| The Mouse and His Child | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster. |
|
| Directed by | Charles Swenson Fred Wolf |
| Produced by | Walt deFaria |
| Written by | Russell Hoban (novel) Carol Monpere |
| Starring | Peter Ustinov Neville Brand Andy Devine Sally Kellerman Cloris Leachman |
| Music by | Roger Kellaway |
| Release date(s) | November 18, 1977 (US) December 18, 1980 (Australia) |
| Running time | 83 min. |
| Country | US / Japan |
| Language | English |
The Mouse and His Child is a 1977 animated film based on the 1967 Russell Hoban novel The Mouse and His Child. In the United States the film is also known as The Extraordinary Adventures of the Mouse and His Child. Critics panned the film for watering down the philosophical themes in the novel.
Contents |
The Mouse and his child are two parts of a single small wind-up toy, which must be wound up by means of a key in the father's back. After having been unboxed, they discover themselves in a toy shop where they befriend a toy elephant and toy seal. The child mouse proposes staying at the shop to form a family, which the other toys ridicule. After falling from a counter and becoming broken, they are thrown in the trash. Outside, they become enslaved by Manny the Rat, who runs a casino in the city dump and uses broken wind-up toys as his slave labor force. With the aid of a psychic frog, the mice escape and meet various animal characters on a quest of becoming free and independent "self-winding" toys. They rediscover the elephant and seal, who are somewhat broken down, and manage to form a family and destroy the rat empire.
The can of Bonzo dog food plays a large part in the story. In the film however, it is also a clue to the story's occult undertones. The weight appears, disappears, reappears and changes often. In its first appearance when the rat crashes with his jelly beans and explains the donkey's worthlessness, the weight reads "666 grams". In another scene it reads "Heavy". During the contemplation of infinity, it's missing altogether.
The Mouse and his child encounter an experimental theater troupe staging a play The Last Visible Dog. In the play, two characters speak their lines from within Bonzo dog food cans, in reference to the two characters who live in trash cans in Samuel Becket's absurdist play "Endgame (play)."
The film was re-released on VHS in 1991. A DVD version has yet to be released.
The Head of Orpheus Fan Page For Russell Hoban