Hollywood Watch

Ernie Nathan Lane and Lars Smuntz Lee Evans inherit from their dead father a broken down thread factory and a seemingly worthless house. It8217;s only later that they realise the house is an architectural wonder. But there is a minor problem. The abandoned house is occupied by a single rodent and fearing that three will be a crowd it does all in its power to keep these nitwit brothers away.

In a film of this kind, slapstick is sure to figure prominently but the visual effects are brilliantly handled by supervisor Charles Gibson of Rhythm and Hues Studios they won an Oscar for Babe, the pig film and there are some cute and clever gags. If one can put up with the initial farce and the periodic explosions and crashes, the cutefurry creature is most likely to grow on the viewer with each passing frame. Lane who did well in Birdcage with Robin Williams is the wiser of the two brothers but it is the British comedian Evans who steals the show when he is not overacting, a close second to the mouse.

Christopher Walken8217;s cameo is quite a waste as the exterminator and though Adam Rifkins screenplay is at best patchy, director Gore Verbinski spaces out the slapstick with dashes of visual delight as the mouse trips its way around with unqualified disdain. If you decide to survive the first 10 minutes quite terrible you may even grow to enjoy the entertainment. Not all of it, but surely the mouse and Evans. As would kids between the ages of three and 10.