MouseHunt

So you may think that at least writing about MouseHunt after the scary experience of The Silence of The Lambs would put me at peace... Well No. I actually think I was more scared of this movie when I was kid than I would have been had I seen The Silence of The Lambs back then... this movie terrified me as a child.

Mousehunt follows the story of two brothers by the name of Ernie and Lars Smuntz (played by Nathan Lane and Lee Evans respectively). At the beginning of the film, we figure out that their father (played by William Hickey) the owner of a string factory, has passed away. The two brothers had a bit of a tremulous relationship with their father and both deal with it in a little bit of a different way than the other.

Ernie is a chef who soon after the reading of the will, loses his job. Lars is left in charge of the failing string factory and his wife leaves him out on the street on his own. The two find themselves in a large house that their father owned that is very old and falling apart.

Just as the two of them are at their lowest, they discover that the house was designed by a famous architect and is worth a lot of money. Blinded by the prospect of selling the house and making a lot of money, the two brothers start fixing up the house for an auction to be had within the week.

The only snag to their plan is a both very cute and yet very real looking mouse who lives in the house. At first they just set a trap and expect the mouse to be taken care of very quickly. But they discover the mouse is a lot craftier than they expect and the strategies to catch him get more extravagant and crazy as the movie goes on, providing more pain to the two brothers than the mouse itself, providing some Laurel and Hardy-like slap stick humor that is both very well choreographed but at the same time very painful looking.

And I say a very real looking mouse because it is obvious that CGI was used for this film, it was 1997, everyone was using CGI. But even today, the CGI is done very well and I think they used a real mouse for some of the scenes. So you get this very confused feeling because on one hand this mouse looks like it would actually be a cute pet to have and keep around, but at the same time it looks like the kind of mouse that has rabies and there are multiple scenes where it is in places you really wouldn't want to find a mouse. A box of cereal, in your clothes, in your food, the list goes on and on. So yeah, while they have a cute scene where the mouse is crawling through the walls and the effects are great and then the mouse makes its way to a small match box and snuggles to sleep and you're supposed to let out a huge "awwwww", there are still a lot of scenes where you want this mouse dead as much as these brothers do.

On top of that, there's a lot of humor in this film that is both inappropriate for kids and just gross. Yeah it was PG so my bad for being too young to handle this film, but it's definitely for older kids.

But let's talk about the slapstick for a second.

Slapstick is a form that requires a lot of practice. You don't just make slapstick happen. And it's not just the prat falls or the hitting in the head with a hammer, it's about timing.

All comedy is about pain, and Slapstick banks on the pain that is caused from accidentally getting hit in the head, or tripping and falling, and at some points in the movie, Lane and Evans actually do it right. There are a couple of moments that are actually pretty good slap stick. Now it feels like they're imitating slapstick classics like Laurel and Hardy, but at the same time you have to give them credit for doing a comedy with a form of comedy that isn't really used that often, and if it is it isn't used well. I'll give them credit for getting some of it right. But not all of it does. Due to the fact that they can use CGI and effects in this film, they can go a little bit further with their slapstick and in doing that, some of the realism and thus the humor is lost.

I'm not expert on Laurel and Hardy but based on what was available, they kept to practical effects and what could be done with movies at the time. And it's hilarious. That is not to say Mousehunt isn't funny at times, in fact they do the slapstick humor pretty well at times, but something about it keeps it from behind as timeless as the Laurel and Hardy films.

The other reason this movie doesn't exactly work is because the slapstick humor is paired with the fact that the two brothers aren't exactly nice people and we spend the entire movie not totally sure if we're supposed to be rooting for the brothers, or the mouse.

At times, Nathan Lane and Lee Evans remind me more of the Wet Bandits from Home Alone than they do Laurel and Hardy. And yeah, Home Alone is another example of a film with good slapstick in it, but you know that part in Home Alone where Harry is climbing the tar covered stairs, and he steps on a nail with his bare foot?

And do you remember when you watch that and you always cringe and that scene isn't funny at all? That feeling happens a lot in Mousetrap with just how unpleasantly unpleasant this movie is. People getting hit in the face can be funny, Christopher Walken being dragged around the entire house face first until he's out in the snow all bruised and bloody while a mouse basically tortures him and leaves an audio recording that sounds like The Joker from The Dark Knight, that is unpleasant.

Oh yeah... Christopher Walken is in this film as an eccentric exterminator that the brothers call.

But again, the movie breaches on a lot of adult humor when I think a lot of parents, including my own, thought this movie was for kids.

This movie was actually the first family movie that Dreamworks released. This is the same studio that released the Shrek movies so I imagine they had to refine their craft a little bit, but I really can't believe I saw some of the stuff that happens in this film when I was a kid.

I realize now that this movie is categorized as a black comedy and it's probably on my parents for not knowing that when they brought me to this film, but even still, watching this in 2017 this movie is still a bit unpleasant at times. The sets are dark, it's got a little bit of Tim Burton feel to it. The Alan Silvestri soundtrack is something I never really forget about this film and probably one of his best. But overall, the film is actually a little horrifying at times.

Mice are not pleasant if they are unwelcome in your house. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know I dealt with a mouse a week ago and its mainly the reason I came back to this film. It's a little bit disturbing and definitely not a film you should show to kids until they're older. There are some funny bits, and I do like how it is an homage to old Laurel and Hardy Slapstick films, you don't really see those these days. Overall, it's a pretty forgettable movie and probably not one you need to go out and see. I can't really recommend Mousehunt.

But what about you? Did you see this movie as a kid? Are there people who saw this as a classic? I know there's probably some of you out there. I understand if that's the case, I'm interested in hearing your opinions. Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. If you'll excuse me, I might spend the rest of the night watching Laurel and Hardy. These guys were great! Enjoy!