Creepy Crawly Number 4 - The Mouse (who Outsmarted the Man)
Mousehunt
* The creepy crawly up for show; your common
household mouse is a pest you don’t want to see anytime. But if you get one
raid your pantry, set a trap and – Snap! Bye bye mouse. Until the next one
comes along. Luckily, these rodents are not very smart. But in the case of “Mousehunt”, when two
brothers inherit their fathers fortune and a derelict old house as well, they
move in and discover its resident – a mouse. Believing they can get rid of it
easily was their first mistake, as this hairy little creature is no
ordinary mouse.
* How they are portrayed in this film; the mouse in question has furnished himself a comfy little home, within the walls of the run-down old house. He knows his away around, through every nook and cranny, moving about confidently and calmly, knowing he is the only one in the house. But it’s still no easy life for the little guy, who has to find food where he can, and fight the loneliness of being alone in a big house. His clever wit and resourcefulness will be put to the test when two bumbling buffoons walk into the house and start fixing it up to sell at auction. Suddenly, the mouses house is being renovated, ripped up and pulled apart, and as he starts to avoid death by a nails through the wall and dozens of mouse traps, the mouse decides to get rid of the humans who’ve moved in – to the mouse, they are the pests in his house.
* The humans who try to squash them; brothers Ernie and Lars Smuntz (perfectly cast Nathan Lane and Lee Evans), try to make their way through life, with not much to offer and only half a brain between them. Lars (Lee Evans) runs his dad struggling string factory and tries to carry on his father’s legacy of ensuring there is enough string to go around, as “A world without sting is chaos” as his father once said. Ernie (Nathan Lane) is a chef, and after a disastrous dinner for someone important goes wrong, he loses his job, and talks to his brother about the quickest way they can make money. After their old geezer of a father kicks the bucket, the two dopes realise they’ve inherited his small fortune, which includes an old mansion on the outskirts of town. After they have it appraised, the brothers realise they could sell it for millions, once it’s fixed up of course. And as they start to attack the place and get it up to scratch, they encounter the homes current resident; a tiny little mouse.
At first, the usual traps and devices of
death don’t work. So they buy a cat; an outcast feline dubbed as an animal with
a history of mental health problems. Even though this psychotic cat is a killer
in waiting, even he can’t outsmart the mouse. Next plan – call the exterminator.
In perhaps the most entertaining scene in the movie, Caesar the exterminator
(played by Christopher Walken) scans the house with his unique methods of
mouse-hunting and a collection of odd gadgets and tools. The brothers think
they’ve got the eradication of the pest in the bag and leave the exterminator
there to finish him off. Upon returning home, they realise the mouse continues
to thwart their plans at every move.
* The grossest moment; Mousehunt is obviously a family film, and doesn’t have a gross out moment as such, but I’ve included it on the list of “Creepy Crawlies” as it is about mice. And you won’t be able to help but fall in love with the determined little guy, as he does anything he can to survive being killed by the morons who’ve moved in, gathering up food anyway he can, and just enjoy a quiet and peaceful life in his own little bed made from a sardine can.
Being a 90’s film, Mousehunt is certainly a
distant cousin of Home Alone, emulating the winning formula of the film; two
guys come into a house, discover there is someone inside they didn’t expect to
see, but proceed to carry out their plan, and fall into one trap and mishap
after another. But where Home Alone was full of Christmas Schmaltz, Mousehunt
is more of a clever story with tongue-in-cheek humour the adults can enjoy,
while the kids will laugh their heads off at all the silly antics.
Continue onto "Creepy Crawly Number 5..."
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