To borrow a pun from the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies, this 'squeakquel' to Willard sees intelligent rat Ben and his furry followers befriending Danny (Lee Montgomery), a lonely little boy with with a dicky ticker, who is delighted when the rodents appear in his back yard having escaped extermination at the Stiles house. As Danny learns to communicate with Ben, the rascally rat and his army leads a reign of terror in the neighbourhood in their search for food, leading the authorities to step up their game.
In Lee Montgomery, this film has one of the most talentless and irritating child actors I can recall, the lad putting in a performance barely worthy of a grade-school play; it's a shame, then, that much of the movie rests on this kid's unworthy shoulders. Montgomery not only 'acts', but sings and plays instruments as well, performing the same song twice (as part of his incredibly twee puppet theatre), composing Michael Jackson's hit single 'Ben's Song' on the fly, and going absolutely bonkers while playing the harmonica (the film's most unintentionally hilarious moment). His musical skills are on a par with his acting.
As if young Montgomery's dreadful performance wasn't bad enough, the film also suffers from a dull final act, as the fire department wanders the city's sewers searching for the rats, armed with shotguns and flamethrowers. Director Phil Karlson shows us repeated shots of the rats being roasted and blasted, which quickly gets boring. Meanwhile, Danny crawls through muck and waste in an attempt to warn Ben of the impending danger, with his sister in hot pursuit, and one can't help but hope that the boy gets torched by accident, or at least contracts something nasty from all that sewage.
In Lee Montgomery, this film has one of the most talentless and irritating child actors I can recall, the lad putting in a performance barely worthy of a grade-school play; it's a shame, then, that much of the movie rests on this kid's unworthy shoulders. Montgomery not only 'acts', but sings and plays instruments as well, performing the same song twice (as part of his incredibly twee puppet theatre), composing Michael Jackson's hit single 'Ben's Song' on the fly, and going absolutely bonkers while playing the harmonica (the film's most unintentionally hilarious moment). His musical skills are on a par with his acting.
As if young Montgomery's dreadful performance wasn't bad enough, the film also suffers from a dull final act, as the fire department wanders the city's sewers searching for the rats, armed with shotguns and flamethrowers. Director Phil Karlson shows us repeated shots of the rats being roasted and blasted, which quickly gets boring. Meanwhile, Danny crawls through muck and waste in an attempt to warn Ben of the impending danger, with his sister in hot pursuit, and one can't help but hope that the boy gets torched by accident, or at least contracts something nasty from all that sewage.