El asombroso Mauricio

This film had great characters and a really fun and quirky storyline. I watched it with my 9 yr old son who loved it too. It is a great introduction to Terry Pratchett and some of the key characters that appear in his other stories. Additionally it wove in familiar children's tales to the main plot. The film has a great lineup of actors providing the voices which added to the overall feel of the film. I'm not sure why the review rating isn't higher, it really was a good film. In summary: a genuinely enjoyable watch for the family with humour, gentle peril and some emotional scenes. Perfect for some light entertainment.

Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

"The Amazing Maurice" is a story that follows Maurice, a goofy streetwise cat, who has the perfect money-making scam. He finds a dumb-looking kid who plays a pipe and has his very own horde of rats, who are strangely literate. I love animated films and I usually like to check out animated films from smaller studios to give them chances. As part of the Sundance Kids selection, while it's cheesy and unspecial, this is probably one of the better children films to show for kids. I have never read the book before but the film does offers some charm and has a decent personality.

The main story is pretty basic and predictable but even it's simple setting, the film does have some fun humor and the tone understands itself without taking itself fully seriously. The animation models and colors were simple but they were pretty good and had some cute looking characters. Most of the voice acting was pretty good especially actor David Thewlis who gives the best voice performance from the entire cast. For the most part, it was never boring despite it being pretty predictable and some of the characters could have been explored a little more.

Overall, it was alright but good for children to have a good time.

Rating: B-

The trick with a film like this is to make a film that is both accessible to everyone, and that includes young children as well as to the Terry Pratchett faithful. I'm delighted to say this film manages both in spades.

The casting is fantastic and the animation, including British animation is wonderful and a delight not to be in the world of Disney for an animated feature. I don't know much about Terry Pratchett, but I have read this book and it manages to hit all the points that I would expect, with great characters and so many laughs in the cinema where we watched an early showing. The children, especially with riveted it seemed.

Being a fan of Terry Pratchett's work, I felt slightly apprehensive when I heard that The Amazing Maurice is being made into a family film. The end result, however, is as entertaining and charming as I could hope for!

There have been some changes, of course, but the spirit of the book is pretty intact, even if somewhat lighter. The visual jokes are in line with Pratchett's style of humour, and the grim and sad tones of the story get through without getting too upsetting.

Most of the character designs are really good, the only really disappointing one being Malicia's needle-thin-with-a-massive-bobble-head design that is so typical of 3D animations of the past decade.

All in all I'm positively surprised with the film!

This animated film is based on "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents", which is a wonderful book that is well worth a read.

Look at the quality of the animation, I found it to be generally good and occasional great. The color palette was fairly standard for an animated film, but the attention to detail in each frame was impressive. The character designs were okay, but not particularly unique or memorable. The world building was decent, but it did not offer anything particularly new or interesting.

The voice cast was good, Hugh Laurie is always great, and the whole cast did a decent job of bringing the characters to life. The humour, emotion, and depth were okay, and occasional great.

So, "The Amazing Maurice" is a decent animated film that has its good points, but also some areas for improvement. The animation is okay, the world building is decent, and the voice acting is entertaining. If you're looking for an pretty good animated film that will pass the time, this could be a good option. However, it's not a must-see film that will leave a lasting impression.