Watch An American Tail For Free

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Blistering performances.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Blistering performances.

As today was rather uneventful, I made the decision to view a Blu-Ray copy of this film my brother had provided to me as a gift. I had last watched this film about 5 or 6 years ago as part of a 6th grade Humanities class, so I figured a slight nostalgia trip would provide some entertainment for an otherwise boring day. Looking at it again, how has it held up for me?I was pleased with the animation quality in general, since in spite of it depicting things that are too weird to work with a cartoony style (like jiggly body parts) in a G rated film, the effects (such as the cat shadows, light flashes, and the Great Mouse of Minsk) are very well done for 1986. It isn't as breathtaking as The Secret of NIMH, but the animation is bound to please many who view it. The characters range from actually fascinating to ones who can be summed up by a trope, both in terms of actions and personality. Fievel turns out to be a rather sympathetic character in spite of his naïveté and frail emotions, giving us the message of determination with Henri that sums up what the US should be for the world. As I said, most of the other vital characters can be summed up in tropes (the con Warren, friendly fat man Tiger), which is unfortunate considering both The Secret of NIMH before it and its Disney rival TGMD offered characters that required a whole TV Tropes page to sum up. The biggest issue this movie has, though, is its story. I will give that it did write out the action and calm scenes well, but there are some supposedly minor things that actually impact how one may end up viewing the film. As one example, when Fievel goes into the sewers for the first time, he doesn't bring his hat with him. After the cockroaches chase him, he somehow has his hat even though he never went back up to retrieve it. In one scene, Fievel appears to sleep in a straw basket on a puddle of water, which disappears the following day. Fievel seems to know Bridget's name in her introduction scene even though she never informed him of that. Lastly, Tony had no information that Warren was actually a cat, and merely acted on Fievel's tip that he was an impostor. The story, in summary, had great potential that was unfortunately mostly lost in a series of not-so-convoluted errors. On the bright side, though, the music is actually really endearing, and the action and humor do work very well.An American Tail came off to me as one of those movies you liked more as a child than in coming years. Families will get some laughs, some scares, and some tears from this movie, but given its writing goofs, I am not confident that everyone who views this will end up really pleased. However, unlike All Dogs Go To Heaven, it's not a film I will say is overrated. It is still emotional, hilarious, and adrenaline-inducing, which should be enough to provide many with a satisfying movie experience. In my book, that's just enough to give this film a passing score. Just be aware, parents, that there is alcohol, cigar use, and occasional bright flashes in this film.

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.

Don Bluth's second animated film, and the first animated film produced by Steven Spielberg, tells the story of the pilgrims and their journey to America. With rodents. I'm talking about what may be the most downbeat movie of our childhoods, "An American Tail".The movie takes place in 1885 Russia, where the Mousekewitzes— a Russian-Jewish family of mice —are having their Hanukkah celebration. Fievel, the young son in the family, is given a hat that has been in the family for three generations. But they are suddenly attacked by an army of cruel cats belonging to the Cossacks (a reference to actual anti-Jewish pogroms occurring in the Russian empire at the time), who destroy their village. They are forced to move to America, where Papa Mousekewitz is convinced there are no cats. On board the ship set sail to America, he tells everyone to set their minds at ease because, as they sing: There are no cats in America and the streets are paved with cheese. This song is very catchy and is realistic when you think of how there are poor people in other continents who literally believe that money grows on trees.Correction: There were no cats in America, but everything changed when the fire nation attacked.So during the trip, a huge storm strikes, causing Fievel to be washed overboard. The others arrive mournfully in America, believing that Fievel has drowned. However, he has floated to the shores of New York in a bottle. A friendly French pigeon working on the construction of the Statue of Liberty, named Henri (voiced by Christopher Plummer), finds him and gives him a wash. Fievel is pessimistic that he will ever find his family. Henri encourages him to always look on the bright side with a song that Fievel soon sings along to, titled "Never Say Never." I'm going to take the words out of your mouth: Justin Bieber stole Fievel's little song! That little biter! So Henri has one of his friends fly Fievel down to the city, where he goes his way to find his family. The city is full of immigrant humans and mice being hustled by con artists. One of the slickest of the scoundrels preying on the unsuspected newcomers is Warren T. Rat and his cockroach accountant Digit. Upset that he has made fifty cents less than the day before, Warren T. Rat spies Fievel, introduces himself and claims he can take the boy to his parents. Fievel follows the rat anticipating the reintroduction to his family right away, but the rats sells him to a sweatshop. But with the help of a street-smart Italian mouse named Tony, they both manage to escape. They pass a rally where an Irish mouse named Bridget is trying to convince the other mice to organize an order to defeat the cats. Fievel tells the crowd they have nothing to fear because of what his Papa kept saying. But at that moment, a gang of cats called the Mott Street Maulers attack the marketplace.After they escape, Bridget takes him and Tony to see Honest John (the mouse, not the fox), who is a drunk yet reliable politician who knows all the voting mice in New York City. But as the Mousekewitzes have not yet registered to vote, he can't help Fievel find them.On his journey, Fievel keeps thinking that he hears his father playing violin, but it comes from an Edison cylinder recording. He hears someone calling out his name, but it turns out to be another mother calling her son Fievel. Most of his search just leads to him falling into one depression after another. This is the main issue with the movie. As a film for kids, it should be more upbeat with some sense of discovery. Fievel doesn't learn a lot about America, except for the hard truth that there are, in fact, millions of cats there.One of the only cheerful scenes in the movie is where Fievel meets a goofy, soft-hearted cat named Tiger who likes mice befriends him (he's voiced by Dom Deluise, who voiced Jeremy in "The Secret of NIMH". This won't be the last you hear of him in the Don Bluth brand). Fievel and Tiger find out that they have a lot in common and become "A Duo".He is also given hope when Bridget tells him that she is certain his family is somewhere out there just waiting to be found. And meanwhile, Fievel's older sister Tanya has a feeling that he's still alive, thought her parents insist that the feeling will eventually go away. That night, Fievel and Tony stay at the water tower where Bridget lives. In a tear-jerking scene, Fievel and Tanya, though unaware of it, sing the song "Somewhere Out There" together."Somewhere Out There" is one of my favorite songs written for a movie. It's a song that could be sung in multiple cases. For instance, the situation the song is in in the movie, but it's often thought of as a song that gives you hope that your soul mate is out there watching the same stars with you, and somehow you will cross each other's paths.I guess I sort of liked the movie; it has great musical numbers, an affable take on Jewish history, and the dark, fluid animation that made Don Bluth famous. But I wish it had focused far less on despair and more on making the most of the time you're alone, but with so much around you.6/10 for "An American Tail".

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..