Topic 38 of 47: "Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH"
Mon, Mar 25, 2002 (19:36) |
Samm Blob (AlFor)
Further proof that books are generally better than the movies that are based on them (although my sister claims to have found the exception to the rule: Bridges Of Madison County; she HATED the movie, but when she read the book she said it was WORSE!)
I have been a fan of Don Bluth's ever since I saw his movie The Secret Of NIMH. It was excellent. So were The Land Before Time, An American Tail and Balto.
But it wasn't until I read Robert C. O'Brien's Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH that I realized how much unbridled hype was introduced into the movie. There is no magic in the book. The owl, while still menacing (and still a carnivore), was rather more civil than the monstrous oracle in the movie. Nicodemus, far from being a mystic, is not even the rat who led the rats of NIMH to freedom; that was Justin, but everyone assumed that Nicodemus was the leader because he was older. The real brains of the organization were Justin and Jenner, although it was Nicodemus who came up with The Plan.
Far from being the scheming, Machiavellian villian portrayed in the movie, Jenner is simply not convinced in the validity of the plan and wants to keep the status quo. When the rats put their support behind the plan, instead of trying to derail the plan and gain power over the rats, Jenner and his followers simply leave. In fact, Mrs. Frisby never meets Jenner; by the time she goes to the rats for help to move her house, Jenner and his followers have already left.
Those who have seen the movie know who dies in the end, but the rat who dies in the end of the book (or does he?) is not the same one who dies at the end of the movie.
Not the spine-tingling thriller the movie was, the book is far better. I still like the movie, though.
3 responses total.
Topic 38 of 47 [books]: "Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH"
Response 1 of 3: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Mar 25, 2002 (19:54) * 1 lines
It sounds like they were two different stories - each good in its own way. I'll look for this one, too, on your recommendation. I'km with your sister on Bridges of Madison County. I disliked it so much I was angry with myself for wasting both time and money on it.
Topic 38 of 47 [books]: "Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH"
Response 2 of 3: Wolf (wolf) * Tue, Mar 26, 2002 (16:27) * 1 lines
i read the rats of nimh too and liked it better. we have the cartoon version as well.
Topic 38 of 47 [books]: "Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH"
Response 3 of 3: Sam Blob (AlFor) * Tue, Mar 26, 2002 (18:52) * 16 lines
Things that made it through the transition from book to movie:
The basic characters of Mrs. Frisby (changed to Brisby in the movie), Mr. Ages, the late Jonothan Frisby/Brisby, Jeremy (rather sillier in the movie than in the book)
Sullivan, Jenner's flunky in the movie, is given ONE passing mention in the book. That one mention established Sullivan as the brains behind the creation of the community under the rosebush. It is not mentioned whether Sullivan was with the Plan or with Jenner, but the mere fact that a legend like Sullivan is not mentioned in the execution of the Plan tends to indicate that he left with Jenner, which would be reasonable since the Plan involved undoing everything he had done.
Arthur, the engineer behind the execution of The Plan, is not mentioned in the movie.
Brutus is rather more vocal (and mildly less violent) in the book than in the movie.
There is no magic, no amulet, and therefore no magic amulet, in the book. There was no need for Mrs. Frisby's "house" to be saved magically, because the moving of the house was not sabotaged, because Jenner was not there, and would probably not be intending sabotage even if he was there.
In the movie, Jenner was demonized, Nicodemus was mysticized, and Justin was romanticized. Jenner was the most unfairly treated, but Justin was far more in the book than he was in the movie. Nicodemus, the wise and magical mystic in the movie, was rather more ordinary in the book. Mystic he was NOT, nor even particularly skillful, but he was a philosopher who envisioned a civilization of rats that did not have to rely on theft in order to survive. This philosophy, which was at the core of the Plan, had the support of Justin and of most of the rats, but not of Jenner.
I supposed there was a democracy of sorts among the rats, but in reality they were ruled by a triumvirate: Nicodemus, Justin and Jenner. Nicodemus was a figurehead (until he came up with The Plan), Justin was the technical organizer and Jenner was the political realist.
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