"I do love knitting patterns."

Before I go on with today's review, I have a quick announcement to make.

Due to technicalities, I have moved the schedule around A LOT. The revised schedule is as follows:

• October 12: The Return of Jafar
• October 19: All Dogs Go To Heaven
• October 26: Mickey's House of Villains
• November 2: DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
• November 9: FernGully: The Last Rainforest

After this will be all Christmas movies. So, on with today's review of An American Tail.

This is one of Don Bluth's good films. It was inventive, it was cute, and it was even more cultural. Even the main character, Fievel, has an accent.

It starts with the Mousekowitz dreaming about the utopia of the United States of America as they celebrate Hannukah. I always hate to be Betty Dreamcrusher in these cases, but being a foreigner in America these days is not fun at all. The only upside is you don't work in a labor camp. However, the family is Jewish, and they live in Germany. Well, can't really blame them for thinking America is the shit.

Aboard the ship, the immigrants break into a song called "No Cats in America." After the song, Fievel is thrown overboard. So, the mouse, who is the equivalent of a human five-year-old, survives and floats all the way to America. While there are no cats in America, there is a God.

Once he arrives in America, he meets a pedgeon named Henri, who encourages him to find his family via song ("Never Say Never"), and Fievel begins his hunt to find his family. After Henri provides Fievel a ride, we are introduced to Warren T. Rat, and Digit. They con Fievel, and then puts Fievel in a sweatshop.  Meanwhile, the other Mousekowitzes grieve over Fievel's "death", while trying to adjust to America.

Fievel escapes with a new friend, named Tony. They run into an Irish activist named Bridget, who Tony falls in love with. After learning that there are cats in America, the three go to Honest John to see if he can locate the Mousekowitzes. And then, we get another song, sung by Fievel and his sister, Tanya, called "Somewhere Out There", and if you haven't cried yet, this song will make you.

Fievel attends a rally against cats, and gets really bored. Like I am. Fievel helps conspire a plan, as his family JUST misses him. AGAIN. They all go to an abandoned building to build a "Mouse of Minsk". Tony and Fievel, however, are late, and Fievel gets captured by a vegetarain cat named Tiger. He is persuaded by Fievel and lets him go. Fievel's release triggers an alarm, as Warren, who turns out to be a cat, captures Fievel. Warren threatens to burn all the captives alive, but Fievel chases the cats to a steamer bound for Hong Kong. However, the fire traps them, as the Mousekowitzes encounter Tony and Bridget, who are looking for "Philly" (Fievel's American name).

As firefighters put the fire out, Fievel wakes up, believing to be an orphan. He surrenders to a miserable life as an orphan. Until he hears his father playing the violin, runs out, to actually see it IS his family. And they all live happily ever after.

This is actually a good film. It's original, inventive, shows what many of us consider America to be (a blend of many cultures), and just all around great. My only problem is that this film is very sad. I mean, the plot should tell you so already. But the movie is filled with many fake-outs, where the family JUST misses him by an inch, or Fievel thinks he sees or hears his family. I guess its part of the children's film philosophy that you can add as many sad bits as you want, but as long as you add a happy ending, the children won't have physchological damage.

Overall, I give this film an A-.

Songs:
"Somewhere Out There"
"Never Say Never"
"There Are No Cats in America"