This was one of the first movies I ever saw. I must have been a
toddler, barely able to form words when I first saw it. Up until this
past week, the last time I had seen this movie I was probably five
years old, but in spite of my young age I never forgot it.
Most of the comments I have seen made by others mention things
like, "this movie probably isn't suited for young children", however I
adored this movie as a very young child, and can honestly say that
I think this movie had a profound effect on who I am today.
Some things embed themselves in your memory in a lasting way
that others do not, this movie was one of those things. A simple
cartoon, but so much more. The memory of this movie has always
been with me, and it has always affected me more than many
memories I have of things that I actually experienced. I thought that
I would never see it again and it would remain a memory until I
managed to pick up a copy on ebay last week. When the movie
started after I pressed play on my VCR, it was like stepping back
into time and reconnecting with myself at age four.
I remembered every visual, every spoken word, my memory just
needed to be jogged. This film is amazingly poignant, deeply
thoughtful, and insightful. I feel lucky that I saw it at such a young
age and grew up with its message in my heart.
The movie opens up with a homeless man scrounging through
garbage cans, even though I was only a toddler when I first saw
this movie, I remember immediately feeling compassion for this
character, and for other characters throughout. The thing about this
movie that makes it great is not its ability to entertain, but its ability
to make you feel.
A toy wind-up mouse and his child awaken to consciousness in a
toy shop after hours. "Papa, where are we? What are we?" asks
the child mouse. "I don't know son," is all the father can offer. They
learn that they are toys, and must do what they are intended to do:
be wound up and walk in a circle. The child mouse is distraught;
he doesn't want to go out into the world, he wants to stay in the toy
shop and have a family with the other toys. They fall off of the shelf
and are broken and later taken out with the trash.
In one of the movie's more poignant moments, the mouse child
says, "Papa, is THIS the world?" while they are helplessly caught
in a pile of trash. "I hope not," answers the father.
They wind up being found by Manny the Rat, a wonderfully crafted
villain who enslaves toys to do his bidding until they are old and of
no use. In a particularly horrific scene, an old wind up donkey is
unhinged into spare parts after collapsing from exhaustion. The
mouse and his child spend the rest of the movie trying to escape
from Manny and become "self-winding" so that they no longer have
to depend on someone for their well-being.
The messages in this movie are deep and profound, but the more
general messages are not so symbolic that they are lost on a
child. This movie does so much more than the average "children's
movie", it does not set out to entertain, it sets out to tell a brilliant
story with morals and it succeeds beautifully.
In a time where cartoon villains are usually a mix of the comical,
ugly and detestable, Manny is a breath of fresh air and far more
"real" of a villain. A character driven by greed and power, he also
maintains a shred of humanity, enough that when he meets his
downfall at the movie's end, you still manage to feel compassion
for him. This is not a movie where the child roots for the good guys
and rejoices when the bad guy is defeated. This is a story where
the child sees that there is good in evil and evil in good, and that
love and compassion is the only power that truly matters.
If only more children's movies were like The Mouse and Child and
didn't fall prey to the "short attention span" myths. While I'll admit
that this movie probably isn't for some children, it is miles ahead of
any other children's movie that I've seen in terms of content. If you
want your child to sit still for 90 minutes and have mindless prattle,
catchy songs and potty humor sieved through their brain, then this
movie is not for you. But if you're looking for your child to actually
learn something about life and the world, then you have found
what you're looking for.
toddler, barely able to form words when I first saw it. Up until this
past week, the last time I had seen this movie I was probably five
years old, but in spite of my young age I never forgot it.
Most of the comments I have seen made by others mention things
like, "this movie probably isn't suited for young children", however I
adored this movie as a very young child, and can honestly say that
I think this movie had a profound effect on who I am today.
Some things embed themselves in your memory in a lasting way
that others do not, this movie was one of those things. A simple
cartoon, but so much more. The memory of this movie has always
been with me, and it has always affected me more than many
memories I have of things that I actually experienced. I thought that
I would never see it again and it would remain a memory until I
managed to pick up a copy on ebay last week. When the movie
started after I pressed play on my VCR, it was like stepping back
into time and reconnecting with myself at age four.
I remembered every visual, every spoken word, my memory just
needed to be jogged. This film is amazingly poignant, deeply
thoughtful, and insightful. I feel lucky that I saw it at such a young
age and grew up with its message in my heart.
The movie opens up with a homeless man scrounging through
garbage cans, even though I was only a toddler when I first saw
this movie, I remember immediately feeling compassion for this
character, and for other characters throughout. The thing about this
movie that makes it great is not its ability to entertain, but its ability
to make you feel.
A toy wind-up mouse and his child awaken to consciousness in a
toy shop after hours. "Papa, where are we? What are we?" asks
the child mouse. "I don't know son," is all the father can offer. They
learn that they are toys, and must do what they are intended to do:
be wound up and walk in a circle. The child mouse is distraught;
he doesn't want to go out into the world, he wants to stay in the toy
shop and have a family with the other toys. They fall off of the shelf
and are broken and later taken out with the trash.
In one of the movie's more poignant moments, the mouse child
says, "Papa, is THIS the world?" while they are helplessly caught
in a pile of trash. "I hope not," answers the father.
They wind up being found by Manny the Rat, a wonderfully crafted
villain who enslaves toys to do his bidding until they are old and of
no use. In a particularly horrific scene, an old wind up donkey is
unhinged into spare parts after collapsing from exhaustion. The
mouse and his child spend the rest of the movie trying to escape
from Manny and become "self-winding" so that they no longer have
to depend on someone for their well-being.
The messages in this movie are deep and profound, but the more
general messages are not so symbolic that they are lost on a
child. This movie does so much more than the average "children's
movie", it does not set out to entertain, it sets out to tell a brilliant
story with morals and it succeeds beautifully.
In a time where cartoon villains are usually a mix of the comical,
ugly and detestable, Manny is a breath of fresh air and far more
"real" of a villain. A character driven by greed and power, he also
maintains a shred of humanity, enough that when he meets his
downfall at the movie's end, you still manage to feel compassion
for him. This is not a movie where the child roots for the good guys
and rejoices when the bad guy is defeated. This is a story where
the child sees that there is good in evil and evil in good, and that
love and compassion is the only power that truly matters.
If only more children's movies were like The Mouse and Child and
didn't fall prey to the "short attention span" myths. While I'll admit
that this movie probably isn't for some children, it is miles ahead of
any other children's movie that I've seen in terms of content. If you
want your child to sit still for 90 minutes and have mindless prattle,
catchy songs and potty humor sieved through their brain, then this
movie is not for you. But if you're looking for your child to actually
learn something about life and the world, then you have found
what you're looking for.