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Rodents get a bad wrap. Rats are disease-infested, haunting terrorists. Mice scurry around your apartment and leave droppings in your silverware drawer. They’re a nuisance. They’re unhygienic. They pop up exactly where you don’t want them to be.
They’re gross! They’re ugly!
But what the world of animation presupposes is… what if rodents are kinda great?
What if they don’t carry the plague? What if they’re cute and have big feelings and big dreams? What if they can talk? What if they can SING?!
We don’t know about you, but for us? It works.
Here are our top five rodent-infested favorites… our Word of Mouse.
Ratatouille
SYDNEY: What if a rat was a world-class chef? I know what you’re thinking—a rat in the kitchen? But this rat belongs there! Remy’s passionate and knowledgeable and has an unparalleled sense of smell that makes him an excellent recipe developer. Pixar’s rats actually look extremely rat-like, but their personality wins you over. I love this movie so much—one, because I love movies about food and two, because it has so much HEART! If the end doesn’t make you cry, I would consider seeing a specialist.
ERIN: (sung to the tune of the TikTok musical’s title song) “Remy, the Ratatouille, the rat of all my dreams… I praise you, my Ratatouille, may the world remember… your name.” Remy the rat from Ratatouille is so knowledgeable and passionate about food, it’s actually aspirational. He’s a foodie, but isn’t condescending about it. Who wouldn’t want to be friends with him and his cute little face? In terms of talking rodents, Remy is world class.
Stream it on Disney+
Flushed Away
ERIN: Why is the Hugh Jackman rat/mouse from Flushed Away HOT like Hugh Jackman? It’s one of cinema’s greatest accomplishments, and also an achievement because his name is Rodney, which I don’t think is a very hot name. Rodney is a charming cad, a rich rat who wants to live life on the edge and have adventures in the sewers of London! In the last couple of months, I have marathoned the X-Men movies (I had never seen them) and watched The Greatest Showman, and yet I’m ready to proclaim that Hugh Jackman’s most fun and engaging character is Rodney from Flushed Away. Move over, Wolverine!
SYDNEY: Roddy is a mouse, but he also IS Hugh Jackman. He is very charming and he sings and has nice hair. Rita, his counterpart, voiced by Kate Winslet, is also arguably hot! Is it weird to be attracted to a cartoon mouse? Idk, maybe, but who among us was not first sexually awakened by a cartoon?
The voice cast of this movie is stacked—aside from the aforementioned heavy hitters, we also have Sir Ian Mckellan as a disgruntled toad and Bill Nighy as his henchman. There’s also a very gross, but entertaining, slug chorus. This is a must watch, people.
Stream it on HBO Max
The Great Mouse Detective
ERIN: Possibly unpopular and/or weird opinion: I think the Great Mouse Detective, Basil of Baker Street, is also hot. You know how a lot of people think the animated fox version of Robin Hood is hot? That’s how I feel about this mouse. Am I okay? Definitely not. However, the Great Mouse Detective himself is very smart and chaotic, and I prefer this take on Sherlock Holmes to Benedict Cumberbatch’s. The thing about these mice? They have British accents! It’s a lot of fun! The Great Mouse Detective is a delightful movie, and Basil is an exciting protagonist, a curmudgeon with a heart of gold, and has a great voice. More British talking mice movies, please!
SYDNEY: If Sherlock Holmes is hot, it stands to reason that Basil of Baker Street is also hot. Because in this movie, there’s a mouse world that’s parallel to the human world and all humans have mice counterparts, including Queen Victoria. The great thing here is that there is a villain named Ratigan who is a rat, but says he is a mouse and doesn’t let anyone say the word rat. He speaks in an affected, snooty accent and all of his henchmen sing a song about him—the POWER.
Stream it on Disney+
Cinderella
ERIN: The mice in Cinderella are among the nicest and most pure Disney animated sidekicks. They genuinely love Cinderella and want to help her, are extremely appreciative of her help (like getting Gus-Gus unstuck from time to time), and are VERY cute all around. Their voices are also what I imagine mice would sound like, if mice could actually talk. The mice in Cinderella are the blueprint for all other talking mice/rodents, you know, outside of… that one very famous talking mouse.
Stream it on Disney+
Thumbelina
SYDNEY: Thumbelina, as her name suggests, is the size of a thumb. So, naturally, when she gets kidnapped from her home by a toad (voiced by Charo, you better believe she has a musical number) and thrust on an adventure, she comes across various small creatures including a very thirsty beetle that makes her dance at a club and then calls her ugly, and a very charming and very French sparrow named Giacomo. She also stumbles into the home of a sassy mouse named Ms. Fieldmouse, who we will say has some BDE (big dick energy) and is also kind of single-lady-about-town goals. She has a ravishing musical number in which she instructs Thumbelina to forget the love of her life and marry a mole named… Mr. Mole… for his money and to not be ashamed of it! It must be noted that she is paid by the mole to make his case, but we gotta admire the hustle.
Stream it on Starz
Those are our top five favorite talking mice and rats, but we are just scratching the rat-infested surface of animated rodents. We haven’t even expanded to include talking bats (Bartok from Anastasia) or chipmunks (Alvin and co., Pip from Enchanted, etc.) But this is a genre of talking creature that likely isn’t going away any time soon. Who are some of your favorite talking mice/rats? Let us know on Twitter @thepromptmag!
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