MovieChat Forums > The Mouse and His Child (1977) Discussion > wtf ending? *spoilers*

wtf ending? spoilers

posted 17 years ago by bedsight
1 reply | jump to latest

After re-discovering this movie again, I had to watch it. I mean, why wouldn't you want to watch a movie that scared the crap out of you as a kid?

But ok, I have a question: Is the ending just a hallucination? The whole marriage bit seemed really dream-like, where characters from the toy store were there and the colors and animation were much brighter and lighter than before. AND, when the Hobo looks into the house, it looks empty and is dark and grey again. Did I mention empty?

Earlier, when the rat smashes the Mouse and the Child up, their remains are taken to Muskrat, who seems more like a two-bit hack than a mechanic. After all, he randomly shakes cogs into their bodies and expects it to work. And when he does fix them up, they suddenly "become" real. It appears to me that they did "die" in a way, and that everything that happens afterwards is a manifestation of the Hobo.

I know it's a wacky movie, but still, that part didn't feel right. What do you think?

[–] ca-turtle319 17 years ago

I don't agree. I do think that everything worked out. I think the marriage was brighter and almost dreamlike because finally things were the way they were supposed to be. All the toys were finally happy. You don't actually see the inside of the toy house when the hobo looks into it, so I never thought that he didn't see the toys. It didn't seem that dark to me. Also, the muskrat might be bumbling, but I think he was supposed to be smart, just a bit absent minded and odd. When the mouse and his child first come to see him, they find out that he made the seal self winding. Then he promised he would do that for them, so I think he did. Yeah, I like the good ending, where everything actually did work out. I guess it is just a matter of interpretation.