द अमेजिंग मौरिस

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.

This movie deserves a higher rating than 6.3. Come on. This is great for the kids and great for the adults. The animation is beautiful and story-like, and at the same time, the movie is very tongue-in-cheek with what 'we' expect fairy tales to be.

Maurice the cat, thinks he is the main character, obviously, but contrary to the title, the other characters are just as amazing. It's this silliness that makes you feel invested in the characters. Hugh Laurie does an amazing job as a prideful, yet sensitive Maurice. Himesh Patel is Keith, the boy with a low sense of confidence in himself, and Emilia Clarke is the colourful Malicia. The mice in the story also play a fun role, but I don't want to give the details or spoilers away.

Watch it - you'll love it. It's a great movie for kids and adults alike.

I was positively shocked from watching this. It feels that this is what Disney has forgotten how to be. It's an animation. It's a stellar animation. It's an animation with talking animals. It's a comedy. It's satirical. And it's just... so, sooooo attentive to detail. Tons of carefully crafted mimicry and gestures, faces, expressions, poses. I can't quite remember the last time I saw anything like it.

Sure, there is no wow effect. It might not look great on the big screen, where you are supposed to see clear blobs of image, while counting every rendered piece of air, and with no pause or rewind. In terms of cost - this is obviously no big production(though the animation is spectacularly clean). But that's what the big productions lack nowadays - soul. Making a single meme face is enough. Meanwhile this little gem is just filled with emotion in every scene.

On top of that - I have to give props to the voice cast. Whether it's the script, the audio engineer or the relatively stellar cast - it's a pleasure to hear virtually any character in this film. I can't say that there's any remarkable music, given the budget, but it's enough to serve the purpose.

Finally, and this is important - this film is clean. There is no agenda. It's an honest family-friendly picture. Funny, with careful moral of the story woven in, just enough for the kids to figure out, but without being preachy or propagandistic.

Maybe the 9\10 rating is a bit too much, given that this is something to reserve only for historical pictures, but this is a small, European production. When even the multi-hundred-million dollar Hollywood flops often can't convince you - how else to show appreciation for the underdog?

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-

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.