An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)

Out of movie sequels and generally in sequels especially to Don Bluth's films like the god awful atrocious Secret of Nimh 2 to the mediocre Bartok the magnificent and then All dogs go to heaven 2 but unlike any of these sequels Fievel goes West succeeds and is about as good as the original American Tail of course when this movie was released in December 1991 it was released with Disney's Beauty and the Beast so yeah we kinda of know what happened there. But anyway the movie has a lot of excitement for Kids and Adults in this feature because in the first film they used the 19th century Tsar Russia against the Jews and in the sequel its the Jews against the Nazis but it goes away from its Jewish counterpart I mean the place they are given hope is mainly to trick them into labour and then execution but other than that the story might not be the strongest but the characters are funny and likeable especially Tiger played by Dom Deluise. The animation is spectacular and the backgrounds are amazing. The adults have a lot to like about this movie the humour at points is very adult and sometimes it can be to much for kids like the scene were Cat R Waul gets uptight with the lady and slips on her boobs and the camera zooms but most of the time its appropriate for the family and Tiger has a lot of Loony Tunes kinda of jokes which are funny. The adults also get the western cinematography that will remind them of classic western films and the last performance of a great actor Jimmy Stewart of a retired an old sheriff dog. But what else is there to say the music from James Horner and the three songs in this movie are upbeat epic and fun. So parents if you want to watch something that you will enjoy with your kids that is not the Emoji movie or nut job or minions then this is definitely worth it and trust me this one of the best animated sequels out there and I wish there would be more Western animated films you will enjoy it.

I'll start with a disclaimer: I'm biased, and I want to like this movie. However, it does fall short in many ways. The first American Tail had this Russian Jewish mouse family that emigrated to America in the East because calamitous reasons. A minor nitpick, but the premise of going West... wouldn't it have been shorter to go across the Pacific instead of circling round the world? This is easily overlooked, though, so moving on: the two biggest shortcomings of this movie are pacing and depth. At times, the movie moves too fast to be emotional, and its transitions are so jarring it's hard to get into it. It lacks the emotional and intellectual depth of the first movie altogether, the former in no small part due to the pacing issues and the latter because its moral is summed up in the standard "belief in oneself" hollow metaphorical cookie. As for the mouse family itself, the movie seems to have forgotten that everyone but the parents are Russian immigrants and Jewish besides. I'd like to know when Fievel stopped being Russian and immediately picked up Western cowboy mannerisms. A little too quick. I don't really care, but another minor nitpick is that the detail of the family being Jewish never pops up again. The animation is very different from the first movie, and it shows. Fievel no longer moves like a drunkard, but now moves like a sharp and witty action hero. There are many sections in which you can tell the animators had fun, at least, but there are some gags that probably don't fit (minor spoiler: dogfish). In short, this movie doesn't feel like the original hardly at all. Its patriotic themes are almost completely absent, being switched out in favour of a Western aesthetic. The returning characters are very different. Tiger is now clumsy in comical fashion (which is only occasionally funny), doesn't quite feel or move like the original. Even Fievel's friends Tony and Bridget are reduced to momentary cameos and play no part in the plot. However, Tanya is given much more character development, which was one of the brightest parts of the movie. Instead of a background character like in the first movie, she became a tritagonist of sorts, likable and memorable. Overall, it's an okay (by which I mean barely passable) movie in its own right. Its musical numbers (one of which is Tanya's) are somewhat memorable, pretty catchy, pleasant to listen to. Its characters are (mostly) okay, the plot is relatively original by American Tail standards. But in general, the movie suffers from being unimaginative and shallow. It inherits a good name and it does well for having these flaws, but it is not something you'll watch very often. Many won't rewatch it at all, most of all if they were hardcore fans of the original. Again, though, standing alone, it is actually not that bad as a movie. And upon further consideration, I will raise the movie a star's rating for its magnificent soundtrack (The Girl You Left Behind, Way Out West, and Rawhide are worthy of honourable mention).

I enjoyed the original "American Tail" movie because of its appeal towards adults as well as children (it uses mice and cats as a metaphor for the Jews and Germans during WWII, with immigrants fleeing to the US). However the dark edge of the movie was a bit too much for me and I felt as a children's tale it was probably a bit too scary.Don Bluth returned in '91 to film the sequel to his last hit, this one a satire of the westerns. Fievel the mischievous mouse returns as his parents are shipping off to Green River to escape the cats, led by Cat R. Wall (voiced by John Cleese).Along the way a spider (voiced by Jon Lovitz) tries to kill Fievel and he falls off the train, into the desert, where he pines for his feline friend from the first film (voiced by Dom DeLuise).Eventually Fievel finds his way out of the desert and finds a dog-sheriff (voiced by Jimmy Stewart) who decides to help train him so that he can fight off Cat R. Wall, who has moved out west to spread his reign of terror.I enjoy this movie more than the first one because it's not as dark (something I just have a problem with in a kid's movie). The satire isn't as strong and the whole WWII edge is lost but it still retains the cats vs. mice, which is a nice element.The animation in my opinion is more classical and the musical sequences are more lively. The voice talents are far more impressive and I love Jimmy Stewart and John Cleese in this movie - talk about great casting! Overall this is better than the original and it surprises me that more people don't actually know about it. As a nice little family adventure film it's pretty entertaining and in terms of animation it represents everything Don Bluth is known for.

When I was a kid I used to like the original first American Tail film, but then they started making straight-to-video sequels. This sequel is the only one I have seen, why did they have to make s sequel, at least as rubbish as this. Young Fievel Mousekevitz the mouse gets lost again (for a little while) and then decides to try and get rid of all the cats from the West part of America, where the story left off. The only parts I can remember of this film were the parts with Tiger the cat and John Cleese as the voice of the villain. Apparently there was also the voices of Jon Lovitz, and, in his last film before his death, Rear Window and It's a Wonderful star James Stewart. They are meant to be the reason for the film earning a second star. Pretty poor!