Review of An American Tail (1986) by Ben L — 30 Jun 2015

An American Tail is a film that really worked for me when it originally came out and I was 10 years old. The story was heart-warming and the songs were catchy. I decided to revisit it recently because it was a film where the late, great James Horner provided the score.

Sadly the story does not hold up now that I'm looking at it with adult sensibilities. The entire plot seems very scattershot and lacks a good narrative arc. Fievel pops up here and gets into trouble, then gets out of it in a matter of moments.

Then he meets this group of new characters, and then he leaves them behind 5 minutes later, yet somehow he made such an impression that they are his best friends now. It is almost frustrating to watch everything broken up into these little vignettes that don't really gel into a cohesive film.

However, because I wasn't invested in the story of An American Tail it allowed me to just sit back and enjoy the music. This score is way better than it has any right to be. The epic ebbs and flows, particularly in the storm sequence, are extremely moving and add more emotion than the scene would earn otherwise.

The lyrical songs are also wonderful, from the sweet "Somewhere Out There" to the peppy "There Are No Cats in America," there isn't a single bad song in the bunch. Perhaps this is just a movie where listening to the soundtrack would be more rewarding than watching the film.

I'd probably watch it again if I was asked, but aside from it being nice to listen to, there really isn't much to enjoy. (Even the animation is lackluster.) I'd tell anyone who has nostalgia for An American Tail to just listen to the songs, but avoid crushing your memories by watching the film.

And for those who've never seen it, you can probably give it a pass.