History WesternAnimation / TheAmazingMaurice

* BeastlyBloodsports: On discovering Sardines is wearing a hat , the rat-catchers decide to make him the star attraction in the Pit. This is where rat coursing takes place: a 'sport' where spectators bet on how long it will take a dog to kill a pit full of rats.

* AccidentalMisnaming: Peaches keeps calling Maurice 'Morris' despite his constant efforts to correct her. This is actually a [[AscendedFanon sly reference to fan debates on which is correct]]. The audiobook uses the English pronunciation of 'Morris' and was [[WordOfGod approved by Pratchett himself]].

* MinimalistCast/EconomyCast: Compared the book, where crowds of hundreds of commoners and rats appear, the limited animation budget means that the 300-strong clan is two dozen rats, the crowded barn at the rat pit is ten people, and even the rat pit shows a dog killing six rats in seconds rather than nearly 100 rats in ten minutes.

* MinimalistCast: Compared the book, where crowds of hundreds of commoners and rats appear, the limited animation budget means that the 300-strong clan is two dozen rats, the crowded barn at the rat pit is ten people, and even the rat pit shows a dog killing six rats in seconds rather than nearly 100 rats in ten minutes.

* IveGotAnXAndImNotAfraidToUseIt: After being briefly knocked out by the Pied Piper, Kieth comes woozily comes to and hears this exchange:

* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: The [[spoiler: Rat King]] appears far earlier than he did in the book. [[spoiler:He also steals the Nac Mac Feegle's trick of being a mammalian WormWhoWalks, with the rats operating a suit pretending to be human]].

** The ages of Keith and Malicia were never specified in the book, but they were both young children, with Keith constantly being called a kid and Malicia being explicitly too young to marry (which in medieval Europe meant pre-pubescent). In the film, they are both apparently teenagers.

** Death of Men and Death of Rats both appear for a brief gag, watching the rats in preparation for their seemingly inevitably deaths.
->Death: [[AC:"Busy day for you?"]]

->[[AC:Busy day for you?]]

* ExactWords: Keith asks the Piper if it's true he kidnapped children. The Piper replies that half the stories people tell about him are untrue. Keith relaxes, until Malicia points out he never said ''which'' half.

* TheWormThatWalks: [[spoiler:The Boss Man is a swarm of rats in a coat and hat, controlled by the Rat King.]] Oddly, taking a section from an entirely different book, as the Nac Mac Feegle did this in [[Literature/AHatFullOfSky]].

* TheWormThatWalks: [[spoiler:The Boss Man is a swarm of rats in a coat and hat, controlled by the Rat King.]]

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Malicia is punished by her father by being locked ''out'' of her room.

** Pretty much all the minor rat characters are dropped, as the number of rats is a lot smaller here than in the book. It's {{Lampshaded}} in the beginning of the movie that there are so few of them, with a random kid in one of the "plagued" towns pointing out that "there really aren't all that many." Like in the book, though, they're very ''good'' at making it appear like there are tons of them.

* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: Keith is fairly obviously smitten with Malicia from their first meeting and they end up together after a fair bit of romantic banter. In the book they do end up becoming good friends, but also seem to find each other legitimately annoying for some time. There is [[MaybeEverAfter some suggestion at the end that they may have a future together]], but in the book there are no hugs, kisses, or love confessions.

* LighterAndSofter: The book went to some ''really'' dark places at times. The movie's been toned down pretty heavily -- the dark elements of the story are still very much present, but they are less emphasized, often more hinted at than outright stated. Thanks to the movie being DenserAndWackier than the book, even the scariest moments are seldom played ''completely'' straight. It's perhaps best illustrated by the respective beginnings of book and film; the book opens on a dark and stormy night, but the movie opens on a bright, sunny day.

* AgeLift: In the book, Dangerous Beans was a very young rat, born after the Change. Here he seems to be one of the older rats (he appears as an adult in the flashback scene) and comes across more as an "aged spiritual leader" than the young visionary from the book.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: To the point of an inverted AdaptationalNonsapience. In the book, Mr. Clicky is just a clockwork rat the Clan use to trigger traps. In the film, he's a clockwork rat that can ''refuse'' to trigger traps, and get into a SilentSnarker argument with Darktan about it.

* AccidentalMisnaming: Peaches keeps calling Maurice 'Morris' despite his constant efforts to correct her. [[spoiler:However, Maurice's conversation with Death indicates that his real name might actually be 'Morris', and 'Maurice' is merely an affectation.]]

It stars Creator/HughLaurie as the Amazing Maurice, Creator/HimeshPatel as Keith, Creator/EmiliaClarke as Malicia, Creator/DavidTennant as Dangerous Beans, Creator/GemmaArterton as Peaches, Ariyon Bakare as Darktan, Joe Sugg as Sardines, Julie Atherton as Nourishing, Creator/HughBonneville as the Mayor, Creator/DavidThewlis as the Boss Man, and Creator/RobBrydon as the Piper.

* AdaptationExpansion: The exerpts of ''Mr Bunnsy Has an Adventure'' go into a bit more detail than the brief sentences used as chapter headers in the book, giving more of a sense of the story.

* AdaptationalVillainy: In the book, the real Piper is an easy-going (when not doing his act) fellow conman with a trick pipe that affects rats hypersonically. In the film, [[spoiler:he's a crazed cannibal with an actual magic pipe.]]
* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: Keith is fairly obviously smitten with Malicia from their first meeting and they end up together after a fair bit of romantic banter. In the book they do end up becoming good friends, but also seem to find each other legitimately annoying for some time. There is [[MaybeEverAfter some suggestion at the end that they may have a future together,]] but in the book there are no hugs, kisses, or love confessions.

* BarBrawl: Darktan triggers one when he escapes from the Pit. By the time he gets away, all of the humans attending the rat coursing have knocked each other out (and the chicken is pecking triumphantly at the butt of one the unconscious spectators).

* BrightIsNotGood: The real Pied Piper lives in a colorful little cottage in a brightly-lit clearing in the dark woods, [[spoiler:but is a rather unhinged and ruthless cannibal.]]

-->'''Maurice:''' ''Sorry''? Cats are never sorry, they never regret anything! Except... ''(sigh)'' Except I ''do.''

* ChekhovsGun: {{Lampshaded}}. Malicia opens the film by reading some extracts from ''Mr. Bunnsy Has An Adventure'', before suddenly telling the viewer that she's actually going to be telling them a different story. During the film's events, it's revealed that the rats also have a copy of this book and are trying to find the (fictional) location that it's set in, with Malicia then explaining to the viewer why she had to establish it beforehand.

* CompositeCharacter: Since Hamnpork has been AdaptedOut, Darktan takes over his role in the story and even gets a few of his lines. The result is that Darktan comes across as much more of an authoritarian in this movie than in the book, having inherited Hamnpork's bad temper and tendency to command... but he's kept the competence and intelligence he had in the book, making him an odd mix of DrillSergeantNasty and AfatherToHisMen.

* FailedAttemptAtDrama: After ridding the first village of rats, Keith attempts to look cool by casually twirling his flute and tossing it in the air. However, he completely botches the catch and drops it and, in trying to grab it, his cowl falls off, completely destroying his air of mystery.

%%

The film released in the UK on December 16, 2022. An American release courtesy of Viva Films is scheduled for February 3, 2023. The first trailer is available [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fotvV-Ty9rU&t=5s here]].

* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal: Sardines wears a top hat and a bow tie, Peaches wears a headscarf, Darktan has two bandoliers (as in the book) and Nourishing wears a leather waistcoat and helmet.

* AdaptationDistillation: Most of the stuff about rat religion is distilled down to The Book, and the connection between the ratcatchers' scheme and [[spoiler: the Rat King's own plans]] is simplified.
* AdaptationalAngstDowngrade: Maurice is notably less troubled about [[spoiler:having gained sentience because he ate a talking rat]]. He still regrets it, but his confession is a lot less anguished and more played for laughs.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: To the point of an inverted AdaptationalNonsapience. In the book, Mr Clicky is just a clockwork rat the Clan use to trigger traps. In the film, he's a clockwork rat that can ''refuse'' to trigger traps, and get into a SilentSnarker argument with Darktan about it.
* AdaptationalJerkass:

* AdaptationalVillainy: In the book, the real Piper is an easy-going (when not doing his act) fellow conman with a trick pipe that affects rats hypersonically. In the film, [[spoiler: he's a crazed cannibal with an actual magic pipe.]]
* AdaptationDyeJob: Maurice is "a sort of mucky tabby" in the book, but ginger here.

* BrightIsNotGood: The real Pied Piper lives in a colorful little cottage in a brightly-lit clearing in the dark woods, [[spoiler: but is a rather unhinged and ruthless cannibal.]]
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: The Boss Man is [[spoiler: the Rat King]].

--->'''Malicia''': What? Who's to say a narrator can't also appear in the story she's telling?

* CompositeCharacter: Since Hamnpork has been AdaptedOut, Darktan takes over his role in the story and even gets a few of his lines. The result is that Darktan comes across as much more of an authoritarian in this movie than in the book, having inherited Hamnpork's bad temper and tendency to command... but he's kept the competence and intelligence he had in the book, making him an odd mix of DrillSergeantNasty and AFatherToHisMen.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Darktan serves as both this and SergeantRock to the rats. One example of his Drill Sergeant Nasty side is when her hammers home to Nourishing why you want to be the second mouse: because the second mouse gets the cheese, but the first mouse gets the trap!

* FullyDressedCartoonAnimal: Mr Bunnsy and most of his friends in ''Mr Bunnsy Has an Adventure''. Dangerous Beans, sort of (he wears a stripy sock as a kind of onesie).

* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Malicia ruefully explains to Keith after too much prodding about her troping that she ''knows'' life isn't like a story but of she didn't try to make her own she'd just be part of someone else's.

'''Pied Piper''': That's a fork.
* JabbaTableManners: Boss Man's ravenous devouring of his food, and the disgusting noises that accompany it, are enough to repulse his two rat catchers. [[spoiler:This is because he is actually a [[TheWormThatWalks being whose body is composed of hundreds of rats]].]]

* LaxativePrank: Maurice, Keith and Malicia get the rat catchers to spill their guts by convincing them that they have just consumed poisoned sugar. After getting the information they require, they tell the rat catchers that the antidote is in the cellar. After the rat catchers have scrambled into the cellar to find it, it is revealed that Maurice had actually spiked the the sugar with a laxative. And the 'antidote? More laxative.

** Mr Clicky is still involved in the showdown with the real Piper, but in a very different way.

* PatchworkKids: The children of a clockwork rat and an alarm clock look like clockwork rats with bells on their back.

* RoadSignReversal: Ollie the Snake does this in ''Mr Bunnsy has an Adventure'', [[ShowWithinAShow the children's book]] that serves as the FramingDevice for the film; flipping a sign to send Mr Bunnsy into the Dark Wood.
* RoboFamily: At the end, Mr Clicky has apparently married an alarm clock and had kids.

* SergeantRock: Darktan serves as both this and DrillSergeantNasty to the rats. One example of his Sergeant Rock side is when he leads the Rescue Squad to rescue Sardines from the Pit because NoOneGetsLeftBehind. He takes on multiple terriers singl-pawed and, at the end of the mission, hugs Nourishing and says "Welcome to the Rescue Squad!"

* StorybookOpening: Subverted. The book that opens the film is actually ''Mr Bunnsy Has an Adventure'', before Malicia, as the narrator, closes it and assures the viewer that [[ThisIsNotThatTrope this is not the story she's going to be telling]]. The end, however, has Maurice closing a copy of ''The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents''.

* WellThisIsNotThatTrope: The film begins with a StoryBookOpening of the sickeningly sweet ''Mr Bunnsy Has an Adventure''. After a couple of pages Malicia, narrating, slams the book shut and explains that she's going to be telling a very different story to that one.

* TheWormThatWalks: [[spoiler: The Boss Man is a swarm of rats in a coat and hat, controlled by the Rat King.]]