Everybody loves An American Tail, but its sequel had a lot of people scratching their heads. Can the Nostalgia Critic figure out why?
Release date: April 17, 2018
Review of: An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
Tropes:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: In the final scene, Critic has Wylie lampshade the obvious CGI background and have him believe their film was the first to do it, only for the news that Beauty and the Beast came out the same weekend and did the same thing.
- Analogy Backfire: Critic comments on how confusing Miss Kitty's comment to Tiger that she wants "a cat who's more like a dog" is, likening to a seal saying she wants someone like a shark.
- Angst? What Angst?: The fact that the Mousekewitz family seemingly gets over the loss of Fievel in the span of a day, in stark contrast to how their grief over Fievel's loss in the original film lasted at least a week, does not go unnoticed. He also notices just how pointless the whole separation is, given it only lasts 12 minutes of screentime (as opposed to it being the central conflict of the first movie), has no real bearing on the plot, that his family barely even react to him returning, and then they basically leave him on his own for the later half of the movie anyway.
- Direct to Video: When Wylie Burp tells Fievel to get out while he still can, Critic adds in that he can still star in a good sequel and can leave this one to the direct-to-video market.
- God Guise: The cliche of "native tribes mistaking a captive for their God" is mocked by Critic, joking that they should just skip to that part, only to immediately find out that the cliche really is in the movie, and Critic expresses frustration at why every native tribe in movies mistake someone or something they've never seen before as their god.
- Lighter and Softer: Critic is rather baffled at the sequel's jarring shift in tone from the very dark and somber tone of the original film.
- Mood Whiplash: The Critic opens by wistfully describing the first movie for its emotional tone, then abruptly changes his tone to talk about the sequel, saying, "And then the sequel came out! It's a cowboy movie!"
- National Stereotypes: The moment Critic lays eyes on the stereotypical Indian mouse chief, he groans "Aw, this is gonna age well..."
- Padding: The scenes where Tiger is chased by dogs while trying to catch up with the train is seen as a way to draw out screen time.
- Perfectly Cromulent Word: In response to the lady trying to hug Cat R. Waul, the Critic can't think of a word to describe this uncomfortable scene, so he makes one up: "uneckhable".Critic: That was a very uneckhable scene!
- Questionable Casting: Critic isn't too pleased to know that this film is Jimmy Stewart's last film role, nor with the fact that John Cleese voiced Cat R. Waul, apparently having passed up a chance to voice Cogsworth for it.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: Critic is confused about how Fievel's hat (which originally belonged to his father) can abruptly turn inside out into a 10 gallon hat, a bit put off by how it turns one of the most important symbols of the original film into a one-off joke, but he also wonders if Papa Mousekewitz even knew if the hat could do that and that he could've made a fortune off of it if he did or knew how to make a hat work like that.
- Shout-Out:
- When Critic points out Tanya's abrupt age up between movies (pointing out that she looked roughly the same age as Fievel in the original film), he ponders if she went through the same growth spurt that the National Lampoon Vacation Kids went through.
- When Fievel gets separated from his family again, Critic quotes "It happened again!"
- During the scene where Fievel and Tiger assume each other are just mirages, Critic quips "And that kids is what happens when you drink cactus juice.", playing the matching clip of Sokka drunk on Cactus Juice from the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The Desert".
- When Wylie is showing Tiger "The Lazy Eye", Critic adds in him warning that Tiger shouldn't do it too often, because a sailor friend of his defaced himself that way. The scene where he's trying to pull it off are also likened to the sounds Han Solo makes when he's being tortured in The Empire Strikes Back.
- When Miss Kitty is held hostage by T.R. Chula, Critic notes that unless the spider was written by J. R. R. Tolkien (showing a pic of Shelob while he's talking), it's a pretty embarrassing thing to have happen to you.
- So Okay, It's Average: Critic's opinion on the film is that it's a well animated and colorful film that'll make a good timekiller for kids, but it absolutely pales in comparison to its predecessor in content.
- Squick: The Critic is really uncomfortable watching the scene where Cat R. Waul gets launched into an upper floor (by Fievel stabbing him in the butt) and then gets shoved and squeezed around in a woman's massive cleavage. The later scene where Cat R. Waul is caught by her again is also creepy to him, but less so than the previous one. To a lesser extent, he's also put off by the awkward shot where Tanya suddenly has a see-through dress.
- Tear Jerker: The Critic is actually brought to tears at Wylie's final monologue, especially since he knows this film was the final acting role of Jimmy Stewart.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Critic points out how weird it is that the humans annoyed by Tanya's singing and throwing food at her aren't bothered at all by the fact that the person bugging them is a singing mouse.
"Pussy, pussy pussy!"
