Mouse Hunt is set in the same universe as the following...
- Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
- Harry Potter Film Series
- Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
- Rango
The mouse is Mr. Jingles
It's obvious the mouse in this movie is not only smarter than the average mouse, but also very old; much older than a real life mouse can live. The house came into Mr. Smuntz posession years before the events of the movie, and the mouse had already driven out the previous owner by that time. The Green Mile is set in 1932, this movie in at least the 1970's, and the epilogue of the Green Mile in the 1990's. That leaves enough time for Mr. Jingles to have ended up in the house after the events from the Green Mile, lived there for several years, eventually fighting and then befriending the Smuntz brothers in the 1970's, before making his way back to Paul Edgecomb in the 1990's.- I love this, make it canon.
- To do that you would have to own both The Green Mile and Mouse Hunt, but you can make it fanon.
- Well, it could a relative (brother? son?) of Mr. Jingles, and the old house their family home. Maybe this mouse was just watching it on behalf of his kindred.
- The theory is even more plausible if you use the book version of The Green Mile. In the movie, it's strongly implied Mr. Jingles stayed with Paul Edgecombe his entire life. In the book, Mr. Jingles disappears from the prison after Delacroix' execution, and Paul does not see him again until 60 years later the mouse suddenly shows up at the retirement home that Paul is living at. 60 years in which Mr. Jingles could have lived who knows where and had who knows what kind of adventures, like his encounter with the Smuntz brothers.
The mouse is Mr. Smuntz.
To follow up on the implication made under Hidden Depths on the main page: while obviously this could not be the case from the start (the mouse lived in the house for decades or even longer, at least a good portion of which was while Mr. Smuntz was alive), the fact that the mouse knows how to make the Smuntz's incredibly unique signature sandwich, that in the end it seems to be interested in trying to help the string factory become successful again, that unlike with Caesar and the house's previous owner the mouse ends up joining forces with the brothers to achieve a happy ending for all, and that mice are said to be able to receive a dead person's soul, all suggests that Mr. Smuntz's soul passed into the mouse upon his death. Note the implications made that Mr. Smuntz himself was something of a trickster; that despite everything which happen to the brothers they never die or are too badly injured; that destroying the house wouldn't matter to him since he never used it when alive and it was only the factory (and his family) he cared about; and that everything which happens could be interpreted under the guise of trying to get the brothers to learn to get along and join forces for the betterment of themselves and the business—i.e., that the mouse too was trying to teach them "teamwork and sharing mean everything". Rudolf Smuntz deliberately put that cockroach inside the cigar box.
He knew his sons well enough to figure out Ernie would take the box with him and unwittingly take the cockroach to the restaurant. Rudolf wanted Ernie to have no choice but run Smuntz String with Lars. Catzilla survived.
It survived the fall when we last see it, since it meows afterwards. He could have died of starvation or dehydration, but it isn't that long before the entire house is destroyed. But the house was destroyed by being filled with water, so shouldn't it have drowned? A normal cat would, sure, but this one has survived at least one attempted gassing, meaning it can survive for some time without breathing. And the collapse of the house itself wouldn't hurt it, either. It's Made of Iron like everyone else in the movie. Papa Smuntz wound up possessing his own portrait.
Explaining why it continually changes expressions.