Ratboy

Read the other comments about this "film" and you'll hear some attempts to treat it nicely; ie it was emotional, charismatic, etc. These people have no taste and are single-handedly keeping Jerry Bruckheimer (sic) in business. Ratboy is horrible. Horrible horrible. And, not even in a self-conscious manner, as if to poke fun of itself. People, i ask you to please go see this and start appreciating quality films again. "Ratboy the Pimp" is a moment worth remembering for the rest of your lives. It's so bad it hurts me in a special place. Horrible. In fact, it's so bad, that i need to invent a new word to describe it: Natoosh. A movie is "natoosh" when it extends the boundaries of bad film. When it redefines our core values of good and evil, well, that's natoosh. Ratboy is Natoosh to the extreme. I pray for humanity...

The idea must have looked bizarre on paper: a poignant comedy-drama about a half-human, half-rodent orphan found living in an LA dump, groomed to be a media sensation, and exploited by various Hollywood hustlers in search of a quick buck. It could have been an intriguing fantasy of show-biz manipulation, but like its title character the film cowers timidly in a corner, unwilling to break free from convention. Actress-turned-director Sondra Locke doesn't shy away from unflattering characterizations (she herself plays a ruthless opportunist using Ratboy as her ticket to fame), and wisely doesn't disturb the air of unreality around the story (no one, for example, shows much interest in Ratboy's origins). But the title character himself is never more than a transparent metaphor, and once that idea is exhausted nothing is left except a few gratuitous car chases and an ending drenched in post-E.T. pathos. The French apparently loved it, but keep in mind these are the same cinephiles who consider Jerry Lewis a comic genius.

i like rats. i like boys. why wouldn't i like this film? i can't rank it as high as "return to oz" or "the neverending story" or any of the delightfully twisted cinematic acid-trips of my childhood, but it has its charm as a modern fairy-tale. one of few "family films" that actually doesn't make me want to wretch. not one of the worst movies ever made, but not one of the best either.

Long ago, when I was a child, I had seen part of this movie. From what my memory had recalled, I had liked what I'd seen. Boy, was I wrong. I haven't seen this movie anywhere to rent for a long time, and then one day I saw it for sale for a few bucks in some discount bin in a video store. I'd figured I'd pick it up and see what I had missed since my original viewing. I watched it and was not sure what to think about it. First off I hated Sondra Locke. She was not funny, very annoying and had the worst outfits I have ever seen on a woman. The box of this movie promotes it as a comedy. Well I didn't really think that this rating was appropriate, since the only time I laughed was when the actors tried to act. Ratboy has no emotion (which was what the movie was trying to promote), and whenever he talked I couldn't understand what he was saying. Some of the supporting characters were alright, I enjoyed Nipsy Russell and Robert Townshend, and Gerritt Graham and Louie Anderson were okay, I also enjoyed seeing cameos from Bill Maher, John Lovitz and "Diz" from the TV show Out of Control. Other than that I feel that this movie should have never been made. But I cant change the past, so if your in the mood for a boring "comedy", and if you can find this movie anywhere, maybe you should check it out, but I don't recommend it.

I hate this movie and I think it's hysterical that the only other person who voted on this was from Champaign Illinois about 45 minutes from where I live. I hate this movie with a passion in fact I rate all movies on "The Ratboy Scale". I wanted someone to drown Ratboy about 5 minutes into it. I can't believe it got a 3. This movie tried to endear you to the character as if this was a cute little waddling alien following a trail of Reeses Pieces instead of a whining, sniveling, cowering rodent with the charisma of Don Rickles.