The Amazing Maurice – REVIEW
This CGI animation is an adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s 2001 novel, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. The story is a cynical twist on the classic Grimm Brother’s fairy tale, The Pied Piper of Hamlin, with filmic elements of Tim Burton, and maybe a touch of Aardman (Wallace and Gromit), and while it doesn’t deviant too far from its source material in terms of plot elements, it arguably is quite a shift tonally.
The success of that shift is questionable. Where Pratchett’s humour is obtuse and sardonic, the humour here is self-aware and perhaps a bit too explicit. It’s a moot point depending on who the intended audience is – and that’s hard to figure out. The animation is simple and energetic with cute characters, and it moves at a steady pace, so you can see the appeal to children; however, it does get quite dark and scary in parts, and there are a lot of references and jokes that would soar way above a child’s head.
The CGI is fine, not ground-breaking, but the old-world setting affords lots of interesting shape and colour which more than makes up for that. Perhaps its biggest problem is that the characters, while likeable, aren’t developed enough to elicit empathy. You watch, you’re amused, but you don’t walk away wanting to buy a fluffy toy in their likeness.
The Maurice of the title is a ginger cat, voiced by Hugh Laurie. He leads a band of rats in a scam in which the rats “infest” a town and Maurice assures the townsfolk he can rid them of the varmints if they’ll pay a reasonable price. His accomplice, a human named Keith (voiced by Himesh Patel) then appears as the famed Pied Piper, plays his pipe and “exterminates” the rats. The gang meets up at another location and plan their next attack.
Things go awry when an evil figure, Boss Man (voiced by David Thewlis) enters the scene. Meanwhile, Keith becomes smitten with Malicia (voiced by Emilia Clarke) who is a confident, smart, slightly overbearing young woman who becomes embroiled in the whole adventure.
It’s all quite fun if you don’t think about it too hard.
★★1/2
