Même les souris vont au paradis

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.

After hearing the premise of this movie, I was determined to take a look. Another tale like "One Stormy Night" perhaps? Exploring a friendship between predator and prey? Sign me up! However, this movie proved rather difficult to find and only recently has been made available on YouTube. Although not as good as OSN (a masterpiece) this was still a great movie for both children and adults. This adult plans to watch it again soon.

You'd think stop motion animation limits what you can do, and may even restrict the movie to little kids, but no. The animation looks experienced, and it doesn't matter if it's cell drawn or CGI or this, the story plays the same. Holding that against this movie is doing it a terrible disservice. So let's nip that now.

We have a story of predator and prey, fox and mouse, who both die and find themselves in heaven. They each blame each other as to why they're there, and even in heaven not all is forgiven. These two can't wait to be rid of each other. That's what makes this tale kind of cool. Like, how can they become friends? What are the rules in heaven? Questions are raised which keep you watching, wondering how things might affect what happens next.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, but perhaps I expected to, and found both both main characters endearing. The little female mouse probably had bigger nuts than the male fox! And when the movie goes for your heart, it gets it. When it was all over, there was no more tale to tell, but I wanted more. It left me feeling happy and hopeful.

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.