Reviews - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

1.13k reviews for:

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Robert C. O'Brien

4.09 AVERAGE

kbazile's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

keefonanley's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

binhbi's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Very, very cute. I love the way the author speaks, to clue you into Mrs. Frisby’s thoughts and experiences without saying so directly. I do love her courage and persistence. Barbara Caruso did an excellent job voice acting all the characters in the audiobook.

trin's review against another edition

4.0

The Secret of NIMH was one of my favorite movies as a kid, so I'm sort of shocked that I never read the book before now. But not as shocked as I was to discover how different this is -- the novel, unlike the film, has no fantasy elements at all (if you discount talking animals, which in this context, I do). Props to Don Bluth and cowriters for the strange but magnificent adaption, which has one of the most memorable and frightening climaxes of any film -- children's or otherwise -- that I can recall. And this is not in the book! The filmmakers were wise to shift the conflict with Jenner to the present, and the emotional core of the climax to Mrs. Frisby and her children, rather than the rats. Also, props to the way the film covers the rats' backstory so efficiently and with such memorable imagery -- spiraling DNA! Was this the first time I ever encountered that? -- when in the novel it takes chapters. Though of course, in fairness to O'Brien, that is the advantage of a visual medium over a written one.

This has turned into a review of the film much more than of the book, but I can't divorce them in my mind, and my intense fondness for the former certainly colored my opinion of the latter. I think I would have found this inventive but average were Bluth's visuals not imprinted so firmly in my brain. But why quibble over the boost?

Some random other thoughts:

--I had forgotten that our heroic mouse protagonist isn't called Mrs. Frisby in the film, but Mrs. Brisby. Apparently this is because the makers of frisbees threatened to sue the filmmakers for possible copyright infringement. Wow. Fuck off, Big Frisbee.

--I recalled the heroic rat Justin being An Uncomfortably Sexy Animated Animal, a la the Robin Hood foxes, and figured this was because Bluth seems to like to include a certain type of man who is That Way (see also Dimitri in Anastasia, a far inferior film -- don't @ me, Anastasia girlies!). But in fact, O'Brien also takes the time to pause the narrative to let readers know that Justin is one hot rat. No one is allowed to leave this story without understanding what a sexy rat Justin is, okay?

--The Jerry Goldsmith score to the film is so good that just a few notes of the theme reduced me to a blubbering mess when I rewatched tonight. Suddenly I was five years old again, feeling how deeply this story gripped me.

--It's possible that we as a society forgot how to make good children's movies when we stopped making them incredibly terrifying/traumatizing. Without the owl from this movie and the Swamps of Sadness from The Neverending Story, who would I even be? Don't answer that.

stephaniesteen73's review against another edition

4.0

Just finished reading this aloud to Emily. Since she loves animal books, I thought she would like it - and she did (though she was upset at the ending). It was amazing (disturbing) how little I remembered of the book and very enjoyable to revisit it. Thumbs up!