WesternAnimation Aimed at kids, but a solid period peice.
As a kid, An American Tail was a fun story about mice, living about a century in the past.
As an adult, and a student of history, I've come to appreciate AAT in a new light. The first film and the sequel (I haven't seen any of the direct to video movies) may be about animated, talking, rodents, but they do a very good job of capturing the experience of many people who emigrated to America in the 19th and early 20th century—and NOT the rosy, Hallmark-card version, either. Fievel and his family decide to emigrate to America after a brutal attack on their homeland, where they find that most of the promises about what America has to offer to new arrivals are empty. The second film follows on that theme: Fievel and his family are lured out West by the promise of open space and peace with the cats, but are instead tricked into forced labor.
These two movies reminded me a lot of Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle, but with more of a focus on enduring familial bonds than gross-out details and a happier ending. Put aside the fact that this is animated and the main characters are mice, and you have a very honest look and the kind of life that many American immigrants lived.
The two movies have some great voice acting cameos, to boot.
WesternAnimation The Original,The Best
Year: 1986
Directed by:Don Bluth
Grade: A
Since some tropers took the time to review the sequel and Not sequel,it was about time a page came up for the original,and sadly like many cases,the only one that Don Bluth had a hand in (Although the first 3 LBT sequels were actually alright without those forgettable songs,and Fievel Goes West was actually comparable in its own right,but the rest like the All Dogs Go To heaven sequels and Secret of Nimh 2,.......... excuse me a moment *gags offscreen*).And it really shows.
Firstly the Tail begins in Russia,with Fievel's (protagonist) village under attack by big, ugly rotoscoped Nightmare Fuel cats which results in the family being forced to move to America where the streets are made of cheese and there are no cats. They do so,but Fievel at this point being Too Dumb To Live gets himself washed overboard.This in turn sets up the rest of the adventure which true to the 'ol Don Bluth way,makes you depressedand downtrodden until the last second,as Fievel looks for his family while they all believe him dead except for his sister
It's kind of dark,but luckily a few turn of events makes sure for a good adventure such as the hilarious Tony Toponi,or Digit *cough* Petrie *cough* the amusing cockroach who lighten the tone a bit.Unfortunately some of the attempts were a little misguided such as the Big Lipped Alligator moment in the sewers or that abominable vegetarian cat called Tiger.Luckily these quirks are minor. And also in good Don Bluth taste,the film gives us a good Affably Evil character known as Warren T. Rat who is really a cat scamming the mice with "protection" from his gang and actually uses this to scam Fievel into a sweatshop for a good Establishing Character Moment.Also the climax can double as Nightmare Fuel and Crowning Moment Of Awesome with the plan to drive away the cats
But most important of all is the Crowning Ending of Heartwarming,which you actually had to work for (Which by that I mean be able to have your emotions toyed with) and that is something the sequels never really had,and why I give this a high grade aside from its top-notch voice acting and animation,which alone would land only an A-
WesternAnimation Not Bluth's Best, But...
An American Tail was the first of Don Bluth's collaborations with Steven Spielberg, and while I wouldn't consider it great, it's still a solid enough film. One of the best aspects (and one that will definitely catch the attention of history buffs) is how it depicted the immigration experience in 19th and early 20th century America, including the reasons for people leaving their homeland, the promises of a better life, and the bitter reality that it wasn't as spectacular as they were led to believe. And while they do show the human side of it, most of it is conveyed from the perspective of cartoony mice, which does create an effective metaphor that children can understand. (I do also like how they continued this theme in the first sequel with the Wild West movement.)
The main plot line, involving a young mouse boy named Fievel trying to find the family he was separated from, serves as a simple but effective hook to keep the audience engaged. The animation, as per usual with Don Bluth, is high quality, and also like most prime Bluth material, it does an effective job at playing with audiences' emotions like a fiddle, or more appropriately, like Papa Mousekewitz's violin. The way these elements, along with James Horner's gorgeous score, combine when Fievel finally reunites with his family at the end is just beautiful.
It definitely has more of its fair share of flaws and weak moments, including an overuse of the whole "just barely missed him" trope that can get tiresome after a while, and one of the single most forgettable, uninspired and underdeveloped villains in Don Bluth's filmography. I mean, say what you will about Fievel Goes West, but its baddie was a considerable improvement in every way. Plus, some of the plot elements could have been handled in a better or more satisfying manner. I actually read the novelization of An American Tail before seeing the movie version, and there are parts in the movie (like the sweatshop escape) that I do actually kinda wish were a little closer to the novelization. That said, there are definitely parts that the movie does better. (Comparing the feeble illustration of The Giant Mouse Of Minsk in the novelization with the frightening rotoscoped monstrosity in the movie is like comparing day and night!)
Overall, An American Tail isn't my favorite Don Bluth film, (that honor would go to The Secret Of NIMH,) but it does have enough good qualities to make it a charming enough feature that's worth a watch.