Mystery on the Docks

Based on Thacher Hurd's 1983 picture book, this iconographic animated tale revolves around an opera loving, short order cook mouse named Ralph. On a cold, clammy, foggy night, while Ralph is busy working at the Pier 46 diner, a mysterious "dark ship" pulls up to the dock and a pair of shady rats drop in, order some grub, and neglect to pay their bill. At the same time, Ralph learns that his singing idol Eduardo Bombasto has been kidnapped. Smelling a rat (or two), our mouse Ralph investigates…only to be captured and stowed aboard the ship where he finds a certain kindred spirit in similar straits. Well-meaning, and intermittently entertaining, Mystery on the Docks is ultimately too unexceptional a tale, too blandly told, to make it anything more than an optional purchase for larger collections. Aud: K, E, P. (R. Pitman)