Very well executed

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The DVD box claims that this mild comedy is 'hilarious' are somewhat inflated. Okay, the box copy on any comedy tends to exaggerate its hilarity, so we won't hold such hyperbole too strongly against it. That said, this modest sequel to The Mouse That Roared manages to entertain as what it is: a low key family comedy of moderate charms. The idiot locals of the tiny and pastoral Grand Duchy of Fenwick return, this time with a scam to get Uncle Sugar to pay to restore the place's ancient plumbing by way of a 'technology loan'. Wink, wink. When U.S. inspectors arrive to view the results of Fenwick's space program, the locals scramble to keep them off-balance while enlisting the aid of an eccentric old professor to build them a REAL moon rocket. And it just so happens he has been working on that very thing. There are the usual farcical runnings around and the presence of the quirky Terry-Thomas is always welcome in this sort of exercise, but the whole thing is less clever and less fun than the original or the many Ealing Studios caper movies from which it clearly draws inspiration. The look is good, the characters all have their modest individual charms and everything turns out nifty in the end, aww, but don't expect anything overly inspired. There isn't a lot of real cinematic cleverness here, just good, competent old-fashioned movie entertainment. As that it works just fine. Enjoy.

The tiny country of Grand Fenwick is again the center of attraction as its resourceful Prime Minister Mountjoy and a scientist, Professor Kokintz, want to make a statement to the world. The P.M. thinks that by interesting the Americans in a phony space plan, his country will receive a fair compensation in aid to replace the nation's poor plumbing system, while the professor has found what he was looking for with the help of the Grand Fenwick's wine in order to achieve his ambitious project. The tiny country is the envy of the American, Russian and British government because it will achieve something that its most powerful counterparts cannot do: be the first to land on the moon!The sequel of "The Mouse That Roared" gets a fun production by Richard Lester, a man that understood comedy well. One would have thought the loss of the previous hit star, Peter Sellers, would not work, but thanks to Mr. Lester's vision it is a much better film that we expected. Not having seen at all, we were able to catch up with it, as it appeared on a cable channel recently. The film has a great look in spite of the time elapsed since it was first release.On hand for this installment, are some excellent English performers. Margaret Rutherford makes a valuable contribution with her Gloriana XIII, a dizzy lady who gets her speeches confused whenever she happens to speak at a public function. Ron Moody is perhaps the best thing in the movie as the ambitious Mountjoy. Bernard Cribbins and June Ritchie play a young couple in love. David Kossoff is Professor Kokintz, the brainy inventor that is instrumental in the launching of the space ship. The excellent Terry-Thomas adds a funny performance to the movie.

The story line of how the underdog can beat the big boys is well executed, and although this comedy is not hilariously funny the story moves at a sufficient pace to keep the interest levels up. A wonderful array of stalwart British comedy actors march through this film, including a cameo for Frankie Howerd in need of the new public convenience.Where this film falls down, for me, is in Ron Moody's performance. His overacting singlehandedly turns this from potentially being a good film into one that can't be recommended. As if he were playing to a school of 5 year olds awaiting an episode of Crackerjack, Moody shouts and splashes and blusters his way aimlessly through this movie. Unfortunately he has a lead role. I'm no fan of Peter Sellers, but this film could have been so much more if perhaps the lead role had been given to John le Mesurier or Eric Barker rather than relegating them to small support roles.

The two "Mouse" films benefitted greatly from the wonderfully funny source novels by terribly under-appreciated Irish author Leonard Wibberley. Although the second film suffers in comparison because of the loss of star Peter Sellers, the performances by Ron Moody as Count Mountjoy and Dame Margaret Rutherford are still quite effective. It must be pointed out that some of the higher bits of satire of Wibberley's novel have gone missing from the film. In the novel, the Duchess (a 23-year-old married to Chief Forester Tully Bascomb) asks Count Mountjoy (she has called him "Bobo" since infancy) for an Imperial Russian sable fur coat. Mountjoy, desiring to update the Grand Fenwick castle's 14th century plumbing, gets a decree passed asking for a loan from the United States for $50,000 for the coat. Being the sly fox that he is, he also asks for $5 million to enter the SPACE PROGRAM! Of course, Mountjoy has every intension of buying the Duchess her coat and using the rest on the plumbing (and also for road improvements, as there are no paved roads in the country). The USA realizes that it's a ruse of some sort, but sees it as an excellent PR opportunity and decides to give them $50 million instead! The rest of the plot is pretty much directly translated into the film. Too bad Wibberley's remaining books in the series ("The Mouse on Wall Street," "The Mouse That Saved the West," and "Beware the Mouse!") were never filmed.