Mouse (MouseHunt)

The mouse is the (sort of) main antagonist in the 1997 movie MouseHunt.

Lars and Ernie Shmurtz inherit of an old mansion after their father's death, and discover it is worth a great deal of money, being the last creation of a famous artist. They start renovating the place, wich is already inhabited by a tiny little mouse. Having lost his job at a restaurant because of a cockroach, Ernie makes a priority to get rid of the parasite.

The mouse, however, is incredibly intelligent and cunning, making all the brothers' attempts to kill it backfire at them, in a Tom & Jerry-like fight. From putting mousetraps to shotting with a riffle, to buying a cat to hiring an eccentric exterminator, the brothers and their allies are the only ones always injured, the mouse taking advantage of its small size and knowledge of the house to sabotage their efforts. The battle gets more and more agressive along the film, and the mansion gets more and more devastated as a result.

The brothers manages (accidently) to knock the mouse uncouncious, but in a comical change of heart, cannot bring themselves to kill it. They put it instead in a box that they mail to Fidel Castro. However, the box is sent back due to insufficient postage. After an ultimate chase, the mouse is seemingly killed, but the mansion falls in pieces. The brothers are left homeless and pennyless, and go to a string factory they also inherited from their father.

The mouse survived and follows them. Having no home either, it decides to make peace with the brothers by making the factory produce string ball shaped cheese, which becomes a success. The brothers and the mouse become partners.

It is interesting to note that all along the film, the audience can either side with the Smuntz brothers, who need the house restored to earn moneyand get out of a precary situation, or with the mouse that is merely defending itself and it territory from many attemps to kill it.