I was smart, as a kid. I was also short, scrawny, and slow to develop physically. Thus it was easy for me to identify with the rats in the wonderful children's book Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of Nimh. They may have been small rodents, vulnerable to being snatched by owls, chased by cats, and mowed over by human technology, but strange scientific experiments had given them brains, and those brains gave them power over their environment. The technique of using animals in childrens stories is a fairly common one, and the animals, who are small and weak in a world of big, scary creatures, generally represent the children, who are small and weak in a world of big, scary adults. So one of the lessons of the book, I believe, was to teach children that you don't have to be big and strong, that courage and intelligence can accomplish wonders. An excellent example of this happened during the move of the Frisby's cement block home. Pulleys & tackle are used, classic devices by which brainpower can increase physical strength. When disaster strikes because of treachery, the problem is solved by brains and courage.
The movie makes terrible changes to this point. Nicodemus is a wizard, not a brainiac, and the rat's home, rather than being a haven constructed by intelligence, is a magic place, full of sorcerous wonders. When the concrete block falls in the mud, Mrs. Frisby saves her home, not by determination, courage, or brains, but by closing her eyes and wishing real hard. She thinks the right thoughts and lets the magic in her medallion do the work. Real life is about hard work and brains, not about magic. You get things done by rolling up your sleeves and digging in the mud, not by closing your eyes and hoping they will fix themselves if you pray hard enough.
In defense of magic, it is a perfectly reasonable literary and cinematic device, the problem was with how it was used here. It can teach us useful lessons if given reasonable restrictions, and it can be used as a metaphor for knowledge, ability, power or technology. Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a wonderful example. It could be argued that magic here was being used to represent Mrs. Frisby's courage or strength, but I don't think that is a reasonable defense. Her courage could have been shown in other ways, ways involving work or danger (like when she put sleeping powder in the cat's food). Having her close her eyes to hope and pray things towards how she wanted did not portray strength or courage.
The fact that this is directly opposed to the point of the book is not enough of a criticism. Poor cinematic adaptations are anathema to us book-lovers, but it is fairer to judge works on their own merit. This movie, however, fails that criterion as well. I think its a bad lesson to tell children that wishing can take the place of working. So, mad anti-props to this animated film from Patri - Read 'em the book instead.
Last Modified: The Beginning of the New Millenium
Patri Friedman / patri@izzy.com