Review of An American Tail

Following the critical success of The Secret of NIMH comes American Tail, which was created with Steven Spielberg's help (protagonist Fievel was named after Spielberg's great-grandfather). As a result, this movie raked in a haul at the box office thanks to audiences that enjoyed it, but the critical reception from Siskel and Ebert was a little frosty. While carrying some of NIMH's dramatic tone to the point of bringing people to tears, it is balanced out with whimsical musical numbers and a few genuinely funny moments. Some Bluth fans say that the best film after NIMH is The Land Before Time, but personally, to me, it's An American Tail, for its realism and whimsy despite nearly the entire cast of characters being mice and cats.

My rating: 8/10