Review of An American Tail (1986) by Ben T — 22 Jun 2018

An American Tail. I'm sure I saw it over dozen times when I was a kid. It was one of the half dozen movies my parents would pop into the VCR knowing it would keep me out of their hair for 1.5 hours at the tender and rambunctious ages of 3-7 years old. If you saw me during one of those viewings I'm sure I looked like a mindless zombie chewing on my shirt, drooling, deadpan, and the blue light reflecting off my lifeless face. But the scenes and themes were burrowing their way into my zombie boy brain.

If you're around my age, the same is probably true for you. You grew up with this movie in the background when you were forming your first memories. Since this time I haven't considered for more than a passing second this random relic from my distant past. Fast forward 30 years to the present. A friend (you know who you are) mentioned wanting to re-watch it in light of current events and so I did. In doing so, I was in now way prepared for the overwhelming relevance and primal emotional significance it has today.

An American Tail, is the "Tale" of a Russian Jewish mouse family, the Mousekewitz, in the late 1800s fleeing their home country which is now overwhelmed with ravenous cats. They cross the ocean toward American shores believing that there are no cats in America. During their journey their son, Fievel, gets separated from his mom, dad and sister before they reach the shores of New York. The tale/tail then follows Fievel as he tries to find his family in the unfamiliar land of the USA. He is used by a variety of actors along the way. There is a cat disguised as a rat named, "Warren T Rat," who convinces him that he can show him to his family only to sell him into a sweatshop. There is an upper class politician mouse named Honest John who casually apologizes that he doesn't know his parents because they haven't registered to vote. At one point he is captured by cats who put him in a cage. But then he befriends one of the cats after finding out that they have so much in common and this helps him escape. Eventually, he is reunited with his family and they all look forward to the endless possibilities of life in America.

When I watched this I couldn't help but replace Russia with Honduras and Ellis Island with El Passo, TX; I couldn't help but replace "Warren T Rat" with smugglers and human traffickers; and I couldn't help but replace Fievel with my 5-year-old self who watched that movie and imagined both the terror of being separated from his parents and the joy of finding them again. There are so many things about this movie that struck me. I encourage anyone with a beating heart to watch it and consider the time period in which the movie is set and the present moment.

Also, I pretty much fell out of my chair when it comes to light that Fievel, the cat guarding his cage, and I all have the same favorite book, The Brothers Karamazov.