The Mouse and His Child (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Mouse and His Child


caption = Theatrical release poster.
director = Charles Swenson
Fred Wolf
producer = Walt deFaria
writer = Russell Hoban (novel)
Carol Monpere
starring = Peter Ustinov
Neville Brand
Andy Devine
Sally Kellerman
Cloris Leachman
music = Roger Kellaway
editing =
distributor =
released = 1977
runtime = 83 min.
country = US / Japan
awards =
language = English
budget =
amg_id = 1:33514
imdb_id = 0076416|

"The Mouse and His Child" is a 1977 animated film based on the 1967 Russell Hoban novel "The Mouse and His Child". In the United States the film isalso known as "The Extraordinary Adventures of the Mouse and His Child". Critics panned the film for watering down the philosophical themes in the novel.

Plot

The Mouse and his son are the two parts of a single small wind-up toy, which must be wound up by means of a key in the father's back. After having been unboxed, they discover themselves in a toy shop where they befriend a toy elephant and toy seal. The child mouse proposes staying at the shop to form a family, which the other toys ridicule. After falling from a counter and becoming broken, they are thrown in the trash. Outside, they become enslaved by Manny the Rat, who runs a casino in the city dump and uses broken wind-up toys as his slave labor force. With the aid of a psychic frog, the mice escape and meet various animal characters on a quest of becoming free and independent "self-winding" toys. They rediscover the elephant and seal, who are somewhat broken down, and manage to form a family and destroy the rat empire.

Cast and crew

* Director - Charles Swenson and Fred Wolf
* Screenplay - Russell Hoban and Carol Monpere
* Peter Ustinov .... Manny the Rat (voice)
* Cloris Leachman .... Euterpe (voice)
* Sally Kellerman .... The Seal (voice)
* Andy Devine .... The Frog (voice)
* Alan Barzman .... The Mouse (voice)
* Marcy Swenson .... The Mouse Child (voice)
* Neville Brand .... Iggy (voice)
* Regis Cordic .... The Clock (voice)
* Joan Gerber .... The Elephant (voice)
* Bob Holt .... Muskrat (voice)
* Mel Leven .... Ralphie (voice)
* Maitzi Morgan .... Teller/Starling (voice)
* Frank Nelson .... Crow (voice)
* Cliff Norton .... Crow (voice)
* Cliff Osmond .... C. Serpentina (voice)
* Iris Rainer .... Paper People/Starling (voice)
* Robert Ridgely .... Jack in the Box (voice)
* Charles Woolf .... Bluejay/Paper People (voice)
* John Carradine .... The Tramp (voice)

Releases

The film was re-released on VHS in 1991. A DVD version has yet to be released.

References

[http://www.ocelotfactory.com/hoban/ The Head of Orpheus Fan Page For Russell Hoban]

External links

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