Mouse Hunt

(1997) dir. Gore Verbinski
viewed: 12/19/08

I see so few films on VHS anymore, and it’s really a factor of letter-boxing vs. non-letter-boxing (call me a snob, rightly or wrongly).  But in trying to come up with some films that might cater to my kids’ particular interests, I recalled this film about a mouse outwitting humans as a potentially fun flick for my son who has a particular appreciation for the world of rodentia, especially when the rodents are the clever and winning ones.

I hadn’t actually seen this film, more than perhaps pieces of it on cable or something at most.  I mean, 11 years ago I did not have kids and already had a rather low tolerance for Nathan Lane, which has only gotten lower and lower.  Though I don’t have a lot of experience with him, Lee Evans I at least found amusing.  And then the inimitiable Christopher Walken shows up as an exterminator (can’t discount Christopher Walken).  And the whole thing was directed by a then less experienced Gore Verbinski who would later go on to film the American remake of The Ring (2002) and the entire Pirates of the Caribbean series, not that that something of significant cinematic note.

Verbinski does show his ability to shoot action and comedy, at a comprehensible and entertaining level.  And Lane and Evans do their level best as two brothers, on the down and out for varying reasons, who inherit their father’s string factory and mouse-inhabited house, who end up trying to kill the world’s smartest rodent in a somewhat classically Warner Brothers cartoon fashion.

It is what it is.  And while it’s hardly particularly interesting, it does manage to accomplish what it sets out to: it entertains on the level it is attempting.  And believe me, there are many films that fail to deliver on this.

One of my measuring sticks for these films is not just whether I liked it or not, not even the varying levels of that assessment, but it’s also what Felix and Clara thought of it.  And while Victoria, the least discerning of our regular child viewing group (or perhaps not least discerning but rather least tolerant of viewers, walked out when things got a little too scary, also she prefers “cartoons”), my kids did enjoy it on the whole.

Hey.  It’s fucking Mouse Hunt.  What are you expecting?  It’s the first film I’ve seen on VHS all year and doubtlessly the last.