Before you read this review, let me just say Happy 4th of July everybody! Hope your enjoying this great day with your friends and family.
An American Tail is an American-Irish animated adventure film. It was produced by Amblin Entertainment and Sullivan Bluth Studios and distributed by Universal Pictures. An American Tail was written by David Kirschner, Judy Freudberg, and Tony Geiss and directed by Don Bluth.
The story is after a tragic event in Russia, Fievel and his family decided to move to America and start a more hopeful life. But while they were traveling on a ship during a huge storm, Fievel goes overboard and is separated. Now in America, Fievel goes looking for his family, all while trying to avoid many dangerous threats along the way.
My Thoughts
Before I start praising the movie there is one mix bag I want to get out of the way, and that's the characters. Fievel is not only adorable, but you'll come to like him, and his sister [Tanya] isn't half bad too, especially since she's very optimistic in believing that Fievel isn't dead, but still out there somewhere. Fievel's parents are good too, not as developed, but still good characters. Everyone else is just alright. It's very clear that their main purpose was to get Fievel from point A to point B.
Now with that out of the way let's talk about the animation. It's very obvious that if you watch a Don Bluth film, whether the quality of the writing is good or bad, you'll get great animation. What was also really great about the animation is it's a great blend of traditional 2D animation (which is long overdue for a comeback when it comes to theaters), and rotoscoping.
What also made the movie spectacular was Phillip Glasser's performance. He was only eight years old when this film was made, and he did a fantastic job as Fievel. His voice work perfectly captured every emotion Fievel went through. Whether it'd be happy, fearful, doubtful, hopeful, sad, etc. he nailed despite his young age at that time.
Another pretty good aspect of An American Tail is the songs. Sure some brushed them off as copying Disney but I thought they were pretty good. I especially liked "Duo" for how catchy it was, and the song "Somewhere Out There" is beautifully sung by our two main child stars.
Now back when the movie was first released a lot of critics criticized the movie for not going in-depth regrading Fievel's family and the whole Jewish aspect of the film and what was the issue around the time placement of this movie. I think what they forgot about was the story was told primarily through Fievel's point of view. Which I don't think is a bad thing, I consider it a positive. Because it truly felt like they we saw the movie through a young kid's eyes. That's why Fievel nor the filmmakers themselves didn't go into detail about the anti-Jewish attacks during 1885 Russia. Because a little kid isn't going to understand why exactly that just happened. All they're going to know is it was an attack and when Mom and Dad say run, you run.
The final thing I'll say about the movie is it truly does hit you emotionally. Because when Fievel is separated from his family at first ya you know they're gonna get together, but then you're dumbfounded, and then at some point during the movie you're almost begging from then to be reunited. That's the sign of a great film. Sure you'll know the outcome, but it's the journey it takes you on that'll keep you interested while at the same time hit you right in the heart.
An American Tail is very much a movie you should watch. It's got beautiful animation, a great performance from the main child star, fun songs, a well executed perspective from Fievel, and his you emotionally. While not all of the characters are all that great, that's easy to forgive giving everything else.
My final rating is Great.
So, that's going to do it for me. Come back on Thursday, Jul 7th for a post regarding Thor: Love and Thunder. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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