Hamilton Mattress is the first in a trilogy of films produced by Christopher Moll—whose other credits include the Wallace & Gromit short The Wrong Trousers.
Tropes found in this short are:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The ant in the film is 100% CGI.
- Aardvark Trunks: The aardvarks have mouths at the base of their snouts, instead of at the tip.
- All Drummers Are Animals: Well, aardvarks anyway. Sludger possesses a knack for drumming which he wasn't previously aware of. Given how he spontaneously bursts into a drumming segue one day while hunting for ants, beating the anthill as though it were a drum, it appears that said "talent" is little more than instinct.
- Animal Religion: The aardvarks are shown praying in what is implied to be a Christian grace before they descend upon the anthill.
- Arc Words: "Everyone loves a Hamilton Mattress." Originally the corporate slogan of the advertisement Sludger takes his stage name from, it gets repeated throughout the film, until it gets used as the defining lyric of the song at the end.
- The Beautiful Elite: The birds are considered these sorts of things. When Sludger questions why the aardvarks have to dig for ants and suggests that they wear different attire, one of them reminds him that, since aardvarks are not which the animals of the savannah consider "the beautiful people", the ability to wear beautiful clothes isn't an option for them.
- Be Yourself: This is the ultimate lesson that Sludger learns over the course of the film. His Character Development progresses from wanting to wear fine clothes and be "one of the beautiful people" to accepting himself for who he is, and, by extension, improving the image of his fellow aardvarks.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Hackenbush, presumably for reasons of convenience, is portrayed as far larger than caterpillars would normally be in real-life.
- Bouncer: The club Sludger works for has one in the form of Salvatore, a musclebound giant of a parrot who acts as Senor Balustrade's main henchman.
- Broken Bird: Beryl is a literal example, since she apparently used to be a singer before getting involved with Senor Balustrade, the club's crooked owner, in a manner which she never really talks about in depth, even though she offers to give Hackenbush more information.
- Catchphrase: "Anty"—which is an aardvark word for all things good.
- Celebrity is Overrated: This is an Aesop which Sludger must learn as a character throughout the film.
- Chainsaw Good: The chainsaw Senor Balustrade attempts to use to disfigure Sludger becomes this trope when it's weaponised by Hackenbush. It even becomes useful when it damages the iconography of the bar.
- Creepy Changing Painting: Feldwick C. Hackenbush has a portrait of his (presumably deceased) mother on the wall of his office. When he notices Sludger's knack for drumming, he excitedly kisses his mother's portrait, which, for some reason, causes her glasses to fall off her nose and her expression to change to a flustered one.
- Dance Party Ending: Ends with everyone celebrating.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The scorn with which the aardvarks are faced is reminiscent of class conflict within British society, with the aardvarks being styled to resemble the British working-class during the turn of the millennium, and the meerkats being styled to resemble the British middle-class of the same era.
- Down in the Dumps: Sludger ends up in the city's rubbish tip, with his only audience being a group of rats. Hackenbush is able to find him here and prevent him from being attacked by Tino with the use of a crane.
- Evil Is Hammy: Senor Balustrade is one such example. In his Establishing Character Moment, he is shown ranting angrily because of the scarcity when it comes to competent drummers. When negotiating with Hackenbush, he finds him "TOO MUCH CHEEKY!"
- Fantastic Plastic: Sludger nearly gets surgery to be a bird. From what we see of it, it appears to involve using a chainsaw to mutilate Sludger's snout (which would almost certainly disfigure or kill him).
- Fantastic Racism: Everyone (especially the birds) regards the aardvarks with derision and scorn. We get one instance of this when two meerkats — who are styled to resemble the then-contemporary British middle-class — observe them and react with disgust at their presence, whereupon they hastily retreat once Sludger appears above ground.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Despite being located in a fantasy version of Africa, Beak City draws heavily from a combination of both London and New York during the 1920s and '30s. It shares New York's reputation as a "land of opportunity" along with the designs of its buildings while the designs of its postboxes and some of its buses immediately evoke London's aesthetic.
- Fat Slob: One of Sludger's colleagues is this, wearing an ill-fitting shirt which exposes his very noticeable pot-belly.
- French Jerk: Tino. In his Establishing Character Moment, he gets fired by Senor Balustrade (and remains among the faculty anyway) for not being considered a competent drummer, and when he notices Sludger, all he can do is scoff and snootily inform the aardvark that he simply has no chance whatsoever when it comes to actually making it in the field. After Sludger is exposed, Tino tracks him to the city's dump and tries to kill him — and very much would have done had Hackenbush not used the magnet.
- Grew a Spine: Sludger does this at the climax of the film.
- Heel Realization: After being given a pep talk by Beryl, Hackenbush immediately becomes guilty over abandoning Sludger to the streets.
- I Just Want to Be Beautiful: Sludger's ambition is somewhere between this and Glory Seeker. He expresses his ardent desire to wear fine clothes, eat fine foods, and, more importantly, "important trousers". He changes his attitude immediately before he's about to get transformed into a bird, stating that he prefers to remain the way he is.
- Limited Wardrobe: Sludger has a pair of trousers for every day of the week, and they're all the same shade of black.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Sludger gets his new stage name from a billboard for Hamilton Mattresses.
- Lower-Class Lout: Within the African savannah, the aardvarks are considered this, an image which is only reinforced by the fact that they are clad in black leather jackets and are incredibly squalid when it comes to dressing habits.
- Ms. Fanservice: Beryl is this film's designated Ms Fanservice, despite being a bird. She's designed to evoke the femme fatales of the 1930s and '40s era, but unlike such examples, she's on the side of the protagonists.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Hackenbush starts crying when he realises what an ass he's been to Sludger, and in this moment, he realises that he does indeed care about him, which causes him to try and make it up to him. He even purchases a pair of trousers for him.
- News Travels Fast: When Sludger mysteriously disappears — going to the city rubbish dump — it gets reported in the newspaper the next day. The headline being DRUMMING SENSATION GOES MISSING inspires Sludger to return to the club.
- Pursue the Dream Job: The main character wants to be a drummer.
- Rich Bastard: Senor Balustrade, the corrupt owner of the bar Sludger works at. According to Beryl, he "deals from a loaded deck." After Sludger accidentally reveals himself, humiliating him and scandalising his customer base, Senor Balustrade tries to have him converted into a bird... by force.
- Skewed Priorities: Tino is more concerned with the disgraceful state of his suit rather than the fact that he's being suspended from the city dump's magnet, presumably to starve to death.
- Squirrels in My Pants: An ant finds it way into Sludger's leather jacket, which leads to his colleagues ambushing him in a desperate attempt to eke out the stray insect.
- Sweet and Sour Grapes: Even after Sludger learns that "there's more to life than trousers", he still manages to get his fellow aardvarks together to form a local musical group called Hamilton Mattress and his Rhythm Kings. Judging by the meerkats' adoration for him, which has replaced their scorn, the animals' opinion of the aardvarks appears to have improved somewhat.
- Take This Job and Shove It: After nearly being converted into a bird by the corrupt owner of the bar he works at, Sludger grows a spine and decides he's had enough, departing angrily from the premises and returning all the way back to his original home.
- Villain Has a Point: Senor Balustrade may be a horrible bastard, but he does have a point when he points out that he simply cannot have an aardvark on stage, for the sake of his club's reputation. At the climax of the short, he remains adamant that an aardvark in any band would look ridiculous. He's ultimately proven wrong when Sludger is inadvertently given an idea to form a band of his own — with his fellow aardvarks.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Hackenbush angrily snaps at Sludger for exposing himself to the snobby residents of Beak City instead of hiding. He declares himself embarrassed to have ever solicited someone of his kind and immediately parts ways with him, leaving Sludger crying in the alleyway outside the bar.
- Working-Class Hero: Sludger is an animal version of this trope.