It would have been a far better movie as "Eddie the Mouse." Or any new title of it's own, with it's own story to support whatever creative drive voted it out of committee. It was a nice movie, and extremely pretty, and good special effects, and enough new twists on more fart jokes and I had any hopes to expect. But it was constantly reminding you that it didn't trust the magic of the book. Everything had to be Bigger, More Relevant, More Dramatic. It couldn't remain a simple and unexplained fact that Stuart, who looked a lot like a mouse, but who was in fact Stuart, was an unusual-looking boy born to the Littles. In an attempt at Greater Relevance, the rewriters decided that it needed to wink at racial issues, be coy with "inter-species" adoptions, and just generally try to take something fine as it was, and Update. It ended up with all the charm of a really snazzy Vegas lounge version of something from Rubber Soul. On the other hand, it featured Nathan Lane continuing the exploration of his relationship to the world of mice, and any show that he's in is well worth the visit.
Review of Stuart Little
