BT&RS is a dark fairy tale about a trio of mice, and a quartet of, what can best be described as, crow rats. The crow rats make a rag doll, and it is stolen by the mice. The crow rats go on a quest - Lord of the Rings style - to get it back. That's it, that's the movie. An important detail here is that this is a silent movie, in the sense that there is no dialog. There is music, and foley, but no words - unless you speak crow rat. I wanted to like this movie, and in some ways I did. I enjoyed the Brothers Quay style of stop motion, but there is nothing interesting aside from the aesthetic. Having never seen more of Christiane Cegavske's work, and only going off the other titles of hers, I take it this is part of a bigger world. That's great, but on its own, BT&RS means nothing to me as a viewer. I got the sense, while watching this, that there is a deeper meaning, that Christiane is trying to say something, likely very personal, but how am I supposed to know what that is? Or anyone, for that matter. Another problem was how slow this is. For being less than ninety minutes, you feel every second. Too many moments play out in real time, so if the action is slow, the scene is slow. One need only to watch the card-game sequence to know what I mean. It just goes on and on. Lastly, being that this is animated, the question of "is this okay for kids" might be asked. First: I doubt any kids are going to find this. Second: No. While there is nothing overt here, there are moments of violence, "nudity," what could be called sexual content, and just unsettling imagery. If I had to give this an MPAA grade, I'd say somewhere within PG to PG-13. In other words, not the best watch for little kids, but okay for around thirteen and up.
Review by BronsonBlockedParent2023-09-14T20:11:10Z
BT&RS is a dark fairy tale about a trio of mice, and a quartet of, what can best be described as, crow rats.
The crow rats make a rag doll, and it is stolen by the mice. The crow rats go on a quest - Lord of the Rings style - to get it back.
That's it, that's the movie.
An important detail here is that this is a silent movie, in the sense that there is no dialog. There is music, and foley, but no words - unless you speak crow rat.
I wanted to like this movie, and in some ways I did. I enjoyed the Brothers Quay style of stop motion, but there is nothing interesting aside from the aesthetic.
Having never seen more of Christiane Cegavske's work, and only going off the other titles of hers, I take it this is part of a bigger world. That's great, but on its own, BT&RS means nothing to me as a viewer. I got the sense, while watching this, that there is a deeper meaning, that Christiane is trying to say something, likely very personal, but how am I supposed to know what that is? Or anyone, for that matter.
Another problem was how slow this is. For being less than ninety minutes, you feel every second. Too many moments play out in real time, so if the action is slow, the scene is slow. One need only to watch the card-game sequence to know what I mean. It just goes on and on.
Lastly, being that this is animated, the question of "is this okay for kids" might be asked. First: I doubt any kids are going to find this. Second: No. While there is nothing overt here, there are moments of violence, "nudity," what could be called sexual content, and just unsettling imagery. If I had to give this an MPAA grade, I'd say somewhere within PG to PG-13. In other words, not the best watch for little kids, but okay for around thirteen and up.