The Rat Catcher

This is the closes we have gotten to a Wes Anderson horror movie. I wish there was more stop-motion rat and less narration.

When the tension peaks in this one, it's done so magnificently through theatrical lighting and close-ups and imagery, and even though nothing is graphically happening on screen it is genuinely unsettling. I don't think I've witnessed anything quite like that. The rest of the story definitely rolls along like you'd expect a Dahl short story to do. I haven't really read short stories from this era in a long time, so there's a bit of a nostalgic structure and subtext that it was nice to revisit.

"Tell, don't show." I know what Anderson is going for, but it doesn't work for me. I find it really boring. But I didn't even find the design here as interesting as the other shorts, or Asteroid City. There was one moment later on that I appreciated, but for the most part, this just feels up its own ass.

The climax is the thing here, as Anderson and Fiennes do such a great job of setting the tone so that, when the moment of truth occurs, the really is a sense of investment even when nothing is actually shown on screen. In some ways, the climax is the inverse of Ford's "let the pictures do the talking," which is an interesting experiment. Much to look at otherwise, and it's a curiosity to see Wes doing horror, but not sure I want to revisit it.

Ralph Fiennes is the highlight. Some nice moments visually but less so than the other Dahl shorts.

Rat blood licorice... why this makes so much sense to me

Eh. Alright. I was more amazed by the writing of Dahl than the filmmaking. Fiennes is good as always.

My favourite of the Anderson/Dahl shorts. The fantastical absurdity of the gimmicky narration fits best with this story that otherwise is quite bleak.

These shorts are so brief that I am just going to watch them all. But it is very clear that the style is going to remain the same, and I am not a fan.

I like that Wes Anderson sometimes feels the need to do something absolutely outrageous.

Mostly weird and gross. I've come to accept that Roald Dahl is not for me.

One of the lesser ones in 'Dahl's shorts' on Netflix. The acting is amazing, but what did you really watch? I think the story was a lot more shocking when it was written, but in this day and age, it is not that scary or horrific unfortunately

I've been willing a collaboration between Richard Ayoade and Wes Anderson into existence for over a decade. He's already been dressing like a Wes Anderson character on panel shows and whatnot for years, so I think he might have been willing it too. The long-awaited team up did not disappoint, though the plot of this one felt like it was missing a little something to take it across the finish line. Hopefully they do a feature together in the future

It feels like this experiment has some potential in theory, but it just did not work for me here. I think it was hard to get into because the story was pretty bland, so I was left focusing on the experimental elements of how it was being told rather than just feeling immersed in it.

Odd, pretty and something Wes fans like myself will get a lot from. It’s a partial story in many respects and this ultimately hampers the overall result.

I am now finished three of the four Anderson shorts, and I am really digging the theatrical quality of these. I am also continually amazed at how weird Dahl's stories are.

Poor little rats :(

Elevated by Fiennes performance, The Rat Catcher leans into the theatrical more than the cinematic, occupying a disappointing middle-ground between Anderson and Dahl's individual strengths. The descriptions of violence against rats don't make up for the lack of gore, nor perceived gore from reading the words yourself.

you gotta know rats on this job

Amusing.