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| “ | Fear is a powerful motivator. | „ |
| ~ Mr. Grasping |
| “ | Then let us go forth together. Let us find the infiltrator. And send her back to her fellow barbarians with the message. This land is our land, and we are going to keep it that way! | „ |
| ~ Mr. Grasping's speech to the workers to start a mob and hunt down Cholena. |
Mr. Grasping is the main antagonist of An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island, the second sequel to An American Tail.
He is the loathsome leader of the factory owners of a Cheese Factory and the boss of Mr. Toplofty, Mr. O'Bloat, Chief McBrusque, and Scuttlebutt altogether. He is also the archenemy of Papa Mousekewitz.
He was voiced by Ron Perlman, who also played Clayface in the DC Animated Universe, Pap Finn in The Adventures of Huck Finn, Drekk in Men in Black: The Series, Count Nikolas Rokoff in The Legend of Tarzan, Dieter Reinhardt in Blade II, the Viceroy in Star Trek: Nemesis, the High Mage in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), Slade in Teen Titans, Bane, Killer Croc and Rumor in The Batman, Kago in Tarzan II, Hoodoo Brown in Gun, Sheriff Collie Entragian in Desperation, Biff Wellington in Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!, Justice in Afro Samurai, Warhok in Kim Possible, Sozin in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Clay Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, Gha Nachkt in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Nicola in Bunraku, the Stabbington Brothers in the Tangled franchise, The Lich in Adventure Time, Nino in Drive, Sinestro in Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Deathstroke in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Polyphemus in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Rust in Payday 2, Xibalba in The Book of Life, Armaggon in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), Gnarlak in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Bular in Trollhunters and the Podestà in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.
Biography[]
Mr. Grasping is the leader of the robber baron Factory Owners; which consist of himself and his colleagues, Mr. Toplofty and Mr. O'Bloat. He first appears when he confronts Tony Toponi for being late to work and nearly fires him, but is convinced by Mr. Mousekewitz to let him keep his job, so he’ll call the shots. When he is questioned by O'Bloat, another of the factory owners, about going soft and why he let Tony keep his job, he explains that it is because "fear is a powerful motivator” and Tony will be a very picture of punctuality. He is then questioned by the third factory owner named Toplofty why Mr. Mousekewitz is butting in and who he is to say what’s right and wrong. O’Bloat also questions Grasping if Mousekewitz is a leader among mice, much to their own amusement. He replies that he would look at them in the eye. Toplofty convinces Grasping that despite the spineless nature, Mousekewitz got what he wanted out of him, as he considered him to be a “troublemaker”. Grasping decides that they will keep an eye of Mr. Mousekewitz
Upon finding out about the Indians, Grasping tells the citizens that the Indians want to attack, stirring them up into an angry mob. After a long rampage to find the Indians, Dr. Dithering is accused of helping the Indians and brought to the butcher shop for his punishment. Before Dr. Dithering is executed, he is rescued by the friendly cat Tiger, before Mr. Mousekewitz tells all the mice the truth that the Indians mean no harm and that the factory owners are the real enemy. With every mouse in Manhattan now against them, the factory owners retreat, but not before Mr. Grasping, refusing to admit defeat, orders Chief McBrusque to turn the Indian home into a burial ground and kill anyone in his way.
| “ | Grasping: Patience, we'll find a way to regain control. Remember: there are lots of way to skin a cat. Tiger: I beg your pardon?! Grasping: Uh, never mind. |
„ |
| ~ Grasping's last words following his defeat. |
However, McBrusque and Scuttlebutt end up being drowned to their deaths after the plot is foiled by Fievel and his friends. This allows Mr. Mousekewitz to form a worker's union while Tiger temporarily becomes the new police chief to keep a watchful eye on the factory owners. Having lost control of the police force and the workers, the factory owners realize that they have will have to form a deal with the worker's union and meet their demands, otherwise they will end up penniless (as pointed out by Toplofty) and sent to prison. However, Mr. Grasping is unperturbed by this, as he assures Toplofty and O'Bloat that they will soon regain control by claiming that "there are lots of ways to skin a cat." However, Tiger overhears Grasping's comment and gets very furious at him, prompting a horrified Grasping to reluctantly give up before he and his cohorts move away, not wanting to provoke Tiger further.
It is unknown what happened to Mr. Grasping and his goons since they were never seen after that. But in the fourth sequel An American Tail: Mystery of the Night Monster it's possible that they were mentioned at the beginning of the movie, where Papa tells the story of the rats that own a clothing factory and makes the mice that work there very hard to the fact that they had no food, no air, no water, no nothing. Nellie Brie went there undercover and exposes the entire conflict in the newspaper and the factory owners were arrested.
Appearance[]
Mr. Grasping is an anthropomorphic rat with light brown fur, gray hair, and white eyebrows. He wears a black top hat with a purple band on his head. His suit is purple, and he has a yellow tie. He is tall and skinny, and walks with a cane on his hands are white gloves.
Personality[]
Mr. Grasping is a scheming, pompous, loathsome and acquisitive individual. He is shown to be cruel, greedy, ruthless, manipulative and opprobrious to his workers. Like Toplofty and O'Bloat, Mr. Grasping doesn't care about Indians and he tells their workers a fib about the Indians being enemies because he assumed that they would go after the factory.
Mr. Grasping also shows that he has little tolerance for his employees doing anything that could cost him money. When Tony arrived late for example, Grasping was about to fire him alongside his co-workers; depriving him of his pay even after Mr. Mousekewitz played into his ego by saying that Tony would learn how to fear him if he gave him another chance. Later, when the workers become outraged by having to triple their work for the same pay, Grasping ordered McBrusque to attack one of them. This shows that he is greedy enough to attack and/or ruin other people's lives even for minor offenses. Furthermore, while he is polite to his fellow factory owners, he does not care for them beyond what's expected of a professional relationship.
Even after his defeat, Grasping learned nothing as he planned on getting back control; even upon learning that Tiger has become the new police chief, Grasping plans to 'skin the cat', implying that he holds Tiger (and other cats) in low regard just as he does to his fellow rodents. It's only when Tiger threatens Grasping for making such a hurtful statement, Grasping reluctantly gives up, implying to be a coward. Also, he shows no compassion for his co-workers beyond what you would expect from a professional. Overall, Mr. Grasping is a horrible being who only cares about money. Even if he did feel as if the Indians were a real threat, his cruel and opprobrious nature makes him untrustworthy at best; purely evil at worst.
Trivia[]
- Mr. Grasping and his two colleagues are the only major antagonists in the American Tail film series who have no interaction with Fievel Mousekewitz, the main protagonist of the franchise. They are more the arch-enemies of Fievel's father and only their henchmen (Chief McBrusque and Scuttlebutt) have met and fought Fievel. That said, capturing Fievel was one of their goals.
- Mr. Grasping is the overall main antagonist of the film as he is the one who ordered McBrusque to attack the Indian mice in the climax and is responsible for causing a riot to find and attack Cholena. Thus, he had bigger plans than any other antagonist in the third film. Furthermore, he is also the leader of the factory owners.
- Alongside the other villains in the third movie, Mr. Grasping is the only major antagonist who is a rodent in the series, as opposed to Warren T. Rat and Cat R. Waul.
- Grasping is one of the least popular villains in the American Tail film series, as many viewed him as a racist character and is not as memorable as the other villains are in the series. Despite this, Ron Perlman is praised for his performance as Grasping. Over the years, Mr. Grasping has gathered more of a small fanbase. Despite this, he was not as entertaining or as popular as his two predecessors, Warren T. Rat and Cat R. Waul, and his successor, Madame Mousey.
- The factory owner's villain song, "Friends of the Working Mouse", was linked to controversy, involving Worker's Rights and racism. Despite this, the song has gathered a mixed reception, with some claiming it to be catchy and the singing voices of the late Tony Jay, the late Richard Karron, and Ron Perlman were praised.
- Mr. Grasping's top hat is similar to Cat R. Waul's top hat, just different colors. Cat R. Waul wears a red top hat with a black band around it. Mr. Grasping wears a black hat with a purple band around it.
- Mr. Grasping is one of the evilest characters in the American Tail film series (alongside his colleagues, Chief McBrusque and Warren T. Rat). This is due to the fact that he is viewed as a racist and greedy monster with no redeemable qualities. His and his co-owner's attempted genocide by proxy is also the most heinous act ever committed by a villain in the series discounting McBrusque carrying it out.
- Grasping and his colleagues are one of the only villains in the American Tail film series to sing, the others are Madame Mousey, Twitch, the Outlaw Cats and the Cactus Cat Gang.
- Based on Fievel’s father saying that all mouses seen in the movie, Grasping, included are foreigners, it’s likely that Grasping was born in a different country before migrating over to America, most likely from Hungary or Poland based on his accent (and his voice actor Ron Perlman being of Polish/Hungarian decent).
External links[]
- Mr. Grasping on the Pure Evil Wiki
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 Villains
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An American Tail Fievel Goes West Fievel's American Tails The Treasure of Manhattan Island The Mystery of the Night Monster | ||