The defence The Popcorn Loyalist
“It owes the canon nothing.”
The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.
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The Mouse That Roared
Comedy · 1959
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid. They send an invasion force (in chain mail, armed with bows and arrows) to New York and they arrive during a nuclear drill that has cleared the streets.
Movie details
The Mouse That Roared
“They're taking over the country in an invasion of laughs!”
1959 Comedy 1h 23m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.9 / 10
9.6K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
90 %
Tomatometer
TMDB
6.3 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid. They send an invasion force (in chain mail, armed with bows and arrows) to New York and they arrive during a nuclear drill that has cleared the streets.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Mouse That Roared?
For the defence
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Big-Idea Head
“You watch with your brain, not your gut.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Much Ado About Nothing
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A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.
Thunderstruck
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Johnny English Strikes Again
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Dark Star
Comedy · 1974
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Jim Gaffigan: Beyond the Pale
Comedy · 2006
The affable, towheaded comic demonstrates his hysterical brand of self-effacing comedy and deadpan delivery at two sold-out shows at Chicago's Vic Theater. It's OK to laugh at this pale white guy...'cause nobody's laughing at Jim Gaffigan harder than Jim Gaffigan!
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Jack Arnold
Written by
Roger MacDougall · Stanley Mann
Peter Sellers
Grand Duchess Gloriana XII / Prime Minister Count Rupert Mountjoy / Tully Bascombe
Jean Seberg
Helen Kokintz
William Hartnell
Will Buckley
David Kossoff
Professor Alfred Kokintz
Leo McKern
Benter
MacDonald Parke
General Snippet
Austin Willis
United States Secretary of Defense
Court is in session
Put The Mouse That Roared on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Big-Idea Head
“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”
It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.