The Mouse and His Child (movie)

***The Mouse and His Child*** is an animated comedy-drama adventure movie that was released in November 1977. It is based on The Mouse and His Child (1967 book). In the movie, two toy mice who journey out of their home to find a place where they can become real. The movie received mixed reviews from critics, who did not like the dark scenes.

## Plot

In a local toyshop, two mice, a father mouse, and a younger mouse, live unwinded. They are known to be alone and have no one to pick them, even when someone comes to the toy store. On the day of the toy shop's grand reopening, the mice are excited to finally be unwinded, but disappointed when no one comes to pick them. That night, the two mice feel sad that no one picked them. A fairy comes down, and, making the father’s necklace padlock grow blue, she transforms them into real mice anthropomorphic (which the father has trouble spelling), but only for a day, for they will be back to unwinded mice when the time comes up. Meanwhile, a fox and a rat try to cut down a magical tree stump, but the tree stump glows blue, frightening them off.

The toy worker is happy to finally have good mice and adopts them. However, they eat all the food, ask unnecessary questions, and wreck havoc, even wandering off from the towns, people, and ending up accidentally throwing an apple to the chest of a young child, causing them to be chased off with umbrellas. The father mouse decides to send his child to school, thinking he will be fine after selling a coat for his son after seeing how cold the wind blows. But his day at school doesn’t go well, as he ends up getting into a fight when he is imitating all the other children, causing the disappointed, father mouse to take him home.

On the way home, they encounter the fox, running a fashion made circus with his pet monkey, Perrolaut.  Still furious with his son’s behavior at school, father mouse tries to reason with the fairy, but she declines. They are later transformed back into unwinded mice. after witnessing a child pick a Jack-in-the-Box, they decide to leave the toy shop. The escape during a stormy night and run into an old orphanage nursery cat. The cat attempts to eat them, but they escaped, and after the father mouse accidentally unwind himself, this gives him the opportunity to escape in the sewer.

While in the sewer, they are chased by rats by the same fox, and the monkey attempts to devour them. They bite the monkey on the fingers, which makes him shake them off, and they land in the water and end up getting swallowed by a fish. After three days inside the fish, they are cut open by an a butcher, and encounter lined up seal, a clumsy, frog, and a jumpy wolf that can only communicate through musical howls. The dog, who helps his master carry meat, includes many toys, who actually carved into meat and cooked. He offered to trade the mice for the wind up keys and then cooked them into meat, showing some dancing meat toys, who all fall into the boiling pot With the meat is being boiled. The horrified mice eventually escape, and eventually hide in a toy boat, being discovered by a child. They are sent downstream and end up in a deep, dark, damp sewer.

Eventually, find the same rat from earlier, who says that if they don’t have a pass, they can pass the stream. However, he says that if they do  have a pass, they won’t be able to cross it. The mice trick him into rowing their boat, they end up counting rapids. The mouse loses the oar, and the rock causes them to fall down the waterfall. The two unwinded mice are fine, but they see the rat have gotten caught on a branch.

While treading water,  they noticed the fox has captured all the toys in the toy shop, using them to build his factory for toys. The monkey refuses to harm them, but the fox angrily beats him and said for him to stay in the basement.  The monkey escapes and is struck by lightning, eventually dying in the next morning. The fox mourns over his pet and captures the two unwinded after seeing them float out of the sewer, deciding to use them to make a fortune. He mails them and sends them to his owner, Mr Ally.

Mr Ally  put the wind up toys in the cabinet and falls asleep after eating meat from the butcher. The unwinded mice escape the cabinet and come with the help from the toys, they escape. They went to the edge of a pond, and suddenly the rat from earlier appears, having survived falling down the waterfall. He angrily catches the two mice and drops of rock on them, but the frog appears and saves them, ending up getting crushed in the process, causing the rat to feel guilty and runoff. Theice shed a tear which glows blue when it reaches the ground, as the fairy appears and deemed the frog, strong, brave and fearless, turning him into a beautiful handsome prince.

After the prince walks away, they encounter a kindly old widow mouse who keeps them. They tried to leave when it starts to snow, but I chased back in by the fox. They are given shelter by the kindly old  mouse, with her husband, the blind mole. When the fox steals a quarter away from the moles dime, the moles starts denouncing him and deems him the worst unfriendly man that everyone could ever find. When the fox offends him, the mole and the fox get into a fight that causes the fox to eat him. The widow mouse is devastated and the unwinded mice take her to the toy shop, believing it to be safe.

The child courageous his father to save the toys and bring them back to the local shop. Agreeing, they get the toys to leave, and they marched through the blistering snow. The toys give up after sinking with the mouse reveals they were coming for, to be loved. The toys break out of the snow and continue. The fox appears, revealing the true reason of why he wanted to get rid of the toy:  They were carved out of the tree stump, didn’t have the time to carve them more  intervened and turned them back into  mice. He offers to get them mice and exchange their ears, tricking them into coming to circus, Iselan.  The  toys jump on the fox with the help from the father mouse, and under orders from his father to get the ax,  the mouse grab the ax and cut off the fox tail, leaving him without his power. The fox instantly turns to a clump of snow, leaving all of the toys no more harm. The eventually continue their March through the snow.

The toy still give up, and some old toys, including a pink and blue orange, lemon, smelling bear, eventually leave on disappearing deeper to the snow. The unwinded mice eventually collapse, too, believing they are never going to make it. But they discover a hope with brightly dim lights and smelling soup, they continue their walk. They collapse at the door in exhaustion, and the father mouse,’with his gasping breaths, consoles the younger mouse, saying: “Don’t… don’t worry, my dearest son… I’ll… I’ll go.. and.. get you there…” they are eventually found by a child who arrived to receive the morning paper, who takes the two of mice and brings them in.

The mice  are revealed at the end to have been taken in and eventually are played with by the children, while the other toys make touch with them back at the local toy shop, revealing they did make the harsh journey through the snow. The fairy then says if people dream, good things can happen, before touching the screen with the tip of her wand, causing wondrous music to play as it shortly glows blue, and it ends.

## Dark moments

Despite being called a children’s movie and “the most wonderful children’s adventure movie ever!” in its TV spot Canadian,  surprisingly. It contains many dark moments throughout the movie. The father mouse and the younger mouse are shown screaming as they are falling off of the shelf and are nearly caught by cockroaches. The second moment includes where a toy jumps into a trash bin to being thrown away, and later when a cat tries to eat them. It shows the fox being really evil, such as a scene where he hits the monkey with his cane when the monkey doesn’t want to perform, throwing the monkey against a window when the monkey tries to run away from him, eventually beating up the poor monkey, the monkey, weak, and eventually calling him weakling. It also shows the rat harming some of the toys, like biting a toy hippo with its stuffing falling out. It also includes danger during the sewer scenes, including a really suspenseful moment when the father and son are caught by a fish, getting stuck in one if it’s gills. There is eventually a moment where really loud suspenseful music place when they go over the waterfall, even shown on the theaterical poster of the movie.

Near the final battle, there is a scene where there’s dancing toys, who fall into the boiling pot and swimming in it.  The dog is shown to happily eat one toy and walk with the butcher about to cut a roasted turkey. There is also mournful music during the scene when the toys march through the snow and have to survive together, gathering near each other for warm. There is also a drowning scene where the sun mouse is trapped in a water filled container, wanting the fox to see how long he will hold his breath and not to see how is worthless. The father mouse is held back by the rats as he sees his son helplessly, bobbing up to the surface and trying to survive, before letting out one final gasp and sinking as a bunch of other toys bemoan for being worthless. The fox, then pulls out the plug out the water, allowing the child mouse to cough for air, seeing that he really did survive, ending this dark moment. Eventually, There is a scene where the monkey is electrocuted when he is finally tired of the treatment the fox gives him. There is also scenes with the toys, eat old wax, scenes with the father mouse, being threatened, even with a sword cutting off its lined up keys, and the frog being crushed by a rock and dangers after falling into the waterfall. There is also a sad scene during the ending scene aware the father, mouse, and child mouse are about to give up, but not before discovering the house and gasping, panting, coughing up snow, continue to march through it.

This led to it being rated PG on VHS cassette, despite it being rated G. It eventually ended up being free on YouTube.