An American Tail (1986)

An American Tail is cute. Not AS dark as other movies by Don Bluth, but it still carries his mark in the atmosphere. A family of mice emigrates from Russia to America where they have been told there are no cats and the streets are paved with cheese. A well made allegory to the migration towards The New World in the late 19th century. And the world of the mice is also frequently shown parallel to that of the humns. That's clever. Fievel is torn away from his family and tries hard to find them again and comes across many different characters in the streets of New York. Admittedly, I didn't find them very memorable, but they were good natured and served at least a purpose by helping Fievel on his journey. The best thing about it is how Fievel is tested by how much trouble and hardships he goes through. And it is heartwrenching seeing how close he comes to reunite with his family and still manages to avoid it. That makes us so much more eager to see him succeed and makes the reunion so much more delightful. An American Tail does not shy away from torturing its main characters emotionally, but it is still lighter in tone than the other movies with Don Bluth's signature bleakness in them.

I'm sure you know this movie, An American Tail, directed by Don Bluth and produced by Steven Spielberg. Based on a concept by David Kirschner, and a screenplay by Emmy-award winners Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss. This movie, I can't really call it a movie. I call it a Masterpiece! One of the finest meals ever prepared by one of the greatest people to make animated movies after Walt Disney died, Don Bluth. Director of The Secret of NIMH. I love this movie!!! I can describe it in two words! WOW! INCREDIBLE!!! Even only one word can describe it! BEAUTIFUL!!! First of all, the animation is nice. Very high-quality traditional animation with scents from Disney's Golden Age. And oh, Gobstoppers, the story! It's a wonderful story about Fievel Mousekewitz and his family as they emigrate from Russia to America to find freedom after an anti-Semitic attack from cats. But Fievel gets washed overboard and ends up in a different part of New York Harbor, and now he has to find a chance to find his family. And the score! This is one of the best scores that James Horner has ever composed before Braveheart and Titanic! Very beautiful! What about the voice acting? ALSO WONDERFUL!!! Like the voice of Phillip Glasser as Fievel. Just adorable! And Amy Green as Tanya Mousekewitz? Also very nice. Nehemiah Persoff? Nice as Papa Mousekewitz! Erica Yohn, also wonderful playing as Mama Mousekewitz. Pat Musick sounds nice as Tony Toponi, the streetwise Italian mouse who helps Fievel out. Dom DeLuise sounds wonderful as Tiger, as if his performance as Jeremy in NIMH wasn't good enough! Nice to hear Dom back in the game! Henri the Pigeon gets wonderful Christopher Plummer's voice. And voicing Gussie Mauseheimer is Madeline Khan, who also acted in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles! We also get Will Ryan who also starred in the Christian radio series Adventures in Odyssey. We also get Niel Ross, Cathianne Blore, and Hal Smith. But it's the songs that kick me twice in the awe-striking area! If we are not getting nice messages in songs like "Never Say Never" and "A Duo," we're getting beautiful tunes and lyrics, like in "Somewhere Out There" OH! MY! GOBSTOPPERS! Oh yeah!!! Right in the tenders!!! Ha ha!!! Wonderful! Incredible!!! Beautiful Singink!!! Wonderful!!! HA HA HA!!! It certainly deserves the two Grammies.I would give this movie 100/10!

What's up with the 80s and mice. I mean, The Rescuers, The Great Mouse Detective... This movie. Though, come to think about it, Don Bluth worked on two of those movies and left the Disney Studio just as they were beginning to conceptualize Basil of Baker Street. So, Mr. Bluth: What's up with all the mice?Nevertheless, it's not a bad film by any means, and is held as a classic by many who have seen it as children. Personally I saw it for the first time as an adult, and while I can see the pull, I can also notice all the flaws.So what's the story? The family Mousekewitz are Russian-Jewish immigrants on their way to America where there are no cats, or so they have been told. But on the way there Fievel, their son, washes overboard and is believed to have drowned. Naturally our plucky main character simply washes to shore in a bottle, but they don't know that. And from there it's pretty much a story about how they get back together and end up in wacky hijinks while doing so.It works, simply said. The allegory of cats and mice works really well to reflect the dreams of immigrants looking to start anew in America, the land of possibilities, only to find out that their new home is not terribly different from the place they left. The film is also pure gold on the technical level, with Bluth's signatory animation style lending itself really well to the small world of animals living in the lower quarters of our own. The songs are also very good, especially There Are No Cats in America, which is ridiculously catchy. But then the problems. The story is pretty clunky. None of the various plot threads connect all that well, except in that Fievel just happens to influence all of them through forced writing. And Fievel himself is incredibly annoying. I can see the appeal of him, but to me he's easily the worst thing in this film.Still, if you've liked other Don Bluth films, this one is definitely worth a watch. Not his best film, but it has a lot of good stuff in it.

After the darker and epic masterpiece "The Secret of NIMH", he teams up with Steven Spielberg (who directed the heartwarming E.T. and the shark monster "Jaws" and would later direct the adaptation of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park) along with David Kirschner to direct the idea he came up with known as "An American Tail".It takes place in Russian in the year 1885 where a family of mice gets chased out of their homes by the cats. On the way to America, a land where they think has no cats, a young mouse named Fievel Mousekewitz gets separated from his parents on the way. When he arrives alone in the New World, however, he keeps up hope, searching for his family, making new friends, and running and dodging the cats he thought he'd be rid off.Since this is Bluth/Spielberg's first team up to make an animated film, it's an amazing effort from the greatest directors in the history of cinema. The story was so touching while having funny moments, scary moments, and very sad moments. The animation is breathtakingly beautiful and so are the colorful backgrounds. The characters are likable and so is the excellent voice acting. The James Horner music score/songs were so catchy you would leave the theater humming "Somewhere Out There" for about four minutes.An American Tail is another masterpiece not only from Don Bluth, but from Steven Spielberg as well and would recommended to fans of traditional animation and Bluth fans.5/5