I love this movie so much

Highly Overrated But Still Good

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

In this 1997 cartoon style, slapstick comedy directed by Gore Verbinksi, (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Ring) and starring Lee Evans and Nathan Lane,tThey play Chalk n Cheese brothers who inherit a rundown house from their recently deceased father. When it is revealed that is worth a fortune, they plan to sell it at auction. They set to work to have it restored to it's former glory, but don't count on it having an unexpected occupant. That occupant being a mouse that they try to exterminate but predictably runs rings around them to comedic effect.An enjoyable romp with colourful performances from an overall decent cast this is what happens when you put Laurel and Hardy, Tom & Jerry and Home Alone in a blender. True, while it isn't quite as consistently funny as I would have liked it to be, this still get's by on a fair amount of it's inffectious charm. Both Evans (who doesn't do a half bad U.S. accent) and Lane individually aren't in career best roles, but they make a fine comedic pairing as they deftly bounce off one another as the contrasting brothers. One's the facetious cynic, the other the more good natured sentimental monkey boy who let's his heart rule his head, and it works well. Although fairly upbeat as it should be, it does retain something of a slightly dark edge and director Gore Verbinski ensures there's an air of futility as they try to rid their house of their rodent interloper. The direction for the most part is excellent although it does falter in an early comedy set-piece which is stilted in it's handling, and there's the odd occasion but not always where Evans does go a bit too over the top. He simply gurns too much during the slapstick sequences. That said the scenes where they're hunting the mouse and some of the elaborate feats, as well as it scurrying within the walls of old house are wonderfully executed. The scenes where the siblings inevitably buy a cat to devour their target don't come off quite so well, as it's painfully clear most of the time that it's a fake animatronics or CGI cat which doesn't sit so well with the mouse which for the most part looks genuine. Never the less, it visually does look great with Verbinski creating a cartoon-1950's style world which our two leads inhabit, while the incidental music by Alan Silvestri who's worked on other movies like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Van Helsing compliments it's slapstick, comedic tone. Yes, some of the of the slapstick isn't quite as sublime or as gut achingly funny as I would have liked . However there was at least one moment where I did find myself close to tears, thanks largely to the comical reactions of both Lane and Evans who do display their knack for physical comedy. I didn't even mind the presence of Christopher Walken as an overly dedicated (weirdly so I might interject) exterminator, who while he does his usual moody schtick, it still works well enough here. In the end, it's a shame this was a flop on it's theatrical release as while not great, it's still far from awful and superior to the passable if forgettable Baby Day's Out that came out several years before. Far from being a comedy classic still but fun escapist hi-jinks which will never the less left should leave a smile on your face.

This movie is so funny. Nathan Lane and Lee Evans are the sons of a man that died that owned a string factory.Right in the beginning the fun starts. The brothers argue about the color of Lee/Lars Smuntz's funeral clothes. As they walk down the stairs of the church the handle breaks off the casket, their father's body goes flying out of the casket, into the air and down a open manhole in the street.The characters are all funny. The animation is amazing. Nathan/Ernie Smuntz has a restaurant and serves dinner to the Mayor who is very fat who is with his family. His daughters see a cockroach without a head running across the table. The Mayor realizes he has eaten the head. He falls back in the chair and passes out. The movement of this giant roach running on the table is so hysterical. The sons inherit a house from their father who was kind of weird. No one lives in the house and when the men go there they find a mouse who is like the owner of the house. He crawls in all the spaces and takes what he wants and just takes over and causes problems for the sons. The animation of what the mouse does and what they do to catch it is so funny.The sons end up hiring a man to trap the mouse. The exterminator is played by Christopher Walkens. He is really good in this movie. He has his own equipment and is experienced. He talks loud so the mouse will hear what he has to say because he believes the mouse understands him from his experience and he is trying to fool it. More laughter.The mouse is smarter than everyone this is a great funny movie to see.

When their father dies, Ernie & Lars inherit an old house and the family string factory. Lars, the loyal son, refuses to sell the factory, which angers his wife so she kicks him out. Ernie, who runs a restaurant, is suddenly left with nothing when the mayor dies while eating there. With no other place to go, the brothers shack up at the old house, and then finding out the place is worth a fortune. They decide to fix up the place and sell it in an auction, but first, they have to get rid of a mouse living in the walls.......Proving that Gore Verbinski started out as a great director, and around 2002 sold himself to Disney, mouse hunt is a family film with a hideous dark side. Think the film as a hybrid between Home Alone and The People under the stairs, and it for the most part it works, but the supporting characters really spoil the broth.Walken and Hickey are brilliant, but they are just cameos, and apart from Jeter, all the other supporting characters are walking tropes. The money hungry wife, the rich fat buyers, and the stereotypical gangsters, just make the film feel less unique.Evans and Lane make a good pairing and their physical comedy usurps anything Harry and Marv got up to.The CGI looks a little bit ropes now, especially Catzilla, but it really adds to the silliness of it all.Its highly predictable stuff, you know the house will get destroyed, and you know that all will well come the end.Worth seeing, but don't expect anything groundbreaking.

Mousehunt was a very energetic, fun and highly inventive comedy. I just worry however that some of the darker moments might scare younger children and maybe not for those with a phobia of rodents and also one or two of the gags are a tad too obvious. However, it is a very entertaining family film. The plot tells of two brothers who inherits a large house only to find it is already occupied by a pesky mouse. The script is often hilarious, and there is plenty of Laurel and Hardy-like visual flair to suffice the entertainment value. There are some nice sets and costumes. And the performances are great. While I am not that fond of Lee Evans, both he and Nathan Lane give stellar performances as the hapless brothers, and you can see clever nods to Laurel and Hardy. Then there is Christopher Walken's hilarious turn as the exterminator, but of course it is the mouse who steals the show. Very cute, intelligent and funny for a rodent.All in all, great film. Maybe not for everyone, but essentially it is lots of fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox