If you watched charm, You’ve probably had at least one of his soundtrack bangers stuck in your head. The film has spawned numerous hits, mostly focusing on the powers (and generational baggage) of each member of the Madrigal family. That includes the outcast of the Madrigal family — poor, poor Bruno — whose catchy tune “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” spent 10 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 list, much of it in the top 5. This song lives on since Release of the film rent-free in my head. And the YouTube algorithm caught my numerous repeats of helpful the official music videoso it did me some good selection fan edits.
Here’s the kicker: they’re all about rats. Every single fan edit that has appeared on my homepage relates to the rats that Bruno uses as pets, friends and helpers. I don’t know how or why there are so many of them (rat-centric fan edits, not rats), but I feel compelled to share them as they are true objects of beauty.
In “We’re Not Talking About Bruno,” the man’s alleged villainess is described in terms of his “7-foot frame” and the “rats on his back.” It sounds like an exaggeration, but here’s the thing about Bruno: The latter allegation is more or less true. Those rats are his friends. They live with him and play with his stuff — like walking along a record while it’s playing or piling into a pair of hanging pants. The man has built entire shadow boxes for his rat friends, which he calls his “entertainment.”
I can’t really judge him. (OK, maybe a little bit.) But the rats really seem like better friends than his actual family, who have chosen to drag his name through the dirt rather than try to understand the nature of his powers.
Here’s a version of the “7 Foot Rats” video where every time he says “rats,” an image of a rat’s face is superimposed over Bruno’s.
And here’s a full-length version of the song with “rats” woven throughout.
I will not deny having stoked the algorithm’s fire. Every time I click on one of these, YouTube serves me several more – you could say they keep coming, kind of like rats.
Disney is no stranger to animated rodents. These little guys have made big-city appearances in movies like Zootopia. Some even aspire to become chefs, as in Ratatouille. Here’s a fan edit that actually features Remy, Pixar’s little chef.
Honestly, in the Disney rat rankings that live in my head (don’t ask me that), Bruno’s rats don’t rank that maximum. There are so many of them that I don’t feel any connection to individual rat characters. But as a unit? Unstoppable.
