The Amazing Maurice

The Amazing Maurice, the Sky Cinema-produced animated comedy, brings the first children’s book of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series of fantasy novels to the screen. It boasts an impressive ensemble cast led by Hugh Laurie’s smooth-talking feline, and including Emilia Clarke, Himesh Patel, Hugh Bonneville and David Thewlis, among other household names of English screen heritage. 

Following Pratchett’s original deviation from the Pied Piper folk tale, The Amazing Maurice follows Maurice on his scheming grand tour of the Discworld, swindling towns out of a handful of cash in an elaborate scam that involves a pack of literate rats and rat piper, Keith (Patel). Standout entertainers in the rodent tribe are Dangerous Beans, the pack’s spiritual guru (David Tennant in fine, committed form) and Joe Sugg’s tap-dancing, traditionally genteel Sardines, doing their part in populating what is being fairly identified as the most lovable family of rats since Ratatouille.

Like the very best of children’s cinema, The Amazing Maurice treads below the whimsy of its surface to provide important life lessons of tolerance and fairness. Even death gets some exposure. The moralising is packed a little more tightly than the battering ram of Sky Cinema’s earlier effort, Paws of Fury, although it shares its somewhat uninspiring animation. There are times when one wonders how much its intended audience is responding to its meta-intertextuality (Emilia Clarke’s Malicia introduces the mechanics of framed narratives and fairytale tropes to its young audience) while its thematic content is admirably bold. 

Landing just in time for Christmas, however, The Amazing Maurice is bound to be an enjoyable presence in the family home or at the cinema, with enough laughs, nods and cameos to keep all entertained.

Matthew McMillan

The Amazing Maurice is released nationwide on 16^th December 2022.

Watch the trailer for The Amazing Maurice here: