Fans of the beloved Stuart Little franchise have been left stunned after learning that the iconic character isn’t actually a mouse.
Stuart Little (1999) is a childhood staple movie that follows the adventures of a small, anthropomorphic mouse adopted by the Little family.
The film, which starred Michael J. Fox as the voice of Stuart, became a huge hit, spawning two sequels - Stuart Little 2 (2002) and Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild (2006).
However, a recent wave of confusion has surfaced among fans who have only just realized that Stuart was never actually a mouse.
The Shocking Revelation
It turns out that the character of Stuart Little, as written in the original 1945 children's book by E.B. White, is actually a very small human boy who simply resembles a mouse.
In the book, White describes Stuart as being "only about two inches high," with the appearance of a mouse, including "a mouse's sharp nose, a mouse's tail, a mouse's whiskers," PEOPLE reported.
The discovery was made public when film critic Chris Evangelista wrote on X: “I’ve just now learned that in the STUART LITTLE book, Stuart is not actually a mouse but a human boy who looks like a mouse, and I don’t know how to process this.”
This tweet ignited a flurry of reactions. "That's just not right. Not right at all," one user wrote, while another said: "WAIT WHAT??!!! Dont make me read the book again."
A third user who read the book chimed in: "Stuart wasn’t adopted in the book, he was just born looking like a mouse. He still made friends with a bird, though!"
The Original Story by E.B. White
The origins of Stuart Little go back to 1926, when E.B. White, who was working at The New Yorker at the time, dreamt of a tiny character who resembled a rat but had the mannerisms of a human.
The idea eventually evolved into the book Stuart Little. In White’s original version, the main character is the biological child of Mr. and Mrs. Little, not adopted.
The book, which was initially met with mixed reviews, was later softened for the film adaptation in 1999.
The film’s creators decided that making Stuart a small anthropomorphic mouse, who was adopted by the Littles, would make for a more digestible story for young audiences.
The 1999 film, directed by Rob Minkoff, solidified Stuart as a beloved character in popular culture.
A box office hit, it grossed over $300 million worldwide and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects, though it ultimately lost to The Matrix.