An American Tail Review

An American Tail

My website is dedicated to this mouse, Fievel, and it is also dedicated to the great anime character Goku. Why? Because those two are the best of their own nation's animation. An American Tail is one of, if not the best animated story film in American animation. All done by the great Don Bluth. If you have not seen this film whether you’re a child or an adult, YOUR MISSING OUT ON A GREAT FILM!

The story re-tells the tale of the great immigration to America in the late 1800's. So this film is also historical, using mice to re-enact what the humans did. All of the American Tail (AT) films all have some kind of historical significance. The story is about a young jewish boy mouse named "Fievel Mouskewitz" who lives with his Mama, Papa and two sisters in Russia. However, there were problems in Russia. The Cossack Cats continually persecuted all of the mice in the area. The Human Cossacks attacked human villages, while the cats followed the humans by attacking the mice villages. The cats attacked Fievel's family but he thought he could take the cats on! He was either really brave or really dumb…….…

He was dumb! Fievel nearly got killed by a group of Russian cats but he has the unique gift of survival techniques and survived by out maneuvering the cats in a teapot. The Mouskewitz family has had enough cat attacks and religious persecution. They then kept hearing about how great America was. All of the mice in Europe kept saying "In America the streets are paved with cheese! It is the land of opportunity, the land of promise, but most important of all, THERE ARE NO CATS IN AMERICA" (Ha! That'll be the day!) But that's very historical! The European humans gave each other some stretches too.

On the ship to America, Fievel got a little curious. He wanted to explore the ship by himself. BIG MISTAKE. You've heard of curiosity killed the cat before right? Well, Fievel's a mouse so he can't die from it,…can he? No, he just gets in serious trouble! Fievel explored (a wee bit too far) try, over the edge! Fievel fell off the boat in a storm. His father witnessed his only son go over board. And I don't think that the sea captain will turn around for a mouse. It's a scary moment in the film he doesn't just fall off like that! He tries to stay on board as long and he can hang on to his little hands. But he fell off and went into the North Atlantic Ocean and vanished into the sea. While his father is crying out his son’s name. Sniff! Tragic isn’t it?

The Mouskewitz's make it to America, but in a very sad tone because the trip has cost them the life of their only son. But Fievel's sister Tanya thought that they should go looking for him. But the her parents ignored the impossible request. It seemed like all was lost……………….

But wait…………….

What's this…………?

Is it………………..?

YES!

Fievel is alive! Against all odds of: being eating by big fish, drowning, and hypothermia Fievel managed to float to New York harbor in a bottle. He landed on the unfinished Statue of Liberty. Where he was greeted by a French pigeon named Henri (Christopher Plummer) This film was released at the Statue of Liberty's 100^th Birthday. Which is why the Statue of Liberty plays a serious role in the An American Tail films. American Tail is those kind of films that make you proud to be an American despite our small problems. Rocky was another movie that made you proud to be an American compared to the hundreds of films making you fell bad that your living here! Like X-Files.

Henri encourages Fievel to go and look for his family. Fievel doubts that he can find them in a big place like New York. But Henri gives Fievel the encouragement he needs to go search for his family. (By doing a musical number that is. Don't worry it's a good one!) Fievel begins his search in the wrong place! Once again we have American History being re-enacted by mice. Fievel stumbles upon what's known in a chapter to my old High School History book known as, "The Shame of a Nation". CHILD LABOR! An evil rich tyrant named Warren T. Rat (voiced by the guy who did Columbo) tricked Fievel and put him into child labor. Fievel later escaped, (like I said this kid's got guts!) and made a new friend, Tony. Tony was an older Italian immigrant kid who wanted to help him find his family that was until he fell in love with a civil rights activist female mouse named Brigit. While on the search for his family he had a lot of false alarms, some real sad. Then Fievel saw something he thought that he'd never see again, A CAT! There were cats in America after all.

While Fievel searches out for his family the New York mice were getting sick of the increasingly violent cat attacks that they decided to do something about it. So Fievel came up with an ingenious plan…to build a giant machine modeled after one of his fathers’ fables.

Unfortunately he discovers that one of the master minds of the new cat attacks are under the orders of none other than his former boss Warren T. Rat who isn’t at all what he seems.

Fievel continues his search for his family while new and more dangerous obstacles get in his way. Can he ever find his family? Find out for yourself with heart.

When the film was out in theaters, there were reports of people crying in the theater. I AM ONE OF THEM. It's the lonely feeling of not finding your loved ones. This has always been my #1 favorite film. No matter how many times I've seen it, I STILL GET GOOSEBUMPS WHEN I WATCH IT! At the time in the 1980’s it was believed that only Disney was capable of making these kind of animated films good. But at the time An American Tail actually beat some of the Disney films at the time including “Oliver and Company”

This page is dedicated to this amazing wonderful animated film by Don Bluth and I'd just like to say that there has been no other.

Non-Disney animated film that has been better or topped this wonderful heart felt film. And I close you with that.

Movie Checklist

Remember I don't criticize films like most do with this 4 out of 5 or 2 thumbs up. I don't believe in that, it's bad criticism. Click Movie Checklist to see what I'm talking about.

Rating: G, who says that if it's G rated it has to be bad?

For who?: EVERYBODY! NOT JUST KIDS! Adults, this is the perfect family get together film!

Year: 1986

Time: Over an hour and 20 minutes.

Action: Where do I start? Cat attacks, ship scene, mouse chases, factory escapes, giant machine mouse shooting rockets…etc.

Violence: Cat attacks can be cruel but not too cruel. A cat swallows Fievel and you can see the inside. Mice shoot fireworks at cats.

Language: Does "You Moron!" count?

LoveMaking: It's fun to see two mice kissing. No Fievel's not one of them!

Music: Great and sound and music! All done by the great James Horner. About 4 musical numbers, ALL GOOD AND AT THE RIGHT TIME! Including the famous "Somewhere out there"

Cast: Phillip Glasser=Fievel

Dom DeLuise=Tiger

John Finnegon=Warren T. Rat (he's been on Columbo too)

Nehemiah Persoff=Papa

Amy Green=Tanya

Pat Musick=Tony

Neil Ross=Honest John (He's been a narrator on almost everything. Like: Movie Magic ((Discovery Channel)) and the voice of Han Solo in the N64 Rogue Squadron game)

Awards: Nominated for an Oscar for best song “Somewhere out There” but lost to 'Top Gun' It won 2 Golden Globe awards for best song and music! The awards went to James Horner. Amy Green (Tanya) won the 1988 YOUNG ARTIST AWARD for doing the voice of Tanya. So did Phillip Glasser for being the voice of Fievel! So it's a total of about 4 awards!

Pros: EVERYTHING! It's one of my all time favorite movies is that enough? Steven Spielberg also helped make it but Don Bluth was the real deal! It has a good storyline and the musical numbers are at the right place at the right time. (There are so many musical numbers in animated films these days that come in at the worst time! Like NIMH2) There's just so many Pros that I can't put it up here! Just go see it! Or wait till Cartoon Network shows it. But the thing is if Cartoon Network shows it, then you lose the feeling because of some "Billy and Mandy" commercials.

Cons: What's to argue about? Huh! I guess I have no choice! I guess Tiger's the biggest Con. Why? It's not that he's bad, but it's not because he's good either. It's just the concept of a good cat helping Fievel in a "Jar-Jar Biggs" manner can kind of ruin the feeling. Plus Phillip Glasser is a little off key when he sings “Somewhere out there” it should have been sung by someone else. This film may also be a little TOO serious for most kids, they may not get it and for the young ones it might be too scary. While others who are more into Anime may find it a bit more boring.

See you later!

-GokuFievel

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