The Amazing Maurice

Maurice is a streetwise cat who has worked out a profitable routine with a band of talking rats. Moving from town to town, the rats stage a fake infestation and Maurice, together with a boy named Keith who plays a pipe, arrives to drive them out for a fee. The arrangement runs into trouble when the group reaches Bad Blintz and meets Malicia, a girl who reads stories and takes an interest in how their trick operates. Something more dangerous than a simple con is waiting for them there.

The film is an animated adaptation of Terry Pratchett's novel The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, part of his Discworld series. Toby Genkel directed it, placing it after Welcome to Smelliville in the run of films he has directed, and Terry Rossio wrote the screenplay. Hugh Laurie voices Maurice, with Emilia Clarke as Malicia, David Thewlis as the Boss Man and the Rat King, Himesh Patel as Keith, David Tennant as Dangerous Beans and Gemma Arterton as Peaches, among a credited cast of thirty.

Made by production companies in Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Canada, the film cost about 17 million dollars and took roughly 21 million dollars worldwide, a modest return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 6.2 out of 10 from around five thousand votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.7 from fewer than two hundred. The critics' rating sits at 6.3 from fifty-two reviews, close to the audience scores on both sites.