The Ugly Duckling and Me! is a 2006 animated film directed by Michael Hegner and Karsten Kiilerich.^[1] Intended for a family audience, it is a modern adaptation of the 1843 fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen. The Yorkshire Post described it as a "feel good" film for family audiences. The film follows over a rat named Ratso who has a dream about having his own family. The life changes when an egg falls out of its nest revealing an ugly duckling with brushy wings, and he soon becomes a father.^[2] It also won an award at the China International Cartoon and Digital Art Festival. The film initially premiered in Denmark on April 6, 2006.

Synopsis

Ratso is a success-starved rodent impresario who deals with business in the world of entertainment: his assistant a worm named Wesley, who he passes off as the "longest worm in the world" by sticking him through a straw. Ratso's dream is to take Wesley to a amusement park where, according to him, his cousin Ernie hosts the most acclaimed shows in the animal world. However, after yet another fiasco. Along the way, the two are chased by Phillis and her brothers, a family of rats from which Ratso is constantly on the run. After a short train ride, the latter falls into a bird's nest among the reeds, while Wesley ends up inside a bottle of tequila and Ratso accidentally ends up in a farm full of ducks, an egg hatches and the duckling recognizes Ratso as his parent. To escape, the latter begins to create a mound of earth from which he then launches himself to overcome the fence, which passes for a mountain with a stage for the little duckling he has adopted to perform. After being rejected by the audience, Ugly and Ratso refugees in a abandoned Volkswagen Beetle where they sleep there.

During the journey, Ugly grows into a teenager and the two are joined by a female duck named Jessie after the latter saves her from a fox. Meanwhile, Jessie understands Ratso's intentions and tries to dissuade him, pointing out that he represents her only point of reference for Ugly, but apparently the rat doesn't listen to her. Once they reach the big carousel, which turns out to be an old abandoned amusement park, Ratso meets his cousin Ernie, a tabby cat with a hand puppet. Before starting the show, the protagonist begins to doubt what he does, thinking back to what Jessie told him. However, Ugly decides to throw himself onto the stage to try to help his adoptive father after he was being booed due to his procrastination. At that point, Ugly realizes that his aim was to become famous by making himself ridiculous, and runs away sad and embittered. During the escape, the young man is captured by Phillis and her brothers, who have meanwhile taken possession of the duck farm. After doing so, she goes to Ratso, telling him to come to the farm that evening if she wanted to see her adopted son again. Ratso respects the agreement and after being locked up with Ugly, he reveals to him that he is not his real father, but he replies that he already knew it, and that he doesn't care anyway, as he considers him as such.

The next morning Ugly, fearing that his father will face execution, leaves the cage in which he was locked up after becoming an adult, revealing himself to be a swan. However, it turns out that Phillis actually wants to marry Ratso, because he was the last unattached bachelor mouse left. But after finding out that Ratso has an adopted son, she becomes furious with him and starts hitting him in anger, until Ugly throws her onto the wedding cake. At that moment, a flock of swans arrive at the river where the ceremony was held, who say that it is time for Ugly to join them in migrating. After saying goodbye to his adoptive father and all his friends, Ugly joins his peers and sets off north. However, he turns back, as he realizes that swans are superficial animals who put beauty first. In order not to ruin the ceremony, Ratso orders Ugly to declare himself to Jessie, so the wedding between the two is celebrated.

References

External links

• The Ugly Duckling and Me! at IMDb
• Den Grimme Ælling Oog Mig at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Ugly Duckling and Me! at Rotten Tomatoes