Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Jesper Brun 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.

hilemandavid 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!

G K 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.

JoeytheBrit The Mousekewitzes, a family of Russian mice (whose junior members' broad American accents curiously bear no resemblance to their parent's guttural Russian tones) are forced to flee their homeland after being torched from their modest home by marauding felines. Having already sung the praises of America ("there are no cats in America"), it is only natural that Papa Mousekewitz leads his clan to the land of the free, and it is not long before they are ensconced in the hold of an ocean liner. During a storm, Fievel, the youngest of the children, is washed overboard and is believed to have perished by his parents, although sister Tanya never gives up hope of finding him alive. Of course, Fievel survives against the odds and, with the help of an assortment of creatures, embarks on a voyage to relocate his family.Back in '86, when the now rejuvenated Disney corporation was languishing in the doldrums and churning out sub-standard fare like The Great Mouse Detective, Don Bluth briefly looked as if he might be the man to speed off with the baton the Mouse Factory had so badly fumbled. Sadly for him, it wasn't to be, and on the evidence of this movie it isn't hard to see why. While An American Tail is acceptable enough entertainment for children, and is superior to Disney's output of the time, it still falls short of the standards to which Disney had – and occasionally still do – reach. Fievel is an adorable enough little character, and his predicament leaves you little choice but to root for him, but at the end of the day, he's just another cute cartoon mouse with little to distinguish him from all the other cartoon mice.The film's storyline is simple enough, and the historical perspective of the emigrant rush to the States in the 1880s is a unique and interesting one in which to place it. Bluth's writers attach symbolic significance to many aspects of the story – particularly the role of the cats – which will fly right over the top of the kid's heads but which should be easy enough for most adults to pick up on. And while this subtext is welcome in what is overtly a sentimental kiddie flick, it is still a poor substitute for the knowing adult jokes we have come to enjoy (and expect) from cartoon films today. The fact is, there isn't much of a storyline here, even for a film with a kiddie-friendly running time of 80 minutes, especially as Bluth shoves in a half-dozen or so tunes that are as out of place as they are unmemorable. Only 'Somewhere Out There' stands out, but that's too slushy for most adults.While the animation is, again, of a commensurate standard to Disney's at the time, it looks a little 80s-dated today: too recent to hark back to the Disney glory days, yet too old for the major animators standards of today. While the grimy background is in keeping with the period in which the movie is set, its subdued tones means it fails to catch the eye. So we focus more on the characters, and realise we're watching Disney clones – which might have been considered unavoidable to a degree back in the eighties, but doesn't really stand up today.An American Tail.is a respectable, workmanlike effort that won't leave anyone angry at having invested eighty minutes of their time in it. But it lacks the vibrancy and texture required to capture both the audience's attention and imagination. Youngsters will be uncomplaining, but few over seven will commandeer the DVD player to watch it over and over again – which, after all, is the only true benchmark of a cartoon's worth..