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| There are cats... and mean podcasters... in America. |
This episode, we reviewed Steven Spielberg's animated musical about a Jewish Ukrainian mouse who embodies the American immigrant experience... but cannot hit a high note. An American Tail divided us... it is hopeful and cute, but also a little annoying for adults.
When An American Tail hit theaters in November 1986, it followed on the tail of a very similar mouse-centered movie released by Disney in July 1986, The Great Mouse Detective. I recall seeing both of these in the theater. Now, having rewatched one of them, my thoughts go out to my poor father who had to suffer sitting through both.
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| Fievel and Basil exist in the same mouse universe |
An American Tail takes place in 1885; The Great Mouse Detective takes place in 1897. Both movies portray a thriving mouse world in parallel to our human world... so as Fievel and his family shadow a family of humans from Europe to America, the mice in The Great Mouse Detective shadow the movements of Sherlock Holmes as they attempt to solve a mouse mystery. Both movies have an evil rat as the villain. Both movies show mice commandeering human trinkets to build a mechanical mouse to advance the plot.
Why are there 2 very similar animated mice movies in 1986? I don't know. In 1997, we had 2 volcano disaster movies, and in 1998 we had 2 comet-striking-earth blockbusters. I chock it up to coincidence of not-so-great minds thinking alike... followed by a studio race to release their movie first.
Child me thought that An American Tail was the better of the 1986 mice movies... it had an easier-to-follow story and it was a musical. I might have had good instincts; An American Tail smoked The Great Mouse Detective at the box office. However, Siskel and Ebert gave An American Tail two thumbs down, but gave the latter two thumbs up. So who knows? We might have to review The Great Mouse Detective soon.
Listen to our review of American Tail here, on Youtube, or on your favorite streaming platform!
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