Review of An American Tail (1986) by Max K — 03 Jan 2010
When I was a young boy, there was a film that I was dying to see. The film is called An American Tail. I usually looked at the trailer and other promotional material of it that was found on several of my Land before Time videos I had collected.
Now that I'm 17 I finally aquired a copy of the former on DVD at HMV, after which I came home, sat down and watched it. What did I think of this film after all those years of just watching the trailer?
It is a deeply moving and heartwarming experience. Set in the 1880s the story of the film concerns a young mouse named Fievel Mouskewitz (Phillip Glasser) who gets separated from his family during their journey to america to escape the cats from their country of russia. However when he arrives in america (afloat in a wine bottle) he must now journey through the miserable streets of new york city in order to find them.
This film has a great voice cast, for a child actor such as Phillip Glasser he really does know how to put the heart and soul into his character. Also it has other actors in the film such as: Dom Deluise, Christopher Plummer, and the late Madeline Kahn.
As for the plot it isn't like the whole disney formula at all, because there are some scenes that are guaranteed to make you cry. Admist the pathos there are some great songs to enchant the whole family along the way. But one song that is very likely to break your heart is the academy award nominated Somewhere Out There by James Horner and Barry Mann.
This is one of the best films by Don Bluth who also directed The Land Before Time which I reviewed previously. Also Steven Spielberg who produced the Land Before Time is also the producer for this film with David Kirschner. As for James Horner he still provides an excellant musical score for this film.
Even though I am nearly an adult, this film doesn't fail to amaze me, it is a heartwarming film for all of the family old or young. So if anyone has never seen this film before in their lives like I have. It is never too late to go down and buy a copy of this great piece of cinema from your nearest dvd shop or amazon. It is also like most great animated classics a film that will carry on through the coming years.
This review of An American Tail (1986) was written by Max K on 03 Jan 2010.
An American Tail has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
