DIEGO

An inconsequential tale, without even a central problem to rally attention, about a poor old fisherman named Diego who lives on the waterfront, a group of mice with names like Firkin and Rasgayo and Half-Ounce who share his house and tidy up for him, and a mean cat who moves in and upsets the balance. When rats break Diego's guitar, the mice repair and tune it for him; when he is threatened with starvation, they help him construct ship models for him to sell; and when the cat threatens to eat the mice, they make a deal whereby they go out each night in one of the models and bring him back their catch of herring. No doubt intended to sparkle, scamper, or glow with a whimsical warmth, this succeeds only in lifelessly droning along.