Mouse that rides a motorcycle

Sweet, classic tale mixes live actors and mice puppets.

NR 2008 60 minutes

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What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Mouse and the Motorcycle is a faithful adaptation of the popular children's novel by Beverly Cleary, blending live actors in the human roles with realistic looking puppet animation to bring the mice to life. Ralph, the mouse, is a mischievous scamp looking for some fun, and his new human friend Keith has just the thing: a toy motorcycle that's perfectly suited for a small rodent. The film is tailored for a young audience, with no swearing, drinking, or anything else that might alarm parents.

Community Reviews

cfarthing08 Adult

May 8, 2018

age 5+

Great story

Loved it as a child

heidih2 Adult

September 22, 2014

age 4+

Fun for kids, a bit bland for the grown ups

Beverly Cleary's beloved tale comes to life in this short movie from the 1980s. The child is charmingly played, but other characters are a little stilted. It's a cute, childlike tale of a mouse who could make a toy motorcycle run by making motorcycle sounds. Parents can be the judge if there child is ready for the intense scenes in the film, which are overall pretty mild. The most intense portion for my 3 year olds was when the mouse is hanging by a branch outside the inn and falls to the ground while an owl tries to catch him. I assured them the mouse was okay and they loved it. Moments to watch for: mouse gets caught in a wastepaper basket, a laundry basket, nearly gets sucked up a vacuum cleaner tube, runs away from a cat and a dog on his motorcycle, and gets caught under a glass by an adoring lady who wants to take him to her kindergarten class, but instead tosses him out her window into the branches where he sees the owl and then falls to the ground below avoiding the owl's clutches. Hope this helps!

What's the Story?

When Keith and his parents check into the falling-apart Mountain View Inn, the adults are dismayed to learn the hotel may have vermin. Keith, however, is thrilled to make friends with an adventurous mouse named Ralph. The mouse is just as thrilled when Keith lets him take a spin on his toy motorcycle, just the right size for Ralph to zip around the room and down the hall. The unlikely friendship is put to the test in THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE when Keith falls ill, and Ralph must take on a dangerous nighttime mission, braving owls, cats, and hotel maids, in search of medicine.

Is It Any Good?

This version of The Mouse and the Motorcycle perfectly captures the sweet spirit of Beverly Cleary's classic children's novel. It reveals the unique bond between children and the special playmates that adults are unable to appreciate. Or in this case, a new mouse friend that Keith's parents would never believe capable of befriending a young boy. The film features live actors in the human roles with furry puppets as the animals, and the animated effects aren't especially impressive. But that's not the point here: The joy is in the charming story and the important relationship between Keith and Ralph. Kids will enjoy the tale, and will be able to relate to a story that focuses on things that only children understand, while parents will be happy to find their children laughing at something so pure and simple.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

• Why do Ralph and Keith become friends? What do these unlikely pals have in common?

• How does Ralph's behavior change during the story? Does he keep his promises at the start of the film? Is he more trustworthy by the end?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming: June 24, 2008
• Cast: Ray Walston, Thom Sharp, Mimi Kennedy
• Director: Ron Underwood
• Studio: New Video Group
• Genre: Family and Kids
• Topics: Cats, Dogs, and Mice, Friendship
• Run time: 60 minutes
• MPAA rating: NR
• Last updated: January 12, 2022

Our Editors Recommend

• The Tale of Despereaux

  Touching, beautiful tale is an excellent family film.

  age 6+

• The Great Mouse Detective

  Clever Sherlock Holmes tribute mixes wit, peril.

  age 6+

• An American Tail

  Heartwarming tale of immigrant mouse has some peril.

  age 5+

Themes & Topics

Browse titles with similar subject matter.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

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Mouse and Motorcycle Ralph S. Mouse Computer mouse The Ralph Mouse Collection Motorcycle helmet, little mouse, mammal, animals png

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Image size

544x700px

File size

300.85KB

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Non-Commercial Use, DMCA Contact Us

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Rybkino freezes... - KN

Rybkino freezes...Marina KOSTROVAKostanay newsKazakhstan. Kostanaypr. Al-Farabi, 90+7 (7142) 53-27-93 Rybkino is freezing...

And not only in temperature. We drove here with enthusiasm. For the last time, KN correspondents were greeted in this village cheerfully, with songs and dances.

- It was such a cheerful village, friendly. Folk festivities in honor of seeing off winter, Maslenitsa, New Year. We celebrated the holidays with the whole world, - Evgeny Kolesnikov, the owner of the only rural store, leads us to the main abandoned village of Rybkino - the former House of Culture. He is both the owner and the seller in his store. A man cannot afford to maintain a separate work unit. – Do you remember our population explosion in 2007? How many children were born then! All newspapers wrote about us. Now all the young people who have at least some penny immediately leave here. Ready to rent a little room in the city, huddle, just to leave. nine0103

On the street white-white. A frost came from the night, and it was he who turned Rybkino into a fairy tale. The village welcomed us, its guests, with fringed trees and crystal silence.

According to official figures, 188 people live in Rybkino today. However, Alexander Aipashev, the bread truck driver, saw us first. He delivers bread to the department daily. The norm is at least two trays. Yevgeny, the owner of the selmag, accepts fragrant goods. He says the store was built back in 1986 year. Since then, nothing has changed here. Nothing. The assortment is.

Half of the building has been empty since the 1990s. It makes no sense to fill it, because the villagers now buy only the most necessary. Grocery TOP is simple, like the back of a pollock - bread, sugar, pasta. At the same time, Eugene cannot leave the outlet. Although no, maybe. Doesn't want to. Responsibility gets in the way. How is it in a village without a store at all?

- I haven't even imported fruits and vegetables for the last six months. Everything disappears. Who can, he goes to buy in Karabalyk, our regional center. But the point is that people began to live worse. It's hard for everyone. No work, no harvest. Even the bus comes to us only once a week. But from us to the regional center is only 20 km, - says Eugene. nine0103

This is not about feelings, but about reality. The snow-white fringe from the trees will soon melt, as if it never existed. And the problems of the villagers will remain. Locals fear that the situation may even worsen. Yevgeny Kolesnikov says that today only water keeps the Rybkins in the village. It was held in 2020, after several years of drought and population migration. The trouble was colossal - the water level in the wells fell so that the bucket was filled only with gills. That is, silt with garbage (local slang). nine0229
Now they are promising to install gas in Rybkino. It remains to be hoped that by then there will still be someone to conduct it.

And even a mouse. ..

Lyudmila Saipenova is a native of Rybkino. Five years ago, a woman actively decorated village life. Together with other villagers, she challenged the neighboring Smirnovka to a creative battle. Women sewed costumes, composed perky ditties, charged the entire rural district with positive. In our presence, Lyudmila recalled the past and took out those same suits from dusty bags. nine0103

- No one needs them anymore, these suits. We now have no enthusiasm, no harvest, no work. We don’t spend holidays anymore, because there is no support. Our new director of LLP does not even produce diesel fuel,” she says.

And there is no need to tell. The office is more like an ice castle. Icy - because there is no heating here for two years in a row. That is, there is a stove, but there is no firewood. And the castle - because the structure is about to fall apart. Even the light bulb burned out. And in the middle of Lyudmila's office, a dead mouse was sprawled - the apotheosis of desolation and uselessness. nine0103

“Probably the mouse is frozen,” Lyudmila jokes sadly.

A woman brought a heater into her office. It is the warmest in the whole building, but it is not warm here either. There is also a medical center nearby. He's locked up. It is simply unrealistic to receive people in such permafrost.

But the fact that there is no work is from the word at all. Previously, the company employed twenty machine operators. Now there are three. Lyudmila works here as an accountant.

- Until recently, we still had at least a library. And that one was closed - the company did not pay the salary of the librarian. Then our books were taken away. But they were good, - says Saipenova contritely. - But you know, even though our life is lousy, but the soul asks for a holiday! We will try our best to make a holiday for Nauryz. Who will bring a rag for an outfit, who will bake baursaks. Note as before! nine0103

An interesting feature: in Rybkino, mainly sheep are bred. People say it's less expensive. Lambs eat less and breed faster. On the day of our arrival, there was a replenishment in Lyudmila's barn - a sheep lambed. Let's hope this is a good sign.

Anatoly Solopov picks up a dusty instrument and winds up a hooligan ditty. The whole Karabalyk region knows this person. The man, now retired, devoted his whole life to nature. He worked in the regional inspectorate for the protection of wildlife. Now, he says, there is not enough time for everything, he has too many hobbies. nine0103

Let's start with beekeeping. Tell me, have you ever seen bees with their own apartment? And we didn't see. Anatoly leaves insects alive in the winter, feeds them with honey. 50 bee colonies wait out the cold in the second half of the house. And this is not the most surprising. Let's be honest: this is not a house, but a real museum. Time seems to have stopped here. A man keeps a lot of musical instruments - balalaikas, mandolin, button accordion, guitar, accordion ... You can't count everything. Even the gramophone is in working order. nine0103

– I have a lot of old stuff. This spinning wheel is still grandmother's. Not my mother's, grandmother's! I want to turn half of the house into a museum. There is only a whole collection of discarded antlers of elk and roe deer. These horns - they belonged to a reindeer, - Solopov says enthusiastically.

The pensioner has a membership card of the Kazakhstan Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity (ASBK). He travels to nature, sets camera traps, conducts his own observations. One bad thing is that there is absolutely no time for a long-standing hobby - woodcarving. Leshy, who greets guests in the yard, turns 37 this year. Pine Cat Basilio purrs nearby. nine0103

Previously, these figures stood in the yard of the local garden and school. That garden is no more.

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