Rattus Pistofficus

I caught up with this short film after seeing some great advance clips of Josh Reed's 2009 movie, Primal, and I must say that despite it's slim running time and daffy central idea it made me chuckle.

The story is simply about a battle between a man and a rat over an umbrella that the rat had grabbed to provide shelter for itself. That's it.

Some comedy violence and frustration, the one actor here does well in his physical performance but this is really all about the rat, a cute creation that's a bit rough around the edges but kinda resembles an orange version of Scrat from the Ice Age movies.

Low-fi fun that has no chance of outstaying it's welcome, this should please fans of both cartoons and plain, physical comedy.

See this if you like: Mousehunt, Of Unknown Origin, Monkeybone.

RATTUS PISTOFFICUS is a cute idea for a film and the title hearkens to the Roadrunner and Wiley Coyote films where the adversaries are given scientific names at the beginning of many of their pictures. Here, the story is about an angry CGI rendered rat who has an umbrella he's using for a home. However, a human (live action) comes along and takes the umbrella and the rest of the film is a very clever fight between the two for control.

The film does have two deficits. First, it was a bit short--even for a short. I would have loved a couple more minutes of gags in the film to make it more like the length of a Looney Toons/MGM style cartoon. Second, the rat isn't rendered all that well, but considering it's a low-budget film by a young film maker, this certainly can be excused. What you are left with is a very cute and funny film with a real nice touch--making live actors and computer generated ones work seamlessly together. Nice.