La segunda adaptación de Ratman's Notebooks no solo vuelve a narrar la historia de Willard, sino que rinde homenaje a la película original y a una parte de su secuela. Hay unos cambios creativos y no hay tantos personajes como en la primera adaptación, pero esta película tiene la atmosfera intrigante y tensa que caracteriza a la novela. El excéntrico Crispin Glover brinda una excelente actuación como Willard y la película profundiza bastante en su psicología. Se puede sentir bastante la frustración y el dolor que él siente al tener una vida miserable y solo se siente aliviado con la compañía de Sócrates. Además, la película también muestra como toda esa frustración hace que Willard empiece a enloquecer y a ser dominado por la ira. A diferencia de la primera adaptación que le dio un buen desarrollo a Willard como personaje, aquí hay una mejor profundización y exploran los sentimientos de Willard. Su jefe Martin es mucho más desagradable en esta película que en el clásico original y eso hace uno se ponga del lado de Willard al ver como lo maltrata constantemente. Al igual que en las películas anteriores, hay un buen uso de ratas entrenadas con uso de efectos especiales en el momento adecuado. Mientras Sócrates es igual a su contraparte original, Ben es el que más antagonismo. En las películas anteriores, Ben no era un villano exactamente. Aquí decidieron que Ben fuera más antagónico por como desafía a Willard y lo hace sentir incómodo. En las películas anteriores Ben no desafiaba tanto a Willard y actuaba como las demás ratas. En esta película, Ben se muestra desafiante y Willard comete el error de subestimarlo demasiado. En la novela, lo que motiva a Ben son los celos que siente debido a que Willard le tiene más cariño a Sócrates, en esta película supieron plasmar eso bastante bien. La película no podía estar completa sin haber incluido la canción de Ben. Aunque la segunda película no es un clásico muy memorable, dejo buenos momentos como la amistad entre Ben y Danny y la canción de Ben interpretada por Michael Jackson. Al ser uno de los primeros éxitos de Jackson, merecía ser utilizada en esta película nuevamente. Crispin Glover incluso tuvo el honor de interpretar una nueva versión de la canción. La banda sonora de Shirley Walker también tiene su mérito por aportar en los momentos de tensión y humor. Aunque el final no es como el de la película original, es bastante acertado. La novela original tiene un final ambiguo en el que no se sabe si Willard muere o sobrevive, así que tanto esta película como la de 1971 hacen bien en usar las dos posibilidades. Willard (2003) es tanto una de las mejores películas de los años 2000 como la mejor de la saga de Willard y eso es gracias a la actuación de Crispin Glover que termina robándose toda la película. Mi calificación final para esta película es un 9/10.

Despite having to nibble its way to feature length, the Willard remake proves to be a deviously alternative horror-thriller, especially with a perfectly unhinged Crispin Glover.

Crispin Glover is my favorite Actor and this is one of his MANY great movies!

Man befriends furry animals. Ham acting. Slow-paced story.

It works far better than it should given the plot.

Glover and co. contribute well to making "Willard" feel more creepy [and] creepy-crawlie than actual horror -- and that's just what this film needed. It has a good amount of creep factor to it and director Glen Morgan helmed this gothic chiller with a fine vision. 🍅

I wasn't sure how to feel about Willard when the credits rolled, but I knew one thing for sure: Willard is an evil film. Every frame, every performance (especially Crispin Glover as the titular character) oozes malice, and every frame indicates this movie isn't set on earth, but in hell. While the story gets a little over-the-top at the end, it's still worth it for a dark, dark night at the movies.

This is quite a dark tale about one of society's rejects forming a bond with a large number of rats that act as his friend and also his enemy. The film is interesting and very well made. The rats are a character in this movie just as the people are. The effects are totally convincing as is the acting. My only minor gripe would be that the content is not very inspiring. It is intriguing but I felt that something was missing. Overall it was totally enthralling dark fairytale with some mild humour and a little fear.

Let's just say that Willard has got it's good points and its bad points, which makes it barely deserves its three stars. On the bright side, the music is good, it's got quality cinematography and a killer performance by Crispin Glover. This guy perfectly incarnates the titular character. I was quite impressed with his acting skills. But on the other hand, this remake is more interesting than actually scary. Apart from a few sequences, there isn't anything really downright scary or horrific about this movie. And another big problem is that it feels way to restrained, it would've been much more enjoyable if there was more gore and grit to it. It's an interesting, but flawed character study, but it was alright. Overall, for those looking for something a little different, this remake of a 1971 film, which I actually never saw, may be interesting...

Remake that is quite entertaining for anyone who has no aversions to rats or rodents. The characters are distinct and well acted and this movie has good design and tone. 3 1/2 of 5

Fun. Witty winks to the original. Crispin Glover is great.

I really couldn't take it too seriously.

This Movie Is Awesome , Just Good For My Money🤟👏👍

It's a psychological horror show thrilled-ride.

Willard (2003): 4 out of 10: Crispin Glover is an insane genius. The insane part is reasonably well documented elsewhere. The genius part is on full display on the Willard DVD. Unfortunately, that genius is demonstrated in a quick music video of the Michael Jackson song Ben (sung and directed by Glover himself think Cabaret mixed with softcore furry) and not in the film in question. Speaking of extras that outshine the main event, the (77 minute!) behind the scenes documentary Year of the Rat is one of the most informative documentaries on the movie business I have ever seen (Don't just believe me a lot of critics placed Willard in their top 10 DVD's of the year lists based solely on this doc.). The movie itself is eminently skippable, however. There are two fundamental problems with Willard. The plot and the rats. First the rats. Not since that giant bunnies attack Dr. McCoy epic Night of the Lepus has a horror movie suffered such cute protagonists. However, you feel about rats you will probably be won over by these sweet and well-behaved rodents (Not to mention clean. Note to Willard producers it is "you dirty rat" not "you shampooed and blow-dried rat"). With an almost complete lack of menace from our three-letter furballs, the movie has to rely on the plot. Willard has Norman Bates mother, works at the same office as Joe from Joe and the Volcano, has shunned the love interest of Laura Harring (fresh from Mulholland Drive and completely wasted), has the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket as his cruel boss and developed a relationship with some rats. Willard uses rats to get revenge on the boss. The end. No, that is the plot. Danny Devito's short story in Throw Momma from the Train had about as much dramatic tension. One guy with a white hat and one guy with a black hat, gee I wonder how this will turn out. On the plus side, Glover is watchable in that what the hell is he going to do next kind of way. I wish they had let him write the movie. A softcore rat picture with Nazi's would undoubtedly have been an exciting twist. Something Willard is defiantly lacking.

Solid remake. Crispin is great in the role, be deserves the praise he gets for it. It might even be better than the original. It's a creepy little revenge tale, where you don't who you should really be rooting for.

Better than waltless's the forced-anus awakens series of failed movies.

It's ok, I will say crispin Glover is great....probably because he wasn't acting....this is just how he is. Ok watch, needed a R rating badly.

very under rated movie with an underated actor. this movie came out a decade early.

From X-Files alum Glen Morgan and James Wong comes this amazing remake/reworking of the 1971 original film, which they've made into something wholly new. What remains the same between the films is that Willard is a social misfit who befriends and has a strange connection/control over a massive colony of rodents, led by the rats Socrates and Ben. A major element that separates this film from the original is the casting of perennial oddball Crispin Glover in the title role, who gives a highly entertaining off-kilter performance that is pitch perfect for director/co-writer Morgan's jet black humor. Morgan also get's high marks for adding a lot more suspense to this new version, which was lacking in the original. A high point of the film is a masterfully directed sequence where a house cat is chased by a horde of rats set to Michael Jackson's tender rendition of "Ben" (from the original film), which is absolute filmmaking magic. R. Lee Ermey plays Willard's cruel boss and porn star Ashlyn Gere (billed as Kimberly Patton) has a supporting role as Ermey's secretary. The filmmakers here are not at all trying to appeal to a wide audience, but if offbeat horror with a dark sense of humor is your thing, "Willard" is a must-see!