Willard

Crispin Glover was born for this role, it is what it is. It has lots of fun, provides layer of social class commentary and has maybe the greatest performance by a movie animal in history -- Ben, the fat rat, the bad rat, the poor rat who just wants a friend rat. It's amazing how you go from feeling bad for Willard, to despising him, fearing him and then back again. Willard is picked on by his boss, and his mother, and he in turn picks on Ben (while favoring Socrates) who in turn leads a revolt against Willard who is leading a revolt against his boss. I find it hard to use the word complex when describing a killer rats movie, but that's just what this is. Willard is no hero--he's not just a sad sack the world hates and the audience is asked to feel sorry for--he's flesh and blood and he perpetuates all the things he hates and you can simultaneously root for him and against him. It's incredible how poorly he receives the little bit of companionship he gets from the new girl in the office, as a result of his lingering fears of being rejected and picked on by females his whole life. There's only one gratuitous CGI rats scene, the rest is all too real. Socrates's death is one for the ages. I want more Glover in everything.

This is quite a dark tale about one of society's rejects forming a bond with a large number of rats that act as his friend and also his enemy. The film is interesting and very well made. The rats are a character in this movie just as the people are. The effects are totally convincing as is the acting. My only minor gripe would be that the content is not very inspiring. It is intriguing but I felt that something was missing. Overall it was totally enthralling dark fairytale with some mild humour and a little fear.