Ben Schwartz and Matilda Lawler are insistent that squirrels are not just flying rats

By Marah Eakin | February 18, 2021 | 5:00pm

Film Features Lawler

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In Flora & Ulysses, out this weekend on Disney+, quirky young actor Matilda Lawler plays quirky young comics fan Flora Buckman who, after an almost tragic automated lawnmower incident, befriends a young squirrel who is also somehow a superhero. Together Flora and the squirrel—named, as you might guess from the film’s title—Ulysses band together to both save Flora’s parents’ struggling marriage and keep Ulysses out of the hands of Danny Pudi’s rabies-obsessed animal control officer. High jinks ensue, and all is ultimately right in the end.

Given that it’s a Disney movie, it’s no surprise that Flora & Ulysses is charming, but viewers of the video above will find that Lawler is equally endearing. Paired with her on-screen dad Ben Schwartz, Lawler tackles tough questions like “aren’t squirrels just rats with bigger tails” with aplomb, and even plays along with professional improviser Schwartz to great effect.