One Rodent to Rule the Mansion

Read Time:5 Minute, 6 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Mouse Hunt (MouseHunt) (4K UHD)
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Genre: Comedy
Year Released: 1997, Kino Lorber 4K 2025
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director(s): Gore Verbinski
Writer(s): Adam Rifkin
Cast: Nathan Lane, Lee Evans, Christopher Walken, Vicki Lewis, Maury Chaykin, Michael Jeter, Eric Christmas, Ian Abercrombie, Camilla Søeberg, Annabelle Gurwitch, William Hickey, Ernie Sabella
Where to Watch: available June 24, 2025, pre-order your copy here: www.kinolorber.com or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: If Rube Goldberg had directed HOME ALONE and cast a rodent as the mastermind, you’d land somewhere in the neighborhood of MOUSE HUNT. Gleefully over-the-top and bursting at the seams with slapstick lunacy, this 1997 comedy from first-time director Gore Verbinski doesn’t just flirt with chaos—it buys it dinner, marries it, and moves into a house booby-trapped by fate and a single unstoppable mouse.

Nathan Lane and Lee Evans star as Lars and Ernie Smuntz, two bumbling brothers who inherit a crumbling mansion with dreams of turning it into a fortune. There’s just one problem: it already has a resident, and he’s two inches tall, fluffy, and has the cunning of a Bond villain. What begins as a simple plan escalates into a full-scale war involving tripwires, traps, total home destruction, and Christopher Walken in a role that defies description and exists solely to be legendary.

Is it absurd? Completely. Is it subtle? Not even a little. Is it fun? When it hits, it’s pure anarchy. Lane is pitch-perfect as the desperate straight man unraveling in real time, while Evans goes full cartoon character, bending the laws of physics and logic like rubber. Their chemistry works precisely because the movie never pauses to let anyone breathe—everything is dialed to eleven. Slapstick fans will be in heaven, especially those who remember the sheer joy of physical comedy that doesn’t care about realism, only results.

There’s a cartoon logic baked into the entire production, where every floorboard creak turns into a booby trap and no idea is too wild to try. The mansion itself becomes a playground for destruction, and the mouse? It’s not just smart—it’s practically a genius-level prankster with a PhD in sabotage. Every inch of the house becomes a battlefield, from attics to crumbling kitchens, and the pace never lets up. There’s no room for subtlety, and that’s exactly the point. You came here for chaos; this movie delivers it with a wrecking ball and a wink.

That said, it’s not for everyone. Some gags overstay their welcome, and younger audiences may find it more charming than adults revisiting it without nostalgia goggles. While it aims for Looney Tunes absurdity, it occasionally stumbles into repetitiveness. There's only so many times you can watch someone fall through a floor or get pelted by something before the joke wears a little thin. But it's hard not to enjoy yourself if you're in the mood for pure, unapologetic chaos with just enough heart to ground the nonsense.

Now brought back thanks to Kino Lorber’s brand-new 4K UHD edition, the film looks crisper than it has any right to. The restoration from Paramount Pictures, scanned from the original 35mm negative, boosts the visuals and heightens the absurdity in all the right ways. You get the 4K disc and a Blu-ray, each with lossless audio and a new commentary by Joe Ramoni from Hats Off Entertainment. There's even a treasure trove of extras: deleted scenes, a teaser, and trailer—because if you’re going to battle a mouse, you might as well be prepared.

Mouse Hunt happens when a movie says, “What if the mouse wins?” and then lets that mouse bring down a house, a family, and every sense of sanity in a five-block radius. It’s loud, wild, cartoonish, and gleefully committed to the chaos. It might not be perfect, but it might be your kind of party if you’re ready to laugh at plumbing disasters, rodent ingenuity, and Christopher Walken chasing a mouse like it owes him rent.

Product Extras :
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
Brand New HDR/Dolby Vision Master by Paramount Pictures – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
NEW Audio Commentary by Hats Off Entertainment's Joe Ramoni
5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
Triple-Layered UHD100 Disc
Optional English Subtitles

DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
Brand New HD Master by Paramount Pictures – From 4K Scan of the Original 35mm Elements
NEW Audio Commentary by Hats Off Entertainment's Joe Ramoni
From the Cutting Room Floor: Deleted Scenes (14:29)
Theatrical Teaser (1:26)
Theatrical Trailer (2:04)
5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
Dual-Layered BD50 Disc
Optional English Subtitles

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[photo courtesy of KINO LORBER]

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