I mysi patrí do nebe

A truly enjoyable and charming family film about an unusual friendship. Almost ( but not quite) as good as the classic stop-motion film "The fool of the world and the flying ship". The characterisation could have been improved a little, but the need to keep the timing down to something reasonable for the younger viewers is probably a reasonable excuse. Definitely one I would have watched with my Kidlings when they were younger. Some flaws but overall the feel-good conclusion allows me to give 8/10.

The story is about a mouse who is afraid of everything and wants to be like her heroic father, who was tragically killed by a fox, or so she believes. One day, the mouse is startled by a fox who chases after her, as she had unintentionally awakened the fox from sleep. Determined to prove her bravery to everyone, she musters up the courage to pull out some of the fox's fur. Surprisingly, they meet again in heaven. In this celestial encounter, the fox informs the mouse that she can find her father once more. Eager to be reunited, the mouse embarks on a journey to find him. However, she becomes disheartened when the fox insists on accompanying her.

Like I said in the title of this review, I find. "Even Mice Belong in Heaven" to be a rather pleasant motion picture not only for children but for adults as well. This animated feature from the Czech Republic can be considered "The Defiant Ones" meet "Defending Your Life" meets "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" meets "Freaky Friday." I feel that it is more than just a movie. It is also a spiritual experience. It demonstrates the cycle of life, death, and rebirth quite beautifully as a mouse and a fox both experience the afterlife firsthand together. I am glad to give this film a perfect ten, and I recommend that you go see it.

But then drifted off into cliche. Bullying friends, abusive dad, overblown character traits.

The animation, the set up, the look was all good, but it delivered a simplified one dimensonal story we've seen many times before.

While I do admit the first 15-ish minutes were not that engaging to me, feeling like another standard kids movie, it really started to pick up a little after Whitebelly (the fox), and Wheezy (the mouse) meet.

First of all the movie has some of the best looking stop motion I've seen in quite a while, visually looking like The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and possibly a bit of Isle of Dogs. Even though most of it is physical props in stop motion, the rare thing that's not actually stop motion such as large pools of water, and the whale towards the end mesh well together despite being clearly CGI.

The character of Wheezy (mouse) was initially a little two-dimensional feeling with her personality, she and the other personalities got a bit better and more immersive feeling, while the character of Whitebelly and the supporting cast felt pretty strong (except for the Moles, they felt a bit like a walking gag).

The ending, and the whole message of the movie itself is pretty impactful.

I'd go out of your way to find this if possible, just try to stick with it past the first 15 or so minutes and you'll find something pretty underrated.

I watched this on the English dub, and not the original French one as I don't like subtitle blindness, nor can I speak French. *shrug*