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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

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.

---

Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Family | Musical

---

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

Madeline Kahn (the voice of Gussie Mausheimer) and Christopher Plummer (the voice of Henri the pigeon) would go on to voice characters in Pixar films. Kahn voiced Gypsy the gypsy moth in A Bug's Life (1998) and Plummer voiced Charles Muntz, the villain in Up (2009). Also, Cathy Cavadini (the voice of Tanya in the sequel, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) ) did additional voices in Finding Dory (2016) and Cars 3 (2017) (the former of which is directed by Andrew Stanton who also co-directed A Bug's Life (1998)) Also, John Cleese (the voice of Cat R. Waul) in Fievel Goes West) starred with Kahn's A Bug's Life female co-star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Planes (2013)

---

Goofs

In Henri's room, as Fievel is done taking a bath, there's two modern American flags (meaning 50 stars). In 1885, when the movie takes place, there weren't 50 states.

---

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.

---

Crazy Credits

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

---

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).

---

Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Animated Villains Excluding Disney and Pixar (2014)

---

Soundtracks

A Duo
Music by James Horner and Barry Mann
Lyrics by Cynthia Weil
Performed by Dom DeLuise and Phillip Glasser

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.