The saving of Welsh working-class mice from the capitalist mouse-ploitation of Sir Hedley Mouse is a pleasant relief from the usual Christmas trivia, and hero Pinchpenny's resemblance to Scrooge is a neat twist. But the tale doesn't bear close scrutiny. Sir Hedley is well aware of the irony of hiring mice to build mousetraps (""If I don't build a better mousetrap someone else will""), but nothing prepares us to like Pinchpenny, who has saved up enough money to buy the factory while the other mice wasted theirs on ""frivolity"" (like families, food, and furniture). Pinchpenny's real motives will probably bother only grownups who see this as a social parable; take it as an argument for foresight and saving, and Pinchpenny's a good guy indeed. Either way, Robert Byrd's mouse-sized Welsh village street, factory, and pub show how much can be clone with thrifty black and white.