Based on a book by the awesome Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice is an animated movie that is ok. It is not a terrible movie, but at the same time I would wager that a week from now, I would have forgotten most of what went down in it. It is pretty average, but it could still be worth checking out if you are looking for something fun for a family movie night.
How to Download The Amazing Maurice
You can expect to be able to download or stream the film from a digital platform about 45 days after the film’s theatrical release (which happened on 3 February 2023). Click on the Download button at the end of this review and check the current availability. If you like animated films about clever animals, check out also our review of DC League of Super-Pets.
The Movie Review
I will say that while I just said that The Amazing Maurice was “fun” it is actually a bit darker than most other kid’s animated movies and may have a few scary scenes for really young or sensitive children. So be sure to look into it a bit more before sitting down with really young kids to watch this.
We have a great mainly British cast for this movie with the likes of Hugh Laurie in the titular role. As well as Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke, David Thewlis, Gemma Arterton, and David Tennant are a few of the other well-known British actors lending their vocal talents to this movie.
So, what is The Amazing Maurice about? It is about this cat called Maurice and he is running a scam with his human friend Keith (Himesh Patel) and a group of sentient rats! I found this to be a fun premise and the start of the movie and the end of the movie are very different tonally which is pretty interesting.
Anyway, they go to a town and make it seem like there is a rat problem. Maurice tells the townsfolk they need to hire Keith as a “pied piper” to lead the rats away. It is a clever scam and it all works great until they end up going to a new town Bad Blintz which is not very good as there is a food shortage and there is something off about the place.
There appear to be no local rats in this place and before long they find out that there is a Rat King ruling things here. First of all, this is creepy as hell and this is where things get dark as the movie deals with fighting and even death! Also, I had no idea a rat king was an actual thing and it creeped me out beyond belief I now live in fear that there could be a rat king under the shed in my garden!
The movie has some laughs, and some decent action and I thought it was interesting how it went from happy-go-lucky to severe danger. However, The Amazing Maurice just never fully clicked for me. It was ok and I did have a fun time while watching it. However, I am glad this was released here in the UK as a “Sky Cinema” original as I probably would not have been too happy had I actually paid to see this in a theatre.
You can certainly do a lot worse when it comes to animated movies than The Amazing Maurice. However, I also feel that I could not imagine anyone saying that this is an instant classic and a movie that will be loved for many years to come. Still, if you are looking for something new to watch as a family, as I said, you could do worse than this.
