1. MouseHunt (1997): Lars (Lee Evans) and Ernie (Nathan Lane) Smuntz are two hapless brothers, and sons of wealthy string manufacturer Rudolf Smuntz (William Hickey). Pop, as they called him, dies, leaving them his vintage string factory and a handful of personal items including a box of cigars, which Ernie quickly takes, and the deed to an old mansion with a bank debt. Later that day, a couple of representatives from company called Zeppco International offers to buy the factory from Lars. Lars then remembers he and his brother, after being given a lucky piece of string, had promised their dying father to never sell the factory. He declines the offer (without first telling Ernie) but accepts a business card from the Zeppco representatives. That night, his wife April (Vicki Lewis) discovers this and throws him out in a rage. Meanwhile, Ernie, who never cared for his father's business, serves the mayor at his restaurant Chez Ernie. A cockroach crawls out of the box of cigars into one of the dishes. The mayor accidentally eats it and dies of a heart attack, and due to the publicity, Ernie loses his restaurant and home. He meets Lars in a diner, where they reconcile and decide to investigate the old mansion, since both of them have nowhere else to live. They find the mansion to be "... just like him: cold and spooky". Their first night in the only bed there is a noise, which they attribute to a mouse that they find in the attic. They also find the mansion's blueprints, which show that it was built in 1876 by a famous architect, Charles Lyle LaRue. The find attracts immediate interest, including a collector of LaRue items, Alexander Falko (Maury Chaykin), who offers to buy the mansion right then for $10 million. However, Ernie greedily convinces Lars that they can make more money if they restore it and then auction it off. April reconciles with Lars and finances the restoration. The brothers begin renovating, which destroys the mouse's home behind a wall. The mouse subsequently sabotages their efforts, invoking numerous attempts by them to kill it, which injure only themselves and coincidentally destroy prominent portions of the house. They cover the floor with mousetraps, which the mouse triggers with a cherry. they try to suck it up with a vacuum cleaner but gets stuck in a sewage pipe, causing the bag in the vacuum cleaner to explode. They acquire a deranged cat, named Catzilla, which the mouse tricks into falling down a Dumbwaiter shaft. Finally they hire an eccentric exterminator named Caesar (Christopher Walken). Meanwhile, Ernie finds the Zeppco business card in the string factory and surreptitiously arranges a meeting (without telling Lars), which never occurs because he flirts with two Belgian women and gets hit by a bus. The brothers return to the house as Caesar, injured and insane, is taken away by paramedics, who found him locked in a trunk in the attic, like the previous owner. After another chase after the mouse, the two brothers result in being burnt/injured with Ernie being blasted out of the chimney and into a frozen lake in a ball of fire. Completely berserk, Ernie grabs a shotgun and fires at the mouse, missing each time and causing the floor to collapse by accidentally shooting a bug bomb dropped by Caesar. In the ensuing calm, the answering machine plays a message from Zeppco, withdrawing their offer to buy the factory. The brothers begin to argue about each betrayal, and Lars, enraged, throws an orange at Ernie, missing and knocking the mouse unconscious. Finding the opportunity, the brothers wanted to finish the mouse off, but their consciences desists them despite all the mayhem the mouse contributed. Instead, the brothers happily mail the mouse to Cuba. They finally finish restoring the mansion and host a lavish auction at the premises. The bidding rises into millions, when Lars discovers the mouse parcel, returned due to insufficient postage, with a hole chewed through. In horror, the brothers immediately attempt to find and kill the mouse. They feed a hose into the walls to try and flood the mouse out. Meanwhile, Alexander Falko bids $25 million, but before the auctioneer's gavel drops, the walls collapse under the water pressure. The water flushes out all the people inside the house before the house finally collapses to the ground. The brothers' only consolation is the apparent certainty that the mouse has finally been killed, and they assumed so when they found their father's lucky piece of string, which the mouse ate earlier. Ruined again, the brothers spend the night in the string factory, unaware that the mouse has survived and followed them. The mouse activates the factory machinery and drops a slab of cheese into the wax receptacle. The noise awakens the brothers, who find a ball of string cheese at the end of the production line. The film switches to Lars giving his new girlfriend a tour of the highly modernised factory, which now manufactures string cheese very profitably. Ernie is the top chef for new blends, but accepts them only after quality control by the mouse, telling it, "We want you to be our spokesperson. I'm sure people have had a mouse as a spokesperson before and it turned out pretty well." The film ends with the portrait of Rudolf Smuntz beaming (his expression in the portrait has been changing throughout the entire film), and his lucky piece of string laminated, framed and hung beside the portrait, with his famous quotation written under it, "A world without string is chaos."
2. Tarzan (1999): In the late 1880s off the coast of Africa, a young couple and their infant son escape a burning ship, ending up on land near uncharted rainforests (presumably West Africa). The couple craft themselves a treehouse from their ship's wreckage. The couple are killed by a savage female leopard named Sabor. Kala (Glenn Close), a gorilla who recently lost her own child to the vicious leopardess, hears the cries of the orphaned infant, and finds him in the ruined treehouse. Kala is attacked by Sabor, who wants to kill and eat the baby, but Kala manages to get her tangled in the ropes holding the derelict rowboat, and she and the baby escape. The kindly Kala takes the baby back to the Gorilla troop to raise as her own, despite her mate Kerchak's (Lance Henriksen) disapproval. Kala raises the human child, naming him Tarzan (Alex D. Linz as a young boy, Tony Goldwyn as a young adult). Though he befriends other gorillas in the troop and other animals, including the young female gorilla Terk (Rosie O'Donnell) and the male elephant Tantor (Wayne Knight), Tarzan finds himself unable to keep up with them, and takes great efforts to improve himself, including occasionally fashioning crude tools, to put him on par with the other gorillas. As a young man, Tarzan is able to kill Sabor with his crude spear and protect the troop, earning Kerchak's reluctant respect. The gorilla troop's peaceful life is interrupted by the arrival of a team of human explorers from England, including Professor Porter (Nigel Hawthorne), his daughter Jane (Minnie Driver) and their hunter-guide Clayton (Brian Blessed). Jane is accidentally separated from the group and chased by a pack of baboons. Tarzan saves her from the baboons, and recognizes that she is the same as he is, a human. Jane leads Tarzan back to the explorer's camp, where both Porter and Clayton take great interest in him—the former in terms of scientific progress while the latter hoping to have Tarzan lead him to the gorillas so that he can capture them and return with them to England. Despite Kerchak's warnings to be wary of the humans, Tarzan continues to return to the camp and be taught by Porter and Jane to speak English and learn of the human world, and both he and Jane begin to fall for each other. However, Clayton cannot convince Tarzan to lead him to the gorillas, due to Tarzan's fear for their safety from the threat of Kerchak. When the explorers' boat returns to pick them up, Clayton makes Tarzan believe that if he shows the group the gorillas, then Jane will stay with him forever. Tarzan agrees and leads the party to the gorilla troop's home, while Terk and Tantor lure Kerchak away to avoid having him attack the humans. Porter and Jane are excited to mingle with the gorillas, but Kerchak returns and threatens to kill them. Tarzan is forced to hold Kerchak at bay while the humans escape, and then leaves the troop himself, now alienated by his actions. Kala takes Tarzan back to the treehouse she found him in, and shows him his true past (including an old photograph of Tarzan's biological parents, and himself as a baby). Kala encourages him to follow his heart, and leave with Jane and Professor Porter (although it will break her heart to see him go). When they return to the ship, they are ambushed by pirates, led by Clayton, who desires to capture and sell the gorillas in England for a fine price. He orders them locked below with the Captain and his crew, but Tarzan manages to escape with the help of Tantor and Terk, and races back to the gorilla home. Kerchak and Tarzan together battle Clayton; Kerchak is fatally shot, while Clayton chases Tarzan into the vine-covered trees, where Tarzan gets the drop on him, destroying Clayton's gun. Clayton, in his haste to kill Tarzan, ignores his warning about the vine wrapped around his neck, and Clayton's neck is broken in the drop when he cuts himself free. Kerchak, in his dying breath, accepts Tarzan as his own son finally, and names him the leader of the gorilla troop. The rest of the gorillas (including Kala) are freed by Jane, Professor Porter, Terk and Tantor, and other of Tarzan's miscellaneous animal friends (baboons, rhinos, etc.), after fighting and/or scaring away the rest of Clayton's men, imprisoning them in the very same cages they planned to imprison the gorillas in. The next day, as Porter and Jane prepare to leave on the ship, Tarzan reveals that he now plans to stay with the gorilla troop. As the ship leaves shore, Porter encourages his daughter to stay with the man she loves, and Jane jumps overboard to return to shore; Porter shortly follows himself. The two are accepted into the gorilla troop where, as the song says, they are all finally "Two Worlds, One Family".
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001): Harry Potter is a seemingly ordinary eleven-year-old boy, living with his negligent relatives, the Dursleys. On his eleventh birthday, Harry learns from a mysterious stranger, Rubeus Hagrid, that he is actually a wizard, famous in the Wizarding World for surviving an attack by the evil Lord Voldemort when Harry was only one year old. Voldemort killed Harry's parents, but his attack on Harry rebounded, leaving only a lightning-bolt scar on Harry's forehead and rendering Voldemort powerless. Hagrid reveals to Harry that he has been invited to begin attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry defies his aunt and uncle, and attends Hogwarts where he begins to learn magic and make new friends, as well as enemies, among the Hogwarts students and staff. Voldemort has been near death, and in hiding, since the attack on Harry ten years earlier, but a plot is brewing for the Dark Lord to regain his power and strength through the acquisition of a philosopher's stone, which grants immortality to its owner. Harry and his friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, discover the plot and seek to prevent the theft of the stone, which is hidden in a protected chamber at Hogwarts. The three friends suspect Professor Snape, a teacher who for unknown reasons despises Harry. The culprit is actually the seemingly cowardly teacher, Professor Quirrell, who is acting on Voldemort's orders. Harry manages to defeat Quirrell, and the stone is forever destroyed by Albus Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel, crushing the chance of Voldemort returning to power
4. The Haunted Mansion (2003): The prologue shown over the opening credits is a series of vignettes which sketch the story eventually told later in the film: sometime in the 19th century, a young landowner by the name of Edward Gracey fell in love with a woman named Elizabeth Henshaw. The two were to marry, but Elizabeth unexpectedly committed suicide (by taking poison), and Edward, having received a note, (supposedly written by his fiancee,) hanged himself in despair. In modern-day Louisiana, Jim Evers (Murphy) operates a successful and growing real estate partnership with his wife, Sara (Thomason). Jim's workaholic habits often cause him to put work ahead of his family, but he promises to make it up to them with a weekend trip to a nearby lake. Before leaving, however, Sara receives a telephone call asking her to appraise an old mansion in the remote swamps of New Orleans. Jim jumps at the chance to handle the selling of the house, and takes his entire family, including his children Michael and Megan, to the old Gracey Manor, which seems completely deserted except for the owner, Edward Gracey (Parker), his creepy butler Ramsley (Stamp), and two servants, Ezra (Shawn) and Emma (Waters). What is supposed to be a brief stop turns into an overnight stay when a sudden rainstorm blocks the road, and the Evers are offered shelter for the night. After an argument between Jim and Sara, Ramsley leads Jim to the library, where Jim discovers a secret exit and becomes trapped wandering through the passageways. Elsewhere, Gracey approaches Sara and offers her a tour of the mansion. Meanwhile, a strange, glowing ball appears in Megan and Michael's room, and leads them to the attic, where they discover an old portrait, and realize that Sara is the spitting image of Elizabeth Henshaw. Jim stumbles on a crystal ball with the spirit of a gypsy, Madame Leota (Tilly) inside. Leota guides him to Michael and Megan, accompanied by Ezra and Emma, who explain that they, and the rest of the house's inhabitants, are ghosts: since Master Gracey's suicide, the mansion has been cursed and their spirits have been trapped there. Believing that Sara is a reincarnated Elizabeth, Gracey seeks to marry her, ending his despair and breaking the curse. Jim asks how they can escape, and Leota tells him to find a key in the adjacent graveyard. After a narrow escape from a crypt full of zombies, they use the key to open a locked trunk in the attic: inside, they find a letter from Elizabeth to Edward, accepting his proposal of marriage. Stunned, Ezra and Emma realize that Elizabeth didn't kill herself. Ramsley's ghost appears and reveals the truth: feeling that marriage to Elizabeth would have ruined his master, Ramsley poisoned her, and then sent Edward a fake suicide note. He did not expect Edward's suicide, or the curse it caused. Now, in order to break the curse, he has lured Sara to the mansion, so Edward can "marry" her and finally be at peace. When Jim objects, Ramsley uses his powers to take Megan and Michael prisoner, throw Jim out of the mansion, and then seal it off. Inside, Edward pleads with Sara to remember who she really is. Frightened, and realizing that he is a ghost, she runs away and locks herself in her room. Ramsley then confronts her, telling her to play her part and go through with the wedding, or else Megan and Michael will die. Outside the mansion, Jim has almost given up hope, but Madame Leota tells him to "try again." Jim crashes his car through the mansion's windows, rescues Megan and Michael, and then confronts the ghosts in the middle of the "wedding," just before Sara is about to join Edward in death by drinking a cup of poison. Jim gives Edward the real letter from Elizabeth, and Ramsley, when confronted, admits to murdering her. When all is revealed, Ramsley becomes enraged and envokes the powers of Hell. Windows shatter as evil spirits fly around the room. At that, flames erupt from the fireplace and drag Ramsley down to his rightful place: in Hell. Then the mysterious ball reappears, and reveals itself to be the ghost of Elizabeth; she and Edward reunite, and together they, and the rest of the mansion's ghosts, ascend to Heaven. The only inhabitants of the mansion left behind are Madame Leota and four singing busts, which the Evers adopt into their family and take with them on their vacation.
5. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005): Tottington Hall's annual Giant Vegetable Competition is approaching. The winner of the competition will win the Golden Carrot Award. All are eager to protect their vegetables from damage and thievery by rabbits until the contest, and Wallace and Gromit are cashing in by running a vegetable security and humane pest control business, "Anti-Pesto". However, they are faced with two problems: the first is Wallace's growing weight and the second is inadequate space for the captured rabbits. Wallace comes up with an idea — use his Mind Manipulation-O-Matic machine to brainwash the rabbits, allowing them to run freely without harming everyone's gardens. While performing the operation, he kicks the switch and something goes terribly wrong, leaving them with a semi-intelligent rabbit who (in a slow metamorphosis) starts to behave like Wallace (down to his fondness for cheese) and whom Wallace names "Hutch". Soon the town is threatened by the "Were-Rabbit", a giant rabbit-like monster which eats vegetables of any size. During a chaotic yet hilarious town meeting, Anti-Pesto enters into a rivalry with Lord Victor Quartermaine to capture the Were-Rabbit and to win Lady Tottington's heart. After the first night of the Were-Rabbit, the townsfolk start to argue about what to do. After a hectic night-time chase, Gromit discovers that the Were-Rabbit (whom he assumed was Hutch at first) is, in fact, Wallace, suffering from the effects of the accident with the Mind Manipulation-O-Matic having caused him and Hutch to each take on aspects of the other; Hutch even displays Wallace's knack for inventions and regularly repeats some of Wallace's old phrases. Victor corners Wallace during the night, jealous of Lady Tottington's growing fondness for him because of his humane practice of pest control (whereas Victor thinks it's more effective to shoot and kill them). But then Wallace falls into the path of moonlight and transforms. Victor, having identified the Were-Rabbit, goes to Reverend Clement Hedges and gains access to "24-carrot" gold bullets - supposedly, the only things capable of killing a Were-Rabbit. During the final showdown, Victor and his dog Philip capture Gromit, who subsequently escapes and decides to make the ultimate sacrifice by using the melon he had been growing for the competition as bait for Wallace who, in his rabbit form, has burst in upon the vegetable contest, causing panic. Victor tries to shoot what is apparently the monster, but Gromit is one step ahead of him, using a rabbit costume he and Wallace had created prior to the discovery of the Were-Rabbit's true nature as a trap. Unfortunately, the marrow cannot keep Wallace's attention as Victor tries to take the golden carrot award from a distressed Lady Tottington (The only vaguely bullet-like object left to him after he exhausted the gold bullets provided by the vicar). Wallace ascends to the rooftops, holding a screaming Lady Tottington in his hand. Discovering his identity, she promises to protect him, only to be interrupted by Victor. Meanwhile, in a mid-air dogfight in toy aeroplanes, Philip chases after Gromit. Gromit forces his foe out of the air in a fiery crash and explosion - but Philip manages to hold on to Gromit's plane and the two grapple with each other. The fight rages on and in the end, Gromit releases Philip, ironically, through the bomb doors and into a bouncy castle. On the roof of Tottington Hall, Gromit's toy biplane circles Wallace, who clings onto the flagpole at the top of the building for dear life. Victor, wielding the Golden Carrot trophy inside a blunderbuss he finds at an antiques table at the fair, tries one last time to shoot Wallace, but Wallace is saved by Gromit, who grabs onto a rope from a flagpole and swings his plane into the path of the improvised bullet. The enraged Victor throws down the blunderbuss and stamps on it screaming out "Potty poo!" Unfortunately, since it is a toy plane not intended for flying, when Gromit accidentally lets go of the rope, the plane begins to descend rapidly. Wallace jumps from the flagpole and catches the plane, thereby breaking Gromit's fall into the cheese tent below. Victor gloats, but is knocked unconscious by Lady Tottington, using a giant carrot. He falls into the tent too, where Wallace lies unconscious and seemingly dying of his injuries. To protect Wallace from the angry mob outside, Gromit dresses Victor up as the monster (using a marionette he used earlier as a lure for the Were-Rabbit), and throws him out of the tent. Philip, believing Victor to be the beast, bites his master, and the angry mob chases Victor away.Gromit and Tottington tend to Wallace who, seconds later, breathes his last and morphs back into his human form. Gromit, the rabbits, and Lady Tottington are saddened by their loss, but Gromit is able to revive Wallace with a slice of Stinking Bishop cheese. Gromit, for his bravery and his "brave and splendid marrow", was awarded the (now somewhat battered) competition trophy, and Lady Tottington turns Tottington Hall into a wildlife refuge where all the rabbits, including Hutch, can live in peace.
By Steven Harris, Vikrum Singh, Scott Hancock & Richard Moody
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