Movie Review: The Mouse Trap (2024)
Synopsis: Alex's friends surprise her with an early 21st birthday celebration after hours at the amusement arcade she works at. However, the celebration is soon interrupted by a spree killer that is dressed like the Mickey Mouse character, Steamboat Willie, and has the ability to teleport.
Who's in it? The movie stars Simon Phillips, Sophie McIntosh, Madeline Kelman, Mackenzie Mills and Callum Sywyk.
Review: It says a lot about the human race when a beloved classic like Steamboat Willie is no longer copyrighted and the first instinct is to make a horror movie featuring Mickey Mouse. However, I was admitted intrigued when I came across The Mouse Trap on Peacock and decided to give it a try.
One of the main reasons I love watching slasher movies is it is very difficult to mess them up. Even if you have some of the most annoying characters ever, as long as they are being brutally murdered, it is entertaining. This film is a great example of how to screw that up.
I spent a great deal of time trying to replay the movie in my head and the best way I can describe it is it felt like, during the editing process, someone cut out multiple scenes that would have made the movie make a whole lot more sense. I say this because, in its final format, this film was clearly missing something.
Let's start with Mickey (Phillips). My first thought was he was just some guy in a mask but as the movie progressed, it was unclear if that was the case or if Mickey actually came to life. This, in turn, created a whole other list of unanswered questions, such as why he came to life, why he wanted to kill people and why did strobe lights weaken him?
Then there were the cut scenes to Rebecca (Mills) telling the story via an interview with the police. It was clear they believed she was the killer, but the movie made no effort to explain why, other than she survived to tell the tale. That part made even less sense when it was later revealed there were multiple other survivors and, of the ones who left the amusement arcade alive, she was the only one with a knife wound. There were, admittedly, times when they seemed somewhat justified in suspecting her since Rebecca knew details about what happened she probably shouldn't have known but, again, the movie doesn't really follow through to clarify any of it, unless you count the end credit scene that just created more questions than answers.
Also, while I'm usually not the kind of person who focuses on continuity errors in films, this one had quite a few of them. For example, it looked like you could daylight outside even though the film was supposed to be taking place after dark. Also, at one point in the movie they completely forgot they were celebrating Alex's (McIntosh) birthday two weeks early and she wasn't 21 yet. Normally, those things aren't going to bother me that much but when the rest of the movie is bad, it's just adding fuel to the fire.
Final Opinion: I suspect the filmmakers rushed production on this so they could be the first to take advantage of the copyright expiration but in doing so, they proved being first isn't necessarily a good thing. This could have been a good movie, but the poor execution made it painful to watch.
My Grade: F
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