An American Tail (1986)

Very best movie i ever watch

ridiculous rating

One of my all time favorites.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

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.

An American Tail (1986): Dir: Don Bluth / Voices: Phillip Glasser, Dom DeLuise, John Finnegan, Pat Musick, Cathianne Blore: Edgy animation that makes great references to oppression. In this case a family of mice arrive in America in hopes of avoiding the cats that have always hunted them. The mice apparently are a symbol for Jews while the cats symbolize Nazi power. Phillip Glasser voices young Fievel who becomes separated from his family aboard a ship. He washes ashore in a bottle and discovers that he is indeed in America. He must learn to fend for himself while hoping to reunite with his family. Along the way he encounters a variety of characters, some interesting, others not so much. Dom DeLuise provides the most amusement voicing a friendly fluffy cat named Tiger who refuses to eat Fievel. John Finnegan voices the villain Warren T. Rat who has a secret of his own. Other characters are a mix bag of types that provide little differentiation. An Italian mouse named Tony with a daring spirit is a yawner, and the female he encounters, named Bridget is about as bland as cardboard. While the story is detailed with an exciting climax where the mice unleash their ultimate weapon against the cats, it becomes bogged down periodically with corny elements. Directed by Don Bluth who previously made The Secret of Nimh, this is a worthy animation about family survival during a devastating period. Score: 8 ½ / 10

One of the better animated films to come out in the 1980s. Directed by Don Bluth and produced by Steven Spielberg, it's the story of a young mouse named Fievel who is separated from his family during their voyage from Russia to America, and his quest to be reunited with them. It's a nice movie, a little familiar in places, that uses animals to tell a very human story against the backdrop of late 19th century New York. The animation is excellent, rich in detail with some well-done action sequences. The voice work is top notch and the music is enjoyable, particularly the touching song "Somewhere Out There," which became a big hit at the time. The movie's only real flaws are its predictability and a dark palette that can leave you with a gloomy feeling while watching. I was a kid when it was first released and I remember leaving the theater underwhelmed. It plays much better to an older audience, I think.

I remember watching An American Tail as a kid. I can't say that I have fond memories of it, but director Don Bluth's animation and storytelling do leave an impression. The Secret Of NIMH (1982) remains Bluth's best film in my opinion. It was also his first film after he and his team of animators left The Walt Disney Company to work on more ambitious animation. But An American Tail comes close in terms of quality. It also follows The Secret Of NIMH in formula, even making the main characters mice again. What one should know about Bluth is that he's a Mormon, and the influences of his faith are obvious in his animation work. Bluth's grandfather was Helaman Pratt, an early leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. An American Tail is very much a film for children, though the quality of the animation can attract adults too. Bluth and his team are known for sometimes using unusual animation methods. Their unique style in this film is made more striking by the near absence of bright colors, which often gives the film the look of an old photograph. Characterization is another of Bluth's strengths as a director. His characters are distinct and memorable. The downside to this in An American Tail is that they're often clichés. There's a poor Jewish family of mice, the Mousekewitzs, with thoughts of America as some land of milk and honey. There's a young Italian mouse (Tony Toponi) that falls in love with a young redhead Irish mouse (Bridget). There's a wealthy old German mouse (Gussie Mausheimer). The screenplay was written by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss so this isn't entirely Bluth's doing. But what's interesting, and at the same time disturbing, for me about An American Tail is the anti-Russian propaganda, something that runs strong in Mormonism. Bluth showed his anti-Russian tendencies again with Anastasia (1997). The thing about Mormonism is that it started out as a British intelligence project in the 19th century. The faith's founder, Joseph Smith, was a British agent. For the last 200 years Russia has been London's enemy #1, and the British created many difficulties for Russia. In Smith's White Horse Prophecy Russia is mentioned as the ultimate enemy of the Mormons. According to him, the final struggle against Russia will come after the Mormons conquer the United States and absorb the British Empire. This is a piece of Mormon history that few non-Mormons know about. Therefore, it should be known that Mormons are some of the most reactionary, conservative, anti-Russian and pro-British people in America. Mitt Romney, by the way, is a Mormon. I recently found out about this thanks to Webster Tarpley's book Just Too Weird: Bishop Romney And The Mormon Takeover Of America: Polygamy, Theocracy, And Subversion. So the anti-Russian propaganda in the film is certainly no accident. In addition, one should know that Bluth collaborated with Steven Spielberg on An American Tail, so it's also no accident that the Mousekewitzs are a Jewish family. This isn't the only dark side of the film however. The American immigrant experience is tackled too, showing the very real difficulties and racism that immigrants had to deal with upon arrival. Still, this isn't something that children will understand unless their parents tell them. The lively animation and James Horner's fine score manage to make the experience uplifting and touching, but there's no hiding the film's intentional dark side. An American Tail certainly isn't a Disney product. It's a film that I can easily recommend because of its animation and music. The screenplay, on the other hand, doesn't impress.