Film festival moves into classrooms

Through Sarasota Film Festival's Outreach and Education Department, middle-school classes participated in the Classroom Critic program and screened official short films selected for the festival’s youthFEST.

Through the critics program, they learned the basics of film analysis and critical review. Four film reviews have been selected for publication from more than 430 completed student reviews.

This week, two seventh-graders review "The Mouse That Soared." Check it out at the Sarasota Film Festival at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, April 11.

Joseph Schneider
Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School

Whoosh! All of a sudden, a magnificent mouse soars through the air. This is the tale of “The Mouse That Soared.” When a reporter says, “Your parents must be so proud,” the funny story of the flying rodent begins.

The writer and director, Kyle T. Bell, uses hilarious physical comedy to express the mouse’s story, including some amusing crashes the flying mouse experiences (while) he learns to fly for the first time. Bell also uses music and facial expressions to give this animated film its spark. The elements make the short animation easy to understand and very enjoyable.

Sadly, at the beginning of the film, the audience finds out that the mouse’s parents were killed by rat poison. Birds come to help the orphan mouse and teach him to soar. These natural flying educators have success with their rodent student, even though they had a few crash landings. Any child, or child at heart, will enjoy this funny and heartfelt short giggle of entertainment.

Victoria Parisi
Sarasota School of the Arts and Sciences

“The Mouse That Soared” is about a young mouse that has the ability to fly and is even equipped with his own pair of makeshift wings!

Due to the death of his parents, he is taken into the care of two birds. They attempt to teach him how to fly. After many mishaps, he finally finds himself gliding among the clouds. He ends up at the circus where they take him in as their star!

The one scene that stuck out the most was the beginning when the flashback began. Someone said, “Your parents must be so proud.” The mouse starts to remember the fateful day of their death, while the man’s words are played over and over. It was very dramatic. The carnival music helped to bring us back to the present from the flashback.

This animated film has no real “actors” but digital animations and sounds. The director seemed to favor film techniques like medium shots and zooming in. Dissolves and fade-ins were also used.

Overall, this film is recommended. It is perfect for short periods of time, when boredom finds its way in.

Entertaining, moving and very well put together, “The Mouse That Soared” gets two thumbs up!