The Rat Catcher

Garage owner Claude has a rat problem. He hires an expert to deal with the problem. The Rat Man is truly an expert in his field to the point of resembling a rat himself. While Claude and his employee are fascinated by his methods they are also quite unsettled by him.

Another of Wes Anderson's four-episode short story-series, all adaptations of Roald Dahl stories. The others in the series are The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Swan and Poison.

Wes Anderson adapting a Roald Dahl story seems a perfect combination: the clever innocence of Dahl's writing, Anderson's whimsical, stylised direction. It's been done before, to great effect; 'Fantastic Mr Fox' (2009) was brilliant.

Having already watched two of Anderson's Roald Dahl-based short films, the style and presentation of the films are a given. A quirky, reasonably engaging story, narration with the narrator talking in short, bullet-point-like sentences, highly-stylised backdrops and props, great performances (in this case from Ralph Fiennes, Rupert Friend and Richard Ayoade).

A less positive aspect has been that while the story is engaging, it has no punchline. It simply fizzles out. The Rat Catcher is no exception.

Here it is a touch worse in that the story never really seems to fully get going anyway. At least the other two had a fair degree of momentum.

Still, it's interesting and watchable enough.

...and yeah, I'm glad I did. At 1.25x the speed, the experience was worth the 17 minutes. Happy customer here.

Sorry that I no longer buy Wes Anderson's seemingly-genuine tricks. Life Aquatic was great but anything other than that, I could live without.

As for this one: Yep, there's artistic value in his approach. But so what? Any film-tv student can do this much. Problem is, you need a pumped-up name in order have your simple solutions be valued. It takes Wes Anderson to propose such experimental shorts to whoever is gonna be in on them. And yeah, the result is satisfactory.

The cast works and I believe Roald Dahl would be happy with the outcome had he been around to see how miserably certain other adaptations do.

The Ratcatcher lacks the emotional weight of the other Roald Dahl shorts but it remains a beautifully crafted short film that contrasts its visual beauty with a generally creepy nature and some unexpectedly violent imagery in its closing moments.

Making up for being underutilised in Henry Sugar, Richard Ayoade gets so much more here as the narrator and fulfils the missed potential. Between his funny yet off-putting Ratcatcher and once again closing the short as Dahl himself, Ralph Fiennes shows his incredible versatility.

Wes Anderson continues to craft beautiful worlds and briefly returns to his stop motion skills. As with Poison, he also continues to break some new ground with these, using his usual style to showcase some impressive horror sensibilities.

The local rat-catcher (Ralph Fiennes), who bears a disquieting resemblance to his prey, is engaged to extirpate a minor infestation of the creatures. Wes Anderson's spin on the eponymous Roald Dahl short story is quite fun (in a grim way) as the resourceful Rat Man explains his various highly unpleasant methods of dispatching his clever quarry. His final demonstration of Homo's sanguineous dominance over Rattus, although largely unseen, is brutally amusing (and sadly not unprecedented considering some of the revolting blood-sports to which animals have been sacrificed in the not-so-distant past). Attention to detail may make the final lines less cryptic. Of Wes Anderson's four recent Roald Dahl inspired short films, this was my favorite.

'The Rat Catcher (2023)' is probably the weakest of Wes Anderson's four short Roald Dahl adaptations, primarily because it kind of feels as though it's lacking a point. In a way, it's a quirky character study of its eponymous rodent trapper, who becomes creepier and creepier as the piece progresses, as seen through the bemused eyes of the people who hire him. Making use of similar stage play techniques to 'The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar (2023)' but being far less elaborate, the picture unfolds in the same hyper-concentrated from of its director's style as the other entries in its pseudo series. The narration comes quickly and without pause, the characters often look dead down the barrel of the lens and, save for a brief stop-motion segment, the effects and props are all entirely imaginary. It's a distinct aesthetic, for sure, and it does work to catch your eye. Just under twenty minutes also feels like a more suitable runtime for this type of affair, so the flick manages to hold your attention throughout while never feeling too overwhelming. Ralph Fiennes' performance as the rat-like rat catcher is really enjoyable, as is Rupert Friend's brief stint as a rat. Like I said before, though, there just doesn't seem to be all that much to the story. It ends on an entertaining punchline but is far more about its vibes than its narrative. Still, it's a solid effort overall that's definitely distinct.