History WesternAnimation / AnAmericanTail

Netting over $84 million worldwide, the film rapidly became the highest-grossing animated feature (by initial release) of all time, outstripping Disney's offering ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' financially (a rare feat during a period in which American animated feature production was far lower than the present day) and establishing Don Bluth as an industry heavyweight and genuine competitor to the Mouse. The increased pressure on Disney's part to outcompete Bluth arguably accelerated the oncoming of the Disney Renaissance. Due to its success, the film saw a sequel five years later with ''[[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailFievelGoesWest Fievel Goes West]]'', a pastiche of classic westerns in which the Mousekewitz family, still dirt poor and at the mercy of ever-more-sophisticated cats, flee New York for a Wild Western town. The debut production of Spielberg's Creator/{{Amblimation}} studio (albeit featuring no involvement from Bluth), the film, unusually for its period, was a full-budgeted theatrical release boasting comparably fluid animation to its predecessor (despite its conspicuously LighterAndSofter tone). A [[ShortRunners short-lived]] TV series set within the same Western town (''WesternAnimation/FievelsAmericanTails'') aired the following year; both instalments featured a RoleReprise from Phillip Glasser as Fievel. Years later, two additional [[DirectToVideo DTV]] sequels (''[[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailTheTreasureOfManhattanIsland The Treasure of Manhattan Island]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailTheMysteryOfTheNightMonster Mystery of the Night Monster]]'') were produced; both films play fast and loose with the established continuity, and had no involvement from either Bluth or Spielberg. While the series (mostly) retains a surprisingly consistent cast by the standards of most '90s animated franchises, Creator/DomDeLuise (Tiger) and Creator/NehemiahPersoff (Papa Mousekewitz) are the sole actors to feature in all four films

Saw a sequel five years later with ''[[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailFievelGoesWest Fievel Goes West]]'', a pastiche of classic westerns in which the Mousekewitz family, still dirt poor and at the mercy of ever-more-sophisticated cats, flee New York for a Wild Western town. The debut production of Spielberg's Creator/{{Amblimation}} studio (albeit featuring no involvement from Bluth), the film, unusually for its period, was a full-budgeted theatrical release boasting comparably fluid animation to its predecessor (despite its conspicuously LighterAndSofter tone). A [[ShortRunners short-lived]] TV series set within the same Western town (''WesternAnimation/FievelsAmericanTails'') aired the following year; both instalments featured a RoleReprise from Phillip Glasser as Fievel. Years later, two additional [[DirectToVideo DTV]] sequels (''[[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailTheTreasureOfManhattanIsland The Treasure of Manhattan Island]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailTheMysteryOfTheNightMonster Mystery of the Night Monster]]'') were produced; both films play fast and loose with the established continuity, and had no involvement from either Bluth or Spielberg. While the series (mostly) retains a surprisingly consistent cast by the standards of most '90s animated franchises, Creator/DomDeLuise (Tiger) and Creator/NehemiahPersoff (Papa Mousekewitz) are the sole actors to feature in all four films

A collaboration between Creator/DonBluth and Creator/StevenSpielberg (and the latter's first animated production), ''An American Tail'' starts off on Hanukkah in 1885, opening in a schtetl in the [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Russian Empire]]. The camera pans past the house belonging to the human Moskowitz family to reveal a tiny duplicate house inhabited by the Mousekewitz family. They are Jewish-Russian mice who are forced to escape persecution after [[YouCantGoHomeAgain their village is destroyed in a pogrom]] [[CatsAreMean by Cossack cats]].

A collaboration between Creator/DonBluth and Creator/StevenSpielberg (and the latter's first animated production), ''An American Tail'' starts off on Hanukkah in 1885, opening in a Russian schtetl. The camera pans past the house belonging to the human Moskowitz family to reveal a tiny duplicate house inhabited by the Mousekewitz family. They are Jewish-Russian mice who are forced to escape persecution after [[YouCantGoHomeAgain their village is destroyed in a pogrom]] [[CatsAreMean by Cossack cats]].

* AnAesop:
* * Relocating does not always solve your problems.
** Never always believe in rumors because they might not be true. Fievel's family especially Fievel's father learned this the hard way as there were indeed cats in America despite beliefs there 'wasn't'.
** As Henri says to Fievel, don't believe you cannot do or achieve things as giving up is not the answer.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: The film is an aggressive yet heartfelt movie about the expectations vs reality of the immagrants moving from Russia to America.

* StockFootage: Some of the cats are reused bits of Dragon from ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH'', and they all appear to owe quite a bit to his terrifying "cats as seen by mice" design. Additionally, there are moments where both the Cossack Cats and the Maulers who raid the market are the same animated cats with wardrobe changes.
* StockSoundEffects: The growls of the Cossack cats were lifted from Dragon in ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH'', themselves coming from the Balrog in 1978's ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings''.

** Warren T. Rat represents illicit businessmen who would watch for immigrants fresh off the boat (particularly those who didn't speak English), and would lure them in with promises of work, only to end up selling them to labor shops.

* ArtShift: The Mouse of Minsk is noticeably [[{{rotoscoping}} rotoscoped]]. It gives an otherworldly feel to the scene that perfectly matches the tone of the moment.