An American Tail (1986)

While emigrating to the United States, a young Russian mouse gets separated from his family and must relocate them while trying to survive in a new country.

Director:

Don Bluth

Writers:

Judy Freudberg (screenplay), Tony Geiss (screenplay)

Stars:

Dom DeLuise, Christopher Plummer, Erica Yohn

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 6 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Erica Yohn	...	Mama Mousekewitz (voice)
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
Amy Green	...	Tanya Mousekewitz (voice)
Phillip Glasser	...	Fievel Mousekewitz (voice)
Christopher Plummer	...	Henri (voice)
John Finnegan	...	Warren T. Rat (voice)
Will Ryan	...	Digit (voice)
Hal Smith	...	Moe (voice)
Pat Musick	...	Tony Toponi (voice)
Cathianne Blore	...	Bridget (voice)
Neil Ross	...	Honest John (voice)
Madeline Kahn	...	Gussie Mausheimer (voice)
Dom DeLuise	...	Tiger (voice)

Storyline

Fievel is a young Russian mouse separated from his parents on the way to America, a land they think is without cats. When he arrives alone in the New World, he keeps up hope, searching for his family, making new friends, and running and dodging the cats he thought he'd be rid off.

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Plot Keywords:

ship | storm at sea | 19th century | lost at sea | cat | 

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Taglines:

Meet Fievel. In his search to find his family, he discovered America.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Family | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 November 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Feivel, der Mauswanderer

Box Office

Gross USA:

$47,483,002

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$84,542,002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures,U-Drive Productions,Sullivan Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby DTS-Stereo (re-release) (1997) DTS (re-release) (1997)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Fievel and Tony's relationship is similar to that of Oliver and the Artful Dodger in Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" and Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn from Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".

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Goofs

Fievel and his family board their ship in Hamburg, in northern Germany, but the band welcoming the passengers is a Bavarian traditional band that would never play there.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mama Mousekewitz: Tanya, Fievel! Will you stop that twirling, twirling! Uh, no. No more, that's it. Time for bed, come.
Papa Mousekewitz: But Mama, it's Hanukkah.
Mama Mousekewitz: For you, every night is Hanukkah. Papa? Enough already. They'll never get to sleep.
Papa Mousekewitz: All right, all right.

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Crazy Credits

The first half of the end credits feature period engravings of what New York City looked like in the 1880s.

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Connections

Referenced in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Finds Her Mom! (2016)

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Soundtracks

Somewhere Out There
Music by James Horner and Barry Mann
Lyrics by Cynthia Weil
Performed by Phillip Glasser and Betsy Cathcart

User Reviews

Don Bluth's best in my opinion, despite one major flaw.

"An American Tail" was Don Bluth's second animated feature since leaving Disney, and, in my opinion, it is his best. It's got the most heart out of all of his movies. It's got the Oscar-nominated song "Somewhere Out There" and the main character of Fievel. This character just warms my heart and I can easily feel for him. Don Bluth has made only three very good animated features: this movie, "The Secret of NIMH", and "The Land Before Time". But "An American Tail" tops them both. No matter how predictable or sentimental the story is, I always get caught up in it. The sequel was good, but it was more like a fast-paced western comedy with some one-liners and such sight gags. The original is the better film in my opinion. Only complaint: one too many chase scenes with Fievel and other mice running from cats.