Very loosely based around the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, it's full of knowing nods to that story. It also comes complete with a framing device in which our young heroine Malicia (voiced by Emilia Clarke) goes so far as to note that she's part of a framing device. Whether things need to be quite this meta is debatable, but the fourth wall breaking is kept reasonably sprightly and mostly in its place by Shrek writing veteran Terry Rossio. At one point Malicia declares: "In many ways, I don't think the plot of this adventure has been properly structured" - but it has arguably been structured to within an inch of its life. Their quest leads them to the local rat catchers' headquarters where they find a secret passage to the basement filled with food. They also find Darktan and the other rats coming from the tunnels with the trap they found. Maurice correctly guesses that the rat catchers are trying to catch the rats alive to use them for entertainment, pitting dogs in rings with rats and betting on how fast they are killed. The rat catchers catch Sardines and use him for the ring but he is rescued by the others. a b Ramachandran, Naman (5 November 2020). "Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke to Voice Terry Pratchett Adaptation 'The Amazing Maurice' ". Variety. Archived from the original on 5 November 2020 . Retrieved 7 November 2020. An animated film adaptation of Pratchett's novel was announced in June 2019, with Rossio writing the screenplay. Most of the lead cast members were hired in November 2020, with additional cast being added in May 2021. Animation was provided by Studio Rakete and Red Star 3D. [ citation needed]

Lodge, Guy (30 January 2023). " 'The Amazing Maurice' Review: Spry British Animated Romp Shows a Cat (or Even a Rat) May Look at a King". Variety . Retrieved 30 June 2023. The main focus of the tale is Maurice, a large ginger moggie with a mouthful of teeth that would put the Cheshire Cat in the shade and who is forced to remind people at regular intervals that it's pronounced "Maureeees". He's a sarky sort, he is a cat after all, and Hugh Laurie's vocals suit him perfectly. Maurice's mates - who have lost top billing in the transition from source book The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents to the film - are a band of rats. They are far more chatty than most after dining on the wizardry dump near the Unseen University and they've also got a young human called Keith (Himesh Patel) in tow. Keith has an important part to play in the little band's ruse, which sees them travel from town to town creating a 'plague of rats' until Keith pipes the rodents away for a suitable sum. The mice think that Maurice is saving the cash so they can go to live on an island they have read about in a book and believe is a paradise, where men and rats live side by side. Maurice? Well, as previously noted, Maurice is a cat, so has other ideas. a b Lodge, Guy (30 January 2023). " 'The Amazing Maurice' Review: Spry British Animated Romp Shows a Cat (or Even a Rat) May Look at a King". Variety . Retrieved 9 February 2023. Production: (Animated — U.K.-Germany) Milligan, Mercedes (2 December 2022). "Exclusive: 'The Amazing Maurice' Lets the Fur Fly in U.S. Theaters February 3". Animation Magazine . Retrieved 2 February 2023. Maher, Kevin (29 June 2023). "The Amazing Maurice review — meta gags ruin rat caper". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 30 June 2023.AWN Staff (13 June 2019). "Sir Terry Pratchett's 'Amazing Maurice' Being Turned into Animated Feature". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on 12 June 2019 . Retrieved 7 November 2020.

Milligan, Mercedes (9 December 2022). " 'The Amazing Maurice' Makes Its Way to Sundance". Animation Magazine . Retrieved 2 February 2023. Lodderhose, Diana (7 May 2021). " 'Doctor Who' Star David Tennant Joins 'The Amazing Maurice'; HBO Max Greenlights Spanish-Language Original 'García'; Channel 4 Axes 'The Circle' – Global Briefs". Deadline . Retrieved 30 June 2023. It's an A-list voice cast saddled with a screenplay that’s just not up to their skill set. “The Amazing Maurice” is also another computer-animated film that never gets visually ambitious enough. Oh, it threatens to do so, with village streets that promise adventure down every alley, but the world-building here is surprisingly weak given the source material and the potential of the story to get weird. It’s almost as if the producers knew they had a bizarre book to adapt but never really embraced the quirkiness of this riff on the Pied Piper. Some of the rats are delightfully bizarre, but the character design is never as adventurous as it should be.

The film tells the tale of Maurice, a large talking cat, who travels from town to town offering to solve their sudden rat problem. He unveils Keith, a young boy who can play the pipe quite well, and the rats march out of town to the relief of the townsfolk. Maurice and the money received from the grateful town suddenly disappear and he reappears a suitable distance away to count the money with Keith and the rats! But these are no ordinary rats – they talk and wear clothes and dream of an island paradise where rats and humans live together in peace. All goes well with their ‘rat scam’ until they reach the town of Bad Blintz, where they meet a book-obsessed girl, Malicia, who leads them on an adventure to solve the mystery of her town. Toby Genkel’s intriguing animation film, The Amazing Maurice, made its anticipated debut on the big screen on February 3rd, 2023. The Amazing Maurice had its premiere at the Manchester Animation Festival on 13 November 2022, and was released in United Kingdom on 16 December, by Sky Cinema. It is set to be released in the United States by Viva Pictures on 3 February 2023, after being delayed from a 13 January 2023 release. [13] [14] It had its American premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. [15] Home media [ edit ] Zahed, Ramin (25 August 2022). " 'The Amazing Maurice' Will Paw Its Way to U.S. Theaters in January". Animation Magazine . Retrieved 2 February 2023.