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Growing up I had a fascination with Don Bluth films. While not as popular with the older audience I was a fan of Rock-a-Doodle, A Troll in Central Park and The Land Before Time sequels.
When I was about 6 I remember watching An American Tail at high holidays as part of the daycare program since kids are restless and it's not fair to keep them cooped up in services for hours on end.
Anyway the film caught my attention and it still has it. However I'm more interested in the sequel, Fievel Goes West.
Disclaimer I have recently found out that this film was not worked on by Bluth or his studio. It doesn't change my opinions on it, however.
I remember the first time I watched this movie was on Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theater back in the 90's. My favorite part is when Tiger learns how to act like a dog. However it wasn't until recently did I realize why I loved the movie so much.
It was the music. One of my favorite musical pieces is Hoedown by ELP (Emerson Lake and Palmer) and Tiger's training session is very similar with the American Tail them melded into it.
I just bought the OST from iTunes and the score is simply amazing! I can hear a lot of hard work went into these musical pieces and they accompany the film perfectly. The music helps make this film so good.
The animation is top-notch. But what else do you expect from Don Bluth? The fluid motion and attention to detail is very well done. Near the end of the film, a cat is giving a speech on how cats and mice are to live together but keeps letting slip words about eating. The other cats standing around him will react when he slips up instead of just ignoring it.
The scaled proportions are also very well done. The mice are tiny, as they should be. The cats are seen as giant menacing monsters. But in this film we see direct human interaction with one of the characters, Cat R. Waul (caterwaul lol) is grabbed and mercilessnessly pet by a woman.
My biggest complaint about the movie is actually the humans. How do none of them see it or are around to witness this? When they build the door to the saloon, they walk in and there are cats drinking, smoking and gambling. Later in this scene Cat R. Waul jumps through a ceiling board and comes up underneath a human saloon (where he is snuggled).
I can understand that they're a floor above, but that means they'd have to walk through a saloon with cats being humans. Nobody cares?
Same with the shootout at the end. They're fighting like cats and dogs, even firing a gun mounted on a turnstile (since proportions being what they are, a cat couldn't actually lift a human gun). But there are no humans around to see this?
We've already established humans exist in this world but these animal do things in broad daylight that don't seem to call any attention to themselves.
Criticisms aside, I think it's a really fun movie. Animation is top notch and music is excellent.
The story is fun to follow, even if the message isn't really clear; pretend to be something your not? Tiger only won back Miss Kitty by acting like a dog, but Wylie changed his original character. Fievel still hasn't seemed to change from the first film, running off on his own and not thinking about it. Only Tanya seemed to change and that was giving up on her dreams as a singer.
It's a classic western made for a younger audience, and that's okay. It's not a great movie, but it's still a fun well crafted film and I'll always love it.