Aw, Rats!: A List Review

Since Pixar’s Ratatouille opens today, the staff at Entertainment Weekly has made a photo list of “12 of our all-time favorite examples” of “adorable, clever, talented, hilarious rodents on film.” It seems these are just general picks, and not in a “countdown” order to the best. To summarize their list, here were their picks:

STUART LITTLE from Stuart Little (1999)
JAQ, GUS, SUZY, AND CO. from Cinderella (1950)
TEMPLETON from Charlotte's Web (1973)
SCABBERS from The Harry Potter movies
BIANCA AND BERNARD from The Rescuers (1977)
MRS. BRISBY AND CO. from The Secret of NIMH (1982)
MASTER SPLINTER from TMNT (2007)
MICKEY MOUSE from Fantasia (1940)
FIEVEL from An American Tail (1986)
BEN from Ben (1972)
BASIL OF BAKER STREET from The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
RODDY AND RITA from Flushed Away (2006)

Many of you who know me know that I love mice. I have been since childhood, it became a nickname, I collect these little Charming Tail figurines… but anyways, I like mice. Especially fictional rodents, be they cute or funny.

So in reviewing the EW list, I see many movies I enjoy. The Secret of NIMH is probably my favorite on the list, with An American Tale, The Rescuers and The Great Mouse Detective to follow.

I never liked Stuart Little—I find the computer animation of his face to be creepy looking. And honestly, I could live without Scabbers, Master Splinter (especially from the 2007 TMNT version), Ben and Roddy & Rita.

Anyways, do I have a point? Indeed I do. I did notice some vacancies on the list that surprised me. I realized that they were speaking of film rodents only, so that disqualifies any television or literary characters.

Still, I was at a loss that they didn’t include The Chipmunks. I mean come on, what about 1987’s The Chipmunk Adventure? How cool is that movie?!

And yes, I admit, I do own it on DVD. Maybe it’s just a childhood nostalgia thing for me, but the Chipmunks (and Chipettes) in general are largely known characters in pop-culture. And they’ve appeared on film, so they should’ve made the list!

However, the other character the list lacked was the most shocking to me. I mean, really, how do you not list Rizzo the Rat? He’s been a character in all of the Muppets' feature films. He was co-narrator in 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol, and Rizzo and his family had some great scenes in the diner in 1984’s The Muppets Take Manhattan. Does Entertainment Weekly not remember this scene?

So who’s with me on this one? Thoughts, comments, opinions? Is there anybody out there? *Squeak* Okay, I’ll just go eat my string cheese in the corner.

Subscribers Forced From Class to Crass

A short while back I was searching for something to supplement the pop-culture goodness I received from Entertainment Weekly. I wanted to expand on my knowledge without having to resort to a $1,000 Variety subscription. I was overjoyed to discover Premiere Magazine.

Finally a magazine other than EW which actually devoted space to in-depth coverage of movies. Not only that but it gave detailed reports on upcoming projects as well as focusing on indie films other magazines wouldn't touch.

I resigned myself to only enjoying this golden nugget of film knowledge once a month. Yet little did I know that a terror so unholy would befall me and 434,999 other subscribers.


I received a letter in the mail from Premiere. Hoping that it was a chance to renew for a long period at a cheaper price I ripped open the letter with unbridled enthusiasm. After reading the letter I was horrified of what was to come.

The letter stated that Premiere Magazine would cease to exist. But luckily they did not fail their loyal readers. Instead of ending up with nothing the subscribers would receive their remainder number of issues through US Weekly. That's right. The rag that makes People Magazine look like the New Yorker.

So, for instance, instead of an inside look at the films and filmmakers of Sundance I was treated to a closeup of Kate Bosworth's miraculous weight change from 95 to 110 pounds!!

Was this what I was seeking all along? Perhaps the void I felt was not the quest to know everything about films, but the need to know just how many different men Britney has screwed since kissing K-Fed goodbye.

Of course I couldn't be more disgusted. And apparently I am not alone. Premiere's web boards have been inundated with comments from subscribers like myself. So what exactly did happen? Apparently it is a fairly common practice in the publication world. A magazine is about to go under and in order to salvage whatever they can they sell their subscriber list to a competing magazine. In this particular case Jann Wenner of US Weekly bought the subscribers to boost his magazines regular circulation to around 1.8 million subscribers. He had to do this to secure his rate base for advertisers.

In the end the usual people get screwed, the consumers. In this case they are mostly sophisticated film lovers such as ourselves. People who craved something more than the basic drivel shoved into the mouths of the populace. All I can say is that if anyone ever even thinks of trying this with EW they can expect a march on the publisher's headquarters!