An American Tail.

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fallingForYou

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Who remembers seeing this in theaters when it came out in november 1986? i sure as heck did when i was 4 living in St. Louis, my mom took me to see this twice in theaters and i loved it. I had some of the merchandise like a coloring book, one of those Mcdonald books, Pajamas and of course one of those stockings.

I even saw it's suprisingly good sequel "Fievel Goes West" in theaters when i was 9 back in 1991, ahh memories.
 
Yeah,it has a cute play on words.Tail for tale.The movie itself is clever and witty.Was it made by Universal Pictures or Warner Bros?
 
Yup, I remember the sequel being one of the very first movies I saw at the cinema. I really liked it, so much so, that I was slightly disappointed to see it bundled on DVD with the original as a 'bonus' feature :(

It was only years later that I discovered that it was made by Don Bluth while he was based in Dublin (Ireland).
 
I was only 5, so my memory of actually seeing it in the theater is fuzzy, so I'm not sure I did. I do remember some things, though, like "Somewhere Out There" being played on the radio a lot. Anyone else think it's creepy they turned a song between two seperated siblings into a love song? :sweat:
 
Well i didn't bother watching the next two sequels after "Fievel Goes West" cause i think they look cheap looking. The first one was an animated masterpiece of drama and the sequel was a funny light-hearted western comedy in the tradition of "Blazing Saddles" with John Cleese's character Cat R. Wuhl stealing the show, Tanya in the sequel grew up to become a full blown hottie.
 
The first two are wonderful (I only saw Fievel Goes West in theaters, I fell in love with the first one through getting it on video). Never saw the direct-to-video sequels.
 
I only saw them on DVD I liked the second movie better. First one was cute though. After that, didn't bother watching those other sequals. They looked terrible :sad:
 
You have to hand it to Don Bluth, he knows how to do epic on a grand scale in animated form. He's never had a problem with putting his cutesy characters in massive peril, and making you think they won't get out of it alive.
 
And then there's Wyatt Burp in Fievel Goes West, Voiced by the late great Jimmy Stewart. Man when Jimmy did this one, it was pure gold, that's why I put Fievel Goes West slightly above the original American Tail. After all I liked the ideas they did in the sequel and yes, John Cleese as Cat R. Wuhl was a great villain (but then Dom DeLuise's Tiger wasn't bad either..)

ah good days good days indeed.

:coyote:
 
Funny, I was about the same age when I saw it in theaters, also in St. Louis. I remember "Somewhere Out There" of course, but my favorite song was "There Are No Cats in America". I remember thinking how funny it was that they thought there really were no cats in America, and boy are they gonna be surprised.

Never saw the sequels, but I do also remember seeing Land Before Time in the same theater later on. At the time, I obviously wasn't old enough to consciously know the difference between Disney and Bluth, but I do remember enjoying these movies a lot more than most of the Mickey Mouse/Donald Duck/etc stuff I had seen, and I think they did a lot to shape my eventual taste in more offbeat, non-standard animation.
 
Oh "Fieval Goes West" was preety good, you should check it out. It's the only sequel worth watching and it has a more comedy tone to it, but i wouldn't bother seeing the other sequels cause they look rotten.
 
I didn't see the movie in theaters (being born only one month after its theatrical release and all), but I have studied its impact. I always found it kind of ironic that McDonald's was selling An American Tail Christmas stockings during the 1986 holiday season, given that the Mouskewitz family was obviously Jewish.

I have to give this movie its due, though. 1986 was the year when the Disney studio was this close to shutting down their entire feature animation division, because they didn't think animation was profitable anymore. Then An American Tail did huge business at the box office (dominating over Disney's own The Great Mouse Detective, I might add), and the Disney suits realized "Hmm, maybe this medium still has some life in it after all...", which led to the famous Disney Renaissance (1989-1994). So in a way, An American Tail made animation cool again.
 
God, this makes me feel so old. Especially since it's my birthday. T_T

I saw a re-release of it when I was young. The monster-mouse at the end scares me to this very day. I have no idea why.
 
I slightly remember seeing it in theaters when it was released, but no matter, it turned into one of my favorites as a kid. The second movie wasn't bad, but those others are awful (IMO). I kind of grew up on Bluth's films, only missing The Secret of Nimh When it was released (I was only 2-3 months old, tops.)

It has led me to like other films that deal with immigrants in the late 19th century, and their struggle and lives. The fact that they all dreamed America would be heaven, and finding out when they got here that for some it was anything but. I think Bluth did a great job exploring all the cultures of the times, and even some of the politics of the time (Tammany Hall etc..), though I didn't realize it until viewing it when I was older.

Still one of my favorites today.
 
I didn't see the movie in theaters since I wasn't even born when it came out, but I did see it on CN when they still have Cartoon Theaters. Man, do I miss that block. Anyway, I thought that it was really powerful, moving and quite an enjoyable film to watch. I loved how Fieval struggled so hard to find his family and just when he about gave up, they found each other. I thought that was so wonderful. Looking back on it now, I would definitely be able to understand some of the aspects of the film better, such as the idea of America being practically heaven for the mice and the struggles immigrants had to face with work and such when they did come to America.

As for Fieval Goes West, I thought that it was a pretty good sequel. Perhaps not as good as the original film, rarely are sequels outside of Pixar are that good, but I thought that it was a decent sequel. The third one was kind of cute, but overall weak and I especially found it odd how they made the entire second movie nothing but one of Fieval's dreams. I haven't seen the fourth one, but I don't plain on renting it. Not only because of what I've heard of it here, but the fact that I rarely go out to rent movies anymore, unless I'm writing a paper on a television show and/or movie.

Anyway, I definitely loved watching An American Tail. I should probably look up some of Bluth's other films like The Secret of Nimh and watch them again since not only have I not seen them in ages, but they're also great animation films to watch in general.
 
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