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 & 6 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:

19th century | 1880s | ship | storm at sea | lost at sea | 

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Taglines:

This Holiday Season Steven Spielberg and Don Bluth bring you a magical experience. A musical journey. And a story that will live in your heart forever.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Family | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the third verse of "No Cats in America," an Irish mouse sings that a cat killed his true love and left nothing but her tail behind. Ironically, this mouse has no tail of his own.

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Goofs

We see Fievel outside of a mouse school with little mice reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. This wasn't written until 1892, over six-and-a-half years after the 1886 setting of the story. In addition, the phrase "to the flag of the United States of America" is used; the original version of the Pledge featured instead "to my flag", and was not changed until 1923, 37 years after the setting of the story. Finally, as the sound of the Pledge trails off, "under God" can be faintly heard; this was not added until the 1950's.

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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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Alternate Versions

The 2006 DVD release includes a remastered 5.1 soundtrack, both in Dolby Digital and DTS. It also has some dialogue changes compared to the original, most noticeably: Extra dialogue that was recorded but never used, and different voices for the orphans towards the end of the film (adults instead of kids - these are actually the original voices, which were replaced by children after the scene was animated).

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Connections

Referenced in Animation Lookback: Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 6 (2009)

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Soundtracks

Stars and Stripes Forever
Music by John Philip Sousa (uncredited)
Performed by Performed by The Band of the Royal Marines (as H. M. Royal Marines)
Conducted by Lt. Col. G.A.C. Hoskins, R.M.
Courtesy of Angel Records/EMI Records, Ltd.

User Reviews

One of the first of many that kicked Disney's ass

Don't take me wrong: although An American Tail is a wonderful film, the old Disney classics are not the ones I'm talking about in the summary. I'm talking about the over-commercialized crap we get these days. Don Bluth's second animated feature is again about mice, like Secret of NIMH. I think NIMH was better, though not by much. The songs are pretty good, although not like some Disney songs. The animation, however, is simply gorgeous. I can't believe people dismiss it as poorly animated just because the colors aren't bright! The colors are dark and moody, as they should be, An American Tail--nor any of Bluth's films--were ever supposed to look like Rayman. If you want to see Bluth with bright colors, glance at some cheery scenes from A Troll in Central Park. I find the way Fievel and his family miss each other by inches frustrating, though. In fact, I was surprised Fievel and Tanya couldn't hear each other as they sang "Somewhere Out There". A simply beautiful film, a must for anyone who looks for variation in the field of animation, but infuriating for anyone who thinks the scope of animation should be restricted to Disney.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 November 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

An American Tail

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,234,446, 23 November 1986

Gross USA:

$47,483,002

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$84,557,295

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