History Main / NiceMice

* In Art Spiegelman's ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'', a narrative of the author's father's struggle to survive the Holocaust, the Jews are drawn as mice. [[CatsAreMean Nazis are drawn as cats]], and the Allied troops (particularly Americans) are drawn as dogs.

* In ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', mice are revealed to be highly intelligent pan-dimensional beings; the little furry squeaky things we see are just their avatars in this dimension. Millions of years ago, they built the {{super computer}} Deep Thought as a means of discovering the Answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. [[GoneHorriblyRight They succeeded.]]

* Same with most of the mice from ''TheGreatMouseDetective''. The villain, Ratigan, [[AvertedTrope was definitely a mouse]] in the books, however. But this is somewhat more dubious in the movie, though he vehemently denies being a rat.

* Fievel and the mice from the ''AnAmericanTail'' movies are all nice. They're also stand-ins for poor oppressed minorities in the human world.

* In Art Spiegelman's ''{{Maus}}'', a narrative of the author's father's struggle to survive the Holocaust, the Jews are drawn as mice. [[CatsAreMean Nazis are drawn as cats]], and the Allied troops (particularly Americans) are drawn as dogs.

-->-- Andrey Konchalovskiy on why he changed the Mouse King to [[YouDirtyRat the Rat King]] in his adaptation of ''Theatre/TheNutcracker''

* The mice in ''{{Disney/Cinderella}}'' are nice.

* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'': a lot of Jerry's nastiness is in provoked self-defense from Tom, but some of it is just tormenting Tom for the hell of it. When it comes to other animals, though, Jerry is pretty universally nice. He's nice to canaries, baby woodpeckers, baby ducks, baby seals, escaped lions, circus Elephants (on more than one occasion even).

* The mice from ''CapitolCritters'' were nice.

* Massively subverted in [[TheSimpsons Itchy]] the mouse, who is a cheerful murderous psycho.

-->-- Andrey Konchalovskiy on why he changed the Mouse King to [[YouDirtyRat the Rat King]] in his adaptation of ''TheNutcracker''

[quoteright:350:[[TheChroniclesOfNarnia http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/25fa7f8152d7cc89f263a3174e3303ef_copy_5098.jpg]]]]

** In ''VoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', Reepicheep is one of the main charactes, and arguably the bravest of them all. Lucy works quite hard to resist her urge of cuddling him, since she understand that such behavior from her would hurt his pride. The local {{Jerkass}} human taunts him for his size, but he quickly teaches the far larger human to fear him. Also, while the other heroes just happen to be on that journey for miscellaneous reasons, Reepicheep is the one doing the journey as a [[HeavenSeeker holy quest]]. [[spoiler:The book ends with his ascension into unity with God.]]

Being very small and cute, yet traditionally wild, the mouse is an animal often used as a metaphor for someone easily underestimated. Thus, mouse character and humanoid mouse races tent to be heroic and really good people, yet easily underestimated. In many works, this last trait is something they have grown to deeply resent. It's hard to demand respect from someone when you can't even reach his knees and your voice is very squeaky - no matter how brave you are.

* PinkyAndTheBrain: Pinky is nice, if completely cracked. The Brain -- not so much, but he's a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
* TomAndJerry: a lot of Jerry's nastiness is in provoked self-defense from Tom, but some of it is just tormenting Tom for the hell of it. When it comes to other animals, though, Jerry is pretty universally nice. He's nice to canaries, baby woodpeckers, baby ducks, baby seals, escaped lions, circus Elephants (on more than one occasion even).

* LooneyTunes: SpeedyGonzales is a mouse who pretty much only steals cheese to help his compadres. Sniffles is well-meaning, if annoying.

* ''BikerMiceFromMars'' is about BadassBiker mice who protect Earth from evil.

* {{Film/Mousehunt}}'s mouse counts, but it's a more blurred example due to AlternateCharacterInterpretation. Obviously the audience is supposed to feel sorry for him, being hunted so ruthlessly by two humans, but he outsmarts them so often that it's clear he's not an ordinary mouse. So, if he's capable of understanding that, perhaps he's capable of understanding what a nuisance he is to two humans who consider the house their property.

-->''"I cannot imagine mice as the embodiment of evil. Mice are such charming little creatures, and it is not by accident that MickeyMouse became an absolutely universal hero."''\\
-- Andrey Konchalovskiy on why he changed the Mouse King to the Rat King in his adaptation of ''TheNutcracker''

* The mouse in Aesop's fable ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_and_the_Mouse The Lion and the Mouse]]'' makes this trope OlderThanDirt.

* [[Redwall]] uses this ''a lot''.

Contrast YouDirtyRat for rodents (more specifically rats) who are portrayed as disgusting and maybe carriers of literal or metaphorical disease. Also related to YouDirtyRat.

* MickeyMouse and Minnie Mouse: Both are nice. Hands down.

[[AC:Film]]

* Roquefort from ''TheAristocats''