An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)

A family of Emigre mice decide to move out to the west, unaware that they are falling into a trap perpetrated by a smooth talking cat.

Directors:

Phil Nibbelink, Simon Wells

Writers:

Flint Dille (screenplay), Charles Swenson (story)

Stars:

James Stewart, John Cleese, Amy Irving

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Phillip Glasser	...	Fievel (voice)
James Stewart	...	Wylie (voice)
Erica Yohn	...	Mama (voice)
Cathy Cavadini	...	Tanya (voice)
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Papa (voice)
Dom DeLuise	...	Tiger (voice) (as Dom Deluise)
Amy Irving	...	Miss Kitty (voice)
John Cleese	...	Cat R. Waul (voice)
Jon Lovitz	...	Chula (voice)
Jack Angel	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Fausto Bara	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Vanna Bonta	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Philip L. Clarke	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Philip Clarke)
Jennifer Darling	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Annie Holliday	...	Additional Voices (voice)

Storyline

Some time after the Mousekewitz's have settled in America, they find that they are still having problems with the threat of cats. That makes them eager to try another home out in the west, where they are promised that mice and cats live in peace. Unfortunately, the one making this claim is an oily con artist named Cat R. Waul who is intent on his own sinister plan. Unaware of this, the Mousekewitz's begin their journey west, while their true cat friend, Tiger, follows intent on following his girlfriend gone in the same direction.

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Plot Keywords:

sequel | character name in title | good versus evil | card game | cartoon mouse | 

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Taglines:

Look out pardners, there's a new mouse in town!

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Musical | Western

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 November 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fievel au Far West

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,435,625, 24 November 1991

Gross USA:

$22,166,041

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$40,766,041

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Amblimation, Amblin Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the flyers in Miss Kitty's dressing room lists scene planner Harald Kraut as the manager of the "Pine Street Theatre."

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Goofs

At one point in the movie, T.R. Chula is chasing Fieval and singing a taunting, masochistic version of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song. The song was first published in the form most commonly used today (with water spout, etc.) in 1962, and it's earliest publication was in 1947. It's not likely the song was sung circa 1885, when the movie was set.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Fievel: And then, the hero Wylie Burp, squinted across the dusty street. Hopelessly, surrounded by the Cactus Cat gang, he stood his ground, refusing to back down.

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Crazy Credits

Instead of showing the traditional Amblin logo (the one of Elliot going on the bicycle and flying up to the moon) the logo says, "Amblimation" and Fievel is pushing it, then he stands next to it and his hat falls down over his eyes.

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Alternate Versions

When it was released on DVD and Blu-ray in early 2017, the infamous penis doodle is cut from the film completely, as it was finally detected after all these years.

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Connections

Followed by An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster (1999)

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Soundtracks

An American Tail Overture
(uncredited)
Music by James Horner

User Reviews

A worthy sequel to a great classic

Fievel, the cute little mouse from An American Tail, is going west for Fievel Goes West. This is one of very few sequels that really deserve the title of the original classics. Fievel Goes West may not have as many touching moments as the original, but that's because it's more of a fast-paced western comedy rather than a heartwarming, sometimes tragic tale (tail?) as An American Tail was.

A by-product of the comedic approach is the look of the movie. Instead of the dark, dull, forbidding color scheme of the first movie, the sequel is supposed to be bright, funny, and altogether welcoming. Thus, you get bright sunshine (sometimes a bit too bright from the characters' point of view) and varied color. The animation hasn't changed all too much, unlike The Land Before Time's sequels for video. The animation retains a bit of Don Bluth's touch, though still a bit different. Altogether, the animation is just about as good as it could be in 1991.

The film as a whole is a gem, but the one thing truly, wonderfully beautiful thing about Fievel Goes West is James Horner's immortal soundtrack. The songs are just as good as An American Tail, which is saying a lot; besides, you have a brutally edited reprise of "Somewhere Out There" from the first film, sung by Tanya. Speaking of Tanya, she's voiced by someone different, presumably to allow for her great singing. For proof, all you need to do is listen to "Dreams To Dream". Great though the aspiring singer is, the end credits rendition of the song by the crazy Lindstradt lady is beautiful.

In Fievel Goes West, our title protagonist is lost on the way to Green River, where he will supposedly find a new lease on life with his family and lots of other hopeful mice. But the dream is shattered when Fievel explores the train, and finds a bunch of cats and a huge spider, led by the smooth talking Cat R. Waul, plotting to befriend the mice before turning them into mouse-burgers by means of a mysterious "better mousetrap"! But Fievel is found out, and the spider knocks him off the train, leaving him hopelessly lost in the desert. I thought they might have made up something different, not the whole mouse-gets-lost-must-return-to-family routine. I couldn't help feeling they'd done that before. However, Dom DeLuise returns for a bigger part alongside the legendary canine sheriff Wylie Burp.

So, overall, what of this sequel? Well, it certainly does the original justice. Yes, it does lack the heart of the original, but having less heart than An American Tail does in no way mean being heartless. Don Bluth might not have had a hand in this, but Fievel Goes West lives up to Bluth's classic story of a little mouse called Fievel.

Animation-9/10; Story-7/10; Plot-7/10; Comedy-8.5/10 = Overall-8/10