's ruse, which sees them travel from town to town creating a "rat infestation" until Keith removes the rodents for a suitable sum. The mice think that Maurice is saving money to be able to go live on an island that they have read about in a book and believe it to be a paradise, where men and rats coexist. Mauricio? Well, as noted above, Maurice is a cat, so he has other ideas.
Very loosely based on the Pied Piper story, he is full of nods to that story. He also comes complete with a framing device in which our young heroine Malicia gets to point out that she is part of a framing device. It's debatable whether things need to be so metaphorical, but the breaking of the fourth wall is kept reasonably lively and mostly in place thanks to veteran Shrek writer Terry Rossio. At one point, Malicia declares, "In a lot of ways, I don't think the plot of this adventure has been structured correctly," but it has arguably been structured to within an inch of her life.
The movie is a riot of silliness from start to finish, with top-level actors doing very well, making up for not-especially-stunning animation. The setting is the old bubonic days, where Maurice (Hugh Laurie) is a conniving redhead and the mastermind behind a Pied Piper racket. He is working in cahoots with a pack of rats and a goofy boy named Keith (Himesh Patel). Of the supporting cast, David Tennant is wonderful as the rat spiritual guru Dangerous Beans, a scabby old man in a holey sweater. In a typical operation, Maurice sends out rats, which invade a town, stoking fears of a plague. Then Keith enters playing a flute posing as the piper from yesteryear. Voila, the rats come out and the locals pay. It's a nice little income, but Maurice and the gang come unstuck in a town called Furry Bottom.
This is a film with a lot of charm, and it gives cinema its most beloved rats since Ratatouille. But I wondered at some points who the audience is. Little ones may be baffled by the sophisticated wordplay, particularly the meta commentary from Emilia Clarke's character Malicia, the crafty bookworm daughter of the Mayor of Furry Bottom, as she pokes fun at plot clichés. And older children may feel too big for the cute fluffy talking animals.
The Amazing Maurice opens on December 16 in UK cinemas and on Sky Cinema, and in Australian cinemas on January 12.
Watch The Amazing Maurice 2022 Movie Trailer
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