Don Bluth's Manxmouse

Don Bluth's Manxmouse is based on the book by Paul Gallico. This 2-d Animation Adaption would be directed by Don Bluth alongside fellow animators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy

Plot
On a spring day in the fictional town of Buntingdowndale, England, A ceramicist who specializes in making realistic mouse figurines, with His friends, the mice, who live in His home and give the Ceramicist inspiration, just completed His 9,998th and 9,999th creations, to be given to the bride and groom at a wedding. At the wedding celebration, the Ceramicist is given a few pounds of magic clay by an elderly man to make something very special. After returning home, drunk from drinking too much cider, The Ceramicist returns home to make His 10,000th creation, as the mice watch in bewilderment. The next morning, the ceramicist, who barely remembers the night, realizes He created another mouse figurine, and checks the kiln, and to His surprise and disappointment, He created an unusual mouse figurine. A Blue ManxMouse with orange ear innards, a body of an opossum, front paws of a monkey, ears of a rabbit, feet of a kangaroo, no tail, and with no expression of timidity. The Ceramicist, who couldn't bring Himself to destroy His failed project, in case anyone saw it, which would make the creator the laughingstock of the town’s artisans, decides to keep it, as a reminder not to drink too much at night.

Then, one night, on a full moon, the light of the moon, shines on the figurine as the town clock struck thirteen. the figurine started to move, and then became flesh-and-blood. The ceramicist who woke up and saw it, shed tears of joy, knowing that one of His works came to life. but, the ceramicist, knowing that He can't keep the Manxmouse a secret from the town, takes him to a forest where He can live in peace, as the rest of the mice give a send-off. The Manxmouse thanked the Ceramicist for giving Him life as the latter returned to His home village. The Manxmouse, thinking there are others like him, goes to search for them. As night fell, the Manxmouse encounters a shapeshifting ghost-like monster called a Boggart, said to turn into whatever its victims fear the most. but to the Boggart's shock, the Manxmouse walks through the forest without being scared. even though He turned into any animal that prey on mice, including a weasel, wolf, fox, snake, and cat. however, the Boggart is determined to scare the Manxmouse, even if it took the rest of His afterlife, but before leaving, the Boggart gave a grueling message, "Beware the Manx Cat", making the Manxmouse wonder what a Manxcat is, as the sun rose.

Miles later, The Manxmouse enters the village of Nasty, known for its four cottages surrounded by nature. The Manxmouse enters one of the cottages, and goes to find food until He is spotted and chased by a kitten, but managed to escape, as the mother cat scolded Her kitten for chasing a potentially poisonous mouse, due to its blue fur. Safe from harm, the Manxmouse goes to another cottage, but is attacked by a street cat, called One-Eye. who intends to eat Him, but stops when He realizes that He caught a tailless mouse, and apologized, saying only manxcats eat manxmice. As night began to fall, The Manxmouse goes to a pond to get himself clean, however, as He was done with his pond bath, Manxmouse is caught by a hawk, but, the Manxmouse enjoys the bird's-eye view of the environment, to the hawk's bewilderment. Soon, the hawk spots a rare cloud called a Cumulonimbus, but Manxmouse, feeling queasy from the high height, falls off but the hawk catches Him before falling to the ground. before saying goodbye, the hawk envies the mouse's ignorance of true fear, and it can be a great help in the future if He encountered the Manx Cat.

At a country club, Manxmouse rests under a tree, until He hears the horn of Fox Hunters, and a large group of bloodhounds chasing a fox, who hides inside the tree. Manxmouse, who saw this, tossed acorns at the attacking bloodhounds, tripping them up as He tells the fox to make a run for the forest, which He does. With the fox hunt ruined, the hunters scolded the bloodhounds for their failure, until they spotted the manxmouse, and they order the dogs to capture it. but, thanks to the mouse's quick thinking, and despite not being able to climb a tree, due to the lack of a tail, the Manxmouse jumps on the fox’s back, without being seen by the dogs and hunters. At night, the fox, knowing His wife and His kits would not understand a fox having a mouse for a friend, as foxes eat mice and not wanting to be forced to eat His new friend, the fox said goodbye to Manxmouse, who goes west.

Dozens of miles later, Manxmouse went inside a private school at night, where He finds shelter in a library. Manxmouse read some books regarding cats and mice. the next morning, Manxmouse found some food in a kitchen, but had to escape to avoid being detected by the disdaining Miss Martinet, the English Teacher, determined to punish who made the kitchen very messy. While hiding, Manxmouse met a kindly girl named Wendy H. Troy, who helps Him exit the school undetected. at Her home, Wendy introduces Herself, and after learning that Manxmouse has no first or middle name, She decides to let the Manxmouse stay for the weekend, and gave Him a name, Harrison B. Manxmouse, named after Her favorite Uncle. during the weekend, Wendy sews a coat, bowtie, undershirt, and bowler hat and gives them to Harrison as a gift, as She taught Him the game of Chess. On a breezy day, Wendy painted a canvas of Narrison, saying that Her dream is to be an artist, but Her parents didn’t approve since artists don’t make much money.

The weekend passed, and Wendy went to school, promising to talk with Harrison after class was over. Hours later, Wendy plays a game of chess with Harrison, which brought some unwanted attention from Miss Martinet, who spots Manxmouse and goes to tell the other schoolteachers. Minutes later, as Harrison is getting ready for bed, the teachers arrive, demanding to know where the mouse is hidden. Wendy refuses to stand aside as Miss Martinet pushes her aside to search her house. During that time, Harrison feeling hungry goes in the forest to look for food. Minutes later, after the the teachers fail to find the mouse, Miss Martinet demanded Wendy to tell her where she hid the mouse, and as Miss Martinet was about to strike Wendy, the Poetry teacher, Mr. Marrow, told Her to stop, as Corporal Punishment isn't allowed. As the other teachers went home, Mr. Marrow apologizes to Wendy for all that’s happened, and talked to her about what to do about the Manxmouse. Later, as Harrison returned to Wendy’s house, Mr. Marrow with a heavy heart, told Wendy that She can't have Harrison as a pet, because bad people like Miss Martinet will exploit or destroy Him as He is destined to be eaten by the Manx-Cat. With that, Wendy said goodbye to Manxmouse, as Mr. Marrow said that Wendy's right about good friends that are hard to find. Then, in private, Harrison asked Mr. Marrow if there were any manxmice, but the teacher said that in the tale, Harrison’s species were decimated by the manxcats. Harrison, after hearing this, run off while crying.

After a week passed, Harrison travels by truck to London, eating crackers during the trip, while he can’t stop thinking about the manxcat. Seconds after arriving in London, He is caught by Mr. Smeater, owner of a pet shop, and displays Him to potential buyers at His shop, complete with rare animals, including birds, snakes, hamsters, mice, rats, rabbits, ferrets, cats, and dogs, all of them smuggled from other countries, After Smeater displays the rare mouse in his shop, customers come and buy the other animals. But, earning the jealousy of the other mice. realizing that the animals adopted by customers didn’t care about the animals’ well-being, and that the animals Miss their homelands, Harrison escapes the shop and frees all of Smeater's animals, and after a chase through London's streets, hides out in Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, closed for the night. Having lost Smeater and the buyers, Harrison goes in the basement of the museum, and sleeps well, unaware that the place had exhibits that would normally scare people. minutes before dawn, Harrison wakes and encounters a wax replica of Himself. In a heart-to-heart talk, the wax replica says the Manx Mouse exists for a reason. minutes after the museum opens, Smeater and the buyers locate Harrison, as the mouse runs for His life and hides in a newspaper kiosk, where He hears two people talk that Manx Cats live in the Isle of Man. Harrison then collects some coins and asks the kiosk owner, where the Manx Cat lives. the owner says that to reach Manx Cat's house, He must go to the Isle of Man. by taking a train to Liverpool, and board the S.S. Manxbelle. And that's just what Harrison did. Just as Smeater is arrested for smuggling and the buyers for purchasing smuggled animals.

Arriving at the Isle of Man, by boat leaving Liverpool, Harrison goes to search for the Manx-Cat. after getting directions from a man (the same man who gave the ceramicist the magic Clay) Harrison finds the Manxcat at the Point of Ayre Lighthouse, the Manx-Cat spots Harrison, but calmly and politely welcomes the Tailless mouse to the Isle of Man. The Manx-Cat introduces Himself as Thomas N. Manx-Cat, and introduces His wife Margery, who will have her second litter of kittens at the final day of June, which is Tomorrow. Thomas lets Harrison in the house and He makes seafood and some fresh water, as He sadly said it will be His last meal, because on tomorrow, on account of a book called the Book of Premonitions, predicted and written by a prophet. Manxmouse, after hearing about the book, instead of running away, asks Manx-Cat more about the Book, which Manx-Cat read on, reading the history of the warring tribes of the Manx Mice and Manx Cats from 5,000 years ago. After the story, Harrison sorrowed that there were no other manxmice on the island or anywhere on earth.

Tomorrow came, as Thomas and Harrison prepare to go to the site of the Manxmouse's death, Harrison sadly said goodbye to Thomas’ three kittens. (one is tailless, one has a stumpy tail, and one has a long tail) at Castle Rushen. where the Island's Cats and Mice watch. along with every person Harrison encountered in his adventure, (including the Ceramicist) and the policeman from London offering to be referee to the event. as the proceedings started, Thomas started to hesitate and shed tears, saying, that He can't bring Himself to eat Harrison without resistance, even though the Book of Premonitions says to. Thomas asks Harrison if he wants to fight for his survival, Harrison refused, at first. But, at the urging of the other mice, Harrison decides to take a stand, ready for fight for his survival. Then, a representative from the Wax Museum, arrives at the castle. saying that in the book, "If the Aforesaid tailless mouse takes a firm stand, ready to fight for survival, all future events in the book of Premonitions will be null and void. as the Manxmouse and Manxcat will live in peace."

Harrison and Thomas celebrated as every witness cheered. Then, Thomas realizing there was some time left, ran home to witness the birth of his second litter, much to the delight and relief of Margery. Later in the day, as Harrison watched the sky, saddened to the fact there are no manxmice, and wished that he was a true mouse with a tail. the Man Manxmouse asked for directions, came by, and placed two mouse figurines (one is a tailed mouse, the other a tailless female mouse) in front of Harrison. the moonlight bathed the figurines who became flesh and blood. A part of the manxmouse (representing Manxmouse’s desire to be a normal mouse, went into the tailed figurine. (With Harrison acknowledging him as His little brother) The man said that the figurines were created by the ceramicist, days after Manxmouse was born. Days later, Harrison and the female manxmouse married, and after a few months, the manxmice were blessed with many children, (those with or without a tail) and the manxmice and manxcats look forward to a bright future where both species can coexist in peace and harmony.

In an epilogue, The Ceramicist retired and learning that children wanted to have a manxmouse of their own, decided to teach them about creating ceramic figurines. The Boggart still haunts the moors of Buntingdowndale, but still waited to scare Harrison if he ever returned. In the town of Nasty, One-Eye the cat, left the town of Nasty to find a good home, which he did, after he’s adopted by an elderly couple. Captain Hawk’s rank has been promoted since going inside a cumulonimbus cloud, and told stories to his younglings about a mouse who feared nothing, especially predators, The fox kept his promise to Harrison by sparing the next mouse he caught, and after the country club was closed down, the fox’s family lived there in safety. Wendy H. Troy, after the incident, went to another school to study art, at the urging of Mr. Marrow. Smeater’s smuggled returned to their places of origin, except the mice who decide to live in Liverpool. And Manxmouse’s little brother romanced with one of the town’s mice. As for the Manxmouse and Manxcat Families, they look at the night sky, knowing their future is brighter than any star in the sky.

Transcript
Don Bluth's Manxmouse (Transcript)