An American Tail series

  • An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, October 2021) After taking on the classic immigrant experience in An American Tail, the sequel goes after another piece of Americana in sequel Fievel Goes West. As the title suggests, the Mousekewitzes decide to head west after getting tired of the limited opportunities in New York City. As in the prequel, their journey finds young Fievel separated from them, learning valuable life lessons along the way. Taking on familiar western tropes with more enthusiasm than innovation, Fievel Goes West seems content to follow a very classical way of making animated movies, with plenty of songs and dances to go around. Some of the musical numbers are not bad: I’m particularly fond of the short “Rawhide” sequence. Some celebrity voices are also ear-catching: John Cleese turns in a fun villainous performance, while James Stewart’s unmistakable drawl is here heard for the last time. It’s family entertainment in a comfortable old-school mould, perhaps a bit more superficial and fast-paced than other similar films, but clearly having fun with the conventions of westerns. Fievel Goes West feels less profound but more fun than its prequel, which will strike some as ideal and others as a step down.

  • An American Tail (1986)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On DVD, August 2021) It takes a certain audacity to recast the American immigrant experience mythology in the mould of an animated kid’s film. On another level, it does make some sense — Co-conceived by Steven Spielberg and animation upstart Don Bluth (who was explicitly taking on Disney), you can see the strong narrative threads aimed at the younger set — chiefly being separated from one’s family in a strange land. But then again you have pro-American criticism of Soviet occupation and antisemitism, many Jewish cultural references, call-backs to the massive immigration of European refugees and plenty of other things that are best appreciated by an adult audience. The result is simultaneously dark and cute, with mice fighting against cats, raising a golem robot along the way. Also songs, even though “There are no cats in America” sounds a lot like West Side Story’s “America.” There are also strong parallels with the Maus graphic novel for the literate set, although the metaphor is not quite so fully realized in the film. Still, the result isn’t too bad — while the proliferation of low-budget sequels (none of them involving Spielberg or Bluth) has retrospectively tarnished the series’ original, An American Tail does hold up rather nicely today, although it’s recommended to older audiences than usual for that kind of film.