12 oz. Mouse – Episode 21 “Enter the Sandmouse” Review

As promised, 12 oz. Mouse has returned with a new six-minute episode, available exclusively at AdultSwim.com.

Having completed its intense 20-episode storyline, Mouse has lost a lot of its dramatic momentum.  Fortunately, Matt Maiellaro and his companions are also very skilled at delivering a unique brand of dry comedy, which is what this Web special excels at.

First, we find out some bad news.  During their journey out of the cardboard city and into the desert, Peanut disappears and Golden Joe is kidnapped by a bird.  These two will be missed, but watching Fitz and Skillet go it alone for awhile is still very entertaining.

For about half the episode, Fitz narrates as though he is reading out of a journal.  He tells of how the desert’s short nights “messes up your sleeping, but not so much your drinking.”  A great sight gag involving a cactus and a mutant bird along with a slow-motion gunfight are amongst the highlights here.

The one lowlight is a gun-toting, scantily clad new female character named Leigh, who is purposefully dumb and ditzy, but to such an extent that her repeated innuendo jokes turn out more dumb than funny.

Maiellaro and Dave Willis have crafted similar characters in Aqua Teen Hunger Force as well.  Whenever they turn up, most traces of witty humor seem to wither away, as often happens in Adam Sandler movies where the subject and execution of parody is far too obvious to enjoy.

Fortunately, Fitz’s responses to this version of the dumb hooker are still very funny, so in the end it remains a worthwhile episode, the majority of which is cleverly written and animated.  Plus a new use of the age-old campfire footage is always a welcome treat.

It’s a shame that these new episodes are only limited to six minutes, but hopefully if enough people watch them, they’ll eventually be extended.  Here’s to hoping anyway!

Score: 7.1 / 10

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