An American Tail (1986)

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

Fmovies: I agree that the standards set by Walt and his animators are the only ones that matter when it comes to judging animated films, and I had trouble accepting this to, but there are OTHER ANIMATION COMPANIES!! No one would dare describe "Shrek" (which sucked) as a Disney movie, so let's leave Don Bluth alone, okay?

Having said that, this movie is absolutely wonderful. A heartwarming story, beautiful songs (including the now standard "Somewhere Out There") great performances and the animation is stellar. Much darker and grittier than any story Disney would even dream of making, it revolves around an immigrant mouse named Fievel, whose family comes to America to escape oppression ("In America," says Poppa, "There are no cats."). Fievel learns the hard way that America has its problems, too.

In my opinion, this movie is worth seeing solely for Dom DeLuise's characterization of the soft-hearted alley cat Tiger. All in all, this is probably the best Don Bluth has ever made.

Don't take me wrong: although An American Tail is a wonderful film, the old Disney classics are not the ones I'm talking about in the summary. I'm talking about the over-commercialized crap we get these days. Don Bluth's second animated feature is again about mice, like Secret of NIMH. I think NIMH was better, though not by much. The songs are pretty good, although not like some Disney songs. The animation, however, is simply gorgeous. I can't believe people dismiss it as poorly animated just because the colors aren't bright! The colors are dark and moody, as they should be, An American Tail--nor any of Bluth's films--were ever supposed to look like Rayman. If you want to see Bluth with bright colors, glance at some cheery scenes from A Troll in Central Park. I find the way Fievel and his family miss each other by inches frustrating, though. In fact, I was surprised Fievel and Tanya couldn't hear each other as they sang "Somewhere Out There". A simply beautiful film, a must for anyone who looks for variation in the field of animation, but infuriating for anyone who thinks the scope of animation should be restricted to Disney.

An American Tail fmovies. When I was a child, my sister and I would love watching all sorts of animated films. One of these films was An American Tail. My interest in the film increased after watching All Dogs go to Heaven. I only remembered bits and pieces of it, so I finally got the opportunity to watch the film, and it was definitely worth seeing.

Frustrated by all the cats in Russia, the Mousekewitz family to America, where there are supposedly no cats. During the voyage, Fieval Mousekewitz (Phillip Glasser) wanders off and is separated from the rest of the family. Fortunately, he lands in New York, where he is determined to find his parents. Fieval journeys through New York, meeting many friends, who include a French pigeon named Henri (Christopher Plummer), a young mouse named Tony Toponi (Pat Musick), and a large alcoholic mouse named Honest John (Neil Ross). He also discovers that there are cats in America, one of them being a scam artist named Warren T. Rat (John Finnegan).

There are several satirical moments in the film, such as the depiction of cats in Italy as mobsters, the depiction of cats in Russia as Cossacks, etc. But the film, although enjoyable, has some minor flaws. The first and the most obvious flaw is that the film may get too depressing for children, and the other flaw is that the film is that the voices may get a bit annoying, but it never gets even remotely unbearable.

Overall, An American Tail was an excellent animated film, and I highly recommend

As a non-American who has heard so often of The American Dream, I saw this movie as a celebration of that dream. The flight of the poor and oppressed (and Jewish?) from Europe to the proposed Land of Freedom and Wealth (There are no cats in America and the streets are paved with cheese?) to find more poverty and oppression (workhouses, cats and workhouse tout Warren T. Rat), but with the opportunity to do something about it that they did not have in the old country.

The song "Somewhere Out There" is quite perfectly matched with Fyvel and his family searching for each other, and the version heard in the movie is rather more expressive than the released single.

It is not necessarily fun for the whole family. Children will find it fun. Adults will find it interesting, not so much in fun as in pride and awareness, at least if they are Americans .

Ex-Disney animator Don Bluth brings us a tail (sorry, TALE! Well, that's the proper word in the context!) of the Russian Mousekewitz mouse family, who, like all of the other mice in late 1800's Russia, want to escape from the cats. They dream of a land known as America, where there are no cats. Travelling to

Germany, they board a ship bound for America.

However, during a violent storm, little Fievel Mousekewitz (voiced by Phillip Glasser) becomes separated from his parents and sisters. Fortunately for Fievel he was saved from drowning by being ensconced within a bottle, which quite by chance floats to New York, USA. Unfortunately not only is America very big, but it -- well, let's just say that for all mice concerned it's not all it was cracked up to be.

With the help of friends such as Tony Toponi (voiced by Pat Musick) and Tiger (Dom DeLuise), Fievel goes on a mammoth quest to become reunited with his

family.

Although it is a little on the sentimental side, it does have a certain charm, which is further helped by James Horner's musical score, as well as the wonderful

song 'Somewhere Out There' which has since become my favourite duet of all

time (I've even sung the end-credits version, as sung by Linda Ronstadt and

James Ingram, on Karaoke!). Some adults may not like the sentimentality, but stick with it, and you'll be rewarded with a gem, particularly if watching with either the young or the young-at-heart.