The Amazing Maurice movie review

MOVIE TITLE: The Amazing Maurice

Viva Kids will release the animated adventure THE AMAZING MAURICE in theaters nationwide on February 3, 2023.

RATING: PG

LENGTH: 1 hour 33 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: A

IN A NUTSHELL:

Directed by Toby Genkel (A Stork’s Journey) from a script written by Academy Award nominee Terry Rossio (Shrek, Aladdin), THE AMAZING MAURICE is pure fun for audiences of all ages.

Synopsis: Maurice is a sassy, street-smart cat with a sneaky disposition. Together with his band of rats and pied-piper friend, he travels across the countryside, swindling villagers with a staged rat plague. All seems well when the gang sets its sights on a scenic market town, though they quickly realize that something more nefarious is afoot.

The town is already plagued by food-snatching rats, a pair of criminals, and a mysterious boss at the heart of the trouble. Joining forces with the resident narrator and the mayor’s daughter Malicia, Maurice and his friends investigate trouble, fight daring battles, and discover the truth of the town’s unfortunate events.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

We see a standing rat pee on a white plate.
Some of the vocabulary is a bit advanced for you viewers.
Lots of talk of poison. Your kids are going to be passionately opposed to poisoning rats after they watch this.
There’s talk of laxatives, which kids probably won’t understand.
There are several references to the tale of the Pied Piper, which most kids won’t be familiar with.
People bet money on animal fights.
People and creatures are often in perilous situations.
Talk and portrayal of death.
For a children’s animation, some of the content is a bit dark.
Kids will be fully introduced to satire.

THEMES:

Literature elements
Honesty
Dreams of a better life
Thievery
Friendship and loyalty
Literary styles
Courage
Independent thinking
Cooperation

THINGS I LIKED:

The “framing” opening was clever and cute. The narrator later teaches the young audience about storytelling elements such as foreshadowing, backstories, comic relief, plot, and flashbacks. It’s an interesting way to utilize Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books and general storytelling cliches. If you look closely, you’ll see a bust of Terry Pratchett in the Boss Man’s office. Maurice even sits on top of it in a scene. Cute. In Malicia’s library, we see several books and references to Terry Pratchett’s works. Sadly, he passed away in 2015 at the young age of 66. (The older I get, the younger 66 sounds to me.)
The animation style is beautiful, detailed, colorful, and impressive. The textures are ridiculously good such as leather, fur, stone, liquids, hair, and knit clothing. Body movements are impressively spot-on. There’s even a moment when the “camera” zooms up and catches the glare on the lens from the sun. Wow. All of the animators worked remotely on this project during the pandemic.
The voice talents include an incredibly talented and award-winning cast: Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke, Himesh Patel, Hugh Bonneville, David Tennant, Rob Brydon, and Gemma Arterton. They all did an exceptional job, but I thought David Thewlis and Emilia Clarke were particularly outstanding.
I always get a kick out of movies that break the fourth wall, which means a character or two talks directly at the viewing audience.
There is a lot of quick humor and bouncy action.
Both adults and children will be completely entertained.
In 2011, Terry Pratchett won the Carnegie Medal for the Amazing Maurie. I think he would have been pleased with this animated adaptation of his popular book.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Plot hole: It doesn’t make sense that certain people were magically controlled by the Pied Pier’s flute, but then, towards the end of the movie, it didn’t affect them at all.
Some people won’t like the pretentious nature of the movie itself, as well as some of the characters.
Young children might not understand the complicated plot.

INTERESTING LINES:

“We don’t steal. We just put it somewhere else.” – Malicia (Emilia Clarke) (Let’s hope kids don’t catch on to this line and start repeating this dangerous phrase.)
“If you don’t turn your life into a story, you become part of someone else’s story.” – Malicia (Emilia Clarke)
“But, trickery is what humans are all about! They’re so keen on tricking each other, they elect governments to do it for them!” – Maurice (Hugh Laurie)
“Together, we will be strong.” – Boss Man (David Thewlis)