Is Ratigan really a rat in the movie?

You remember "The Great Mouse Detective"? Well, Padraic Ratigan isn't really a rat. He's a mouse in the original books. Now, if I were to combine the books and the film, I'd say that Padraic's mother was a mouse; his father, a rat. To be fair, he's still a rodent.

I don't know that it's ever said in the film difinitively that he IS a rat. Certainly other characters think he is, but he persistently insists that he isn't. The impression you get is that he IS a rat, and is just in denial about it, but given that it's never established, narratively speaking, he may still officially be a mouse.

What does this have to do with Disney or bias?

fifimcfeef places a lot of importance on Ratigan!

Mice are good, rats are bad, I guess?

I'm pretty sure Ratigan was drawn to be a rat. He's huge next to all the mice, his tail is thick and sinewy (do the confirmed mice even show their tails? I forget), and his head was drastically more rodentlike than the mice, suggesting that's what rats look like.

Um?

I have no idea what the original title of this thread had to do with what the subject apparently is, so I changed it to reflect the actual topic.

I agree; I always got the impression he was a rat (never read the books). In addition to his size and tail, there's the way he blows up when he's called a rat, which always made me think he was one and was ashamed of it (for whatever reason), preferring to be known as a "very large mouse". But seriously, he's so much bigger and more distinct-looking than the mice that I can't really credit him being the same species as them.

edited 28th Aug '11 12:47:07 PM by MasterGhandalf

I only read the first book, which didn't have Ratigan in it.

I think he was ashamed of it simply because being called "a rat" is an insult, while being called "a mouse", not so much. It's pure simple Rule of Funny, I believe. No need to look too deeply into it.

Poor Padraic. He's really the Chemical Brothers.

Ratigan is the Uncle Ruckus for rats.

...I have absolutely no idea what the appropriate reaction to this statement is.

After that vicious Curbstomp fight he gave Basil, is there any question what the heck he is?

Bring in his lover!

Well, my high school classmate was given the dare to find the professor's first name. He did (it was Padraic), and somehow pointed out a reference on The Other Wiki about him actually being a mouse. Let's just agree he's a rodent.

edited 28th Aug '11 9:17:00 PM by fifimcfeef

The problem is that we never see other rats in the movie for comparison. But I think the yellow eyes, crooked snout, sharp teeth, five-fingered hands with claws, thick tail and (comparatively) massive size, as well as the fact that he is CALLED a rat several times, pretty much quells any argument. He's simply ashamed of his species. Fun fact: Rats will kill and eat mice. Basil got off easy.

The book is not the movie. In the movie, his appearance and size make him clearly a rat. The running joke is his being in denial, and in the finale, he drops the facade and is at his rattiest.

Yeah, like most disney adaptations, it's rather loose. He's most likely a rat in the movie, judging my his sheer size and anatomical differences with mice. But ultimately, it's Rule of Funny.

To Rattigan!!

The worlds greatest RAT!

• Is Mauled.

edited 16th Jul '12 7:25:25 PM by HandsomeRob

Felicia, my precious...did you enjoy daddy's tasty treat?

I don't care at all. He's clearly a Blue jay.