Thumbelina (1994) - This Animated Movie Soars through Paris

"Thumbelina" Courtesy of Don Bluth via Broadway

Don Bluth's "Thumbelina" (1994), from his studio Don Bluth Entertainment, is a terrific treat for children. The "Thumbelina" animation is top-notch, matching anything from Disney at the time, but the real draw is the score by Barry Manilow, who also sings over the end credits. Remaining fairly true to the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, "Thumbelina" is a wonderful treat full of dazzling colors, expressive characters who move in very life-like fashion, and a romantic lead who should captivate most children. "Thumbelina" is not an animated film for adults, like so many later Disney/Pixar efforts, which gives it a charming focus that make many adults keep it as a treasured childhood memory and which, no doubt, understandably clouds their present-day judgment about "Thumbelina." Whether you like it or not, though, will depend on how you feel about all the modern showbiz elements, which for some will elevate this to classic status, while others might get turned off in a hurry at this exercise in showbiz introspection.

The way the petals unfold is magical

Thumbelina is the child of a lonely woman in medieval Paris who only wanted a child to love. A good and sympathetic witch gave her a barley corn to plant, revealing Thumbelina in its petals (it sure looks like a rose, though). There is only one catch: Thumbelina arrives no bigger than a person's thumb. Thumbelina grows up - well, she arrives fully grown, so there's really no growing to be done - to be a lovely girls with flowing red/blonde hair on her mother's farm, and wants a man of her own, but there is nobody around her size. Or is there? Her mother comforts her with stories of tiny fairies who treasure girls like Thumbelina.

Hi, mama!

Thumbelina goes to bed and dreams of having someone to love, singing and dancing to show her feelings. Prince Cornelius of the Fairies notices her as he is flying by and pops in to visit. They spend the evening together, flying about on Cornelius' bumblebee, and both fall in love. At night's end, Cornelius returns Thumbelina to her bedroom and promises to return after clearing things with his parents.

Cornelius and his steed

Unfortunately, thuggish Grundel the Toad also notices Thumbelina that night and falls for her, telling his mother, Mrs. Toad, of his feelings. She kidnaps Thumbelina despite the best efforts of Thumbelina's dog, Hero. Cornelius returns, looking for his love, but Hero lets him know what happened. Mrs. Toad, meanwhile, who is a Spanish performer reminiscent of Carmen Miranda or, well, Charo (Charo actually voices the character), has taken Thumbellina to her lily pad and intends to have Thumbelina join the family singing group, "Singers de Espana," after Thumbelina, of course, marries her son.

I just want to sing and dance!

Thumbelina, naturally, is not too happy with this generous plan (although she joins in a nice Spanish song and dance with the Toads and does quite a nice job of it), and, after Mrs. Toad leaves, Thumbelina cries out for help. Jacquimo, a swallow (sort of a Maurice Chevalier type) who also serves as the story's narrator, hears Thumbelina and rescues her, telling Thumbelina to follow her heart home. Cornelius, meanwhile, asks his parents to delay the imminent winter frost to help his search, but they can only do that temporarily. Cornelius and Grundel then both set out separately to find Thumbelina.

They put him next to "sleazy" in the Dictionary

Thumbelina is captured on her way home by Berkeley Beetle (sort of a crazed Jiminy Cricket), who also loves Thumbelina and makes her perform at the Beetle Ball. Unfortunately, she does not fit in with the beetles and is kicked out for being "too ugly." This discourages her, but Jacquimo tells her that all she needs is Cornelius' love. Jacquimo, meanwhile, is injured by a fox who he asks for help, but Grundel has better luck, getting advice from Beetle to use Cornelius to help him track Thumbelina down. Grundel, though, has a better idea and simply strong-arms Beetle himself to help find Thumbelina.

Is that a cane you're holding, or are you just glad to see me?

It starts to snow, and Jacquimo falls into a honey pot after asking a bear for help, making him unable to fly. Cornelius also has trouble with the frost, falling from his bumble bee into a pond, where he is frozen solid. Beetle finds Cornelius in the ice and takes him to Grundel. Thumbelina has to find shelter from the storm in a shoe, where she is welcomed by Miss Fieldmouse, who tells her incorrectly that Cornelius died in the ice, but that she has a nice suitor in mind. Heartbroken, Thumbelina agrees to go and sing for Mr. Mole, who immediately falls in love with her and seeks her hand in marriage.

Mrs. Toad actually is kind of cool ¡ Ay Caramba!

Thumbelina finds Jacquimo and tells him she might as well marry Mr. Mole, even though Thumbelina does not love him, because she is alone in a hostile world. Jacquimo flies off to see what he can do, and a marriage ceremony is set up for Mr. Mole and Thumbelina. Both Cornelius, thawed by three young jitterbugs befriended earlier by Thumbelina, and Grundel show up, and there is a mad chase through the underground mole tunnels.

Like Snow White, Thumbelina is friends with all the little creatures like these jitterbugs

Thumbelina finds her way to the surface, where Jacquimo finds her and flies Thumbelina to the Vale of the Fairies which he has been able to locate. It is covered in ice, but Thumbelina's singing thaws the snow, and they just have to wait and see if Cornelius was able to escape from Grundel.

They fall in love after one song

Several things strike the viewer about "Thumbelina" early on: the animation is simply dazzlingly gorgeous, with the unfolding of the rose to reveal Thumblina being a stunning, iconic shot; the singing and dancing is pure Broadway, with no filter; and there is absolutely no doubt from the opening sequences how the story will end. All sorts of razzle dazzle is thrown in, with multiple plot twists and a parade of eccentric characters. In a way, it almost starts to resemble Disney's classic "Alice in Wonderland," though it has a more "real world" focus. "Thumbelina" also shows a few similarities to "Peter Pan," as Cornelius resembles nothing so much as a male Tinker Bell. Don Bluth clearly likes to borrow from the best.

Miss Fieldmouse is kind of hammy

You couldn't ask for a better voice cast. Jodi Benson, who is Ariel in "The Little Mermaid" and its two sequels, voices Thumbelina with an innocence that at times grates against her character's sudden changes of mind and knowing attitude while dancing. Gino Conforti does Jacquimo with a heavy French accent which really isn't all that necessary since, despite the fact the story supposedly is set in Paris, everyone else speaks in straight American tones, well, except for Charo and her clan, who are Spanish. Charo does an impressive job of voicing basically herself, and Carol Channing of all people really stands out as Miss Fieldmouse, showing she can still carry a tune with the best of them. Gilbert Gottfried as Berkeley Beetle, well, Gilbert is who he is, and you either like his nasally, out-there act or you don't, and there is a lot of it (too much for most people, probably) to like or dislike in this film. He certainly makes an impression.

Thumbelina and Cornelius chastely holding hands

The other voice actors are pleasant enough, Kenneth Mars also stops by from his role of King Triton in "The Little Mermaid" to voice Cornelius' father, while Gary Imhoff is blandly inoffensive (and his character pretty darn ineffectual) as Cornelius. Charo, Carol Channing, Barry Manilow - that list of veterans should give you a good idea where this film has its roots buried.

I hate it when this happens to me

Since this clearly is aimed at children, there is no point at listing all the reasons why an adult might start to lose interest in this about halfway through, once Thumbelina's parade of adventures with different, obviously unworthy, forest creatures as suitors begins. Even for children above a certain age, it might get confusing, with a succession of show-stopping tunes that, well, stop the show and interrupt the flow. In terms of the musical style, it is a cross between Manilow's jazzy "Copacabana" and Broadway's version of "Beauty and the Beast," with a few random '80s pop song touches thrown in for good measure.

Is her hair supposed to be red like Ariel? Or blonde like Cinderella? It keeps changing

Thumbelina also is at times difficult to understand. She clearly loves to sing and dance, and in fact is so good at it that one wonders where she studied advanced theater techniques. She has a fine time kicking up her feet with Mrs. Toad, Beetle and the others, pulling off elaborate cabaret numbers whenever the mood strikes. However, when she isn't hoofing it, Thumbelina suddenly reverts to being a helpless little girl, determined to find someone to marry, and fast. Naturally, everyone falls in love with her, which is every girl's fantasy, so little girls especially should like "Thumbelina." But why does Thumbelina's hair keep changing color?

Now Cornelius is definitely a red head

A modern attitude on a classic fairy tale character is interesting, but it also makes Thumbelina's contrariness seem odd, as if she is wrestling with both her inner "Hans Christian Andersen" and modern flightiness. If Thumbelina really is so in love with Cornelius, why is she getting up there and loving it up with her dancing and her varied suitors and all that? There is nothing wrong with having fun, but one minute Thumbelina is pining for her true love Cornelius, the next Thumbelina is about to get married to someone else, and Thumbelina's mindset just seems awfully fluid (one might be unkind and say "trampy") for a fairy tale character.

Now here they both are red-heads

"Thumbelina" is a wonderful tale if you appreciate the Broadway-style singing and the numerous wild characters. It can be a struggle to take it all in during one sitting, though, and that's coming from someone who really appreciates the music. A little judicious editing would have improved "Thumbelina" tremendously, along with a title character who did a little less singing and a little more thinking. It pains me to say anything negative about this sweet story for little children, and "Thumbelina" indeed is a wonderful, gorgeous film, so let's leave it at that. Best for very young children who will watch and listen to it while playing with their toys while not caring about the overly intricate plot twists and gaudy characterizations. They will absorb it all, and then someday rhapsodize about "Thumbelina" and how they don't make great animation like that any more when they hit their forties.

Below is the full movie.





2013

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The Rescuers (1977) - One of the Best Original Disney Movies

The Rescuers (1977) - A Forgotten Disney Movie Treasure with Bob Newhart

Walt Disney himself did some brainstorming about the idea that ultimately turned into "The Rescuers" (1977), and some of his veteran animators were still around to finish the job. Thus,"The Rescuers" legitimately can be included in the list of original Disney movies that came from Walt himself. Based on a series of novels by Margaret Sharp, "The Rescuers" introduced many original concepts and performed very well at the box office. It led to a rare Disney movie sequel that itself was released as a feature film, "The Rescuers Down Under," and earned an Academy Award nomination (for the song "Someone's Waiting for You"). It was, in fact, the last Oscar nomination for Walt Disney Productions until "The Little Mermaid" came along a dozen years later and began the '90s Disney Renaissance that included the sequel to "The Rescuers." Voiced by popular comedians Bob Newhart, Joe Flynn and Disney movie regulars Pat Buttram and Eva Gabor, and directed by veteran Wolfgang Reitherman along with John Lounsbery and Art Stevens, "The Rescuers" is a fine addition to your Disney movie collection.

The Rescue Aid Society

A mouse organization within the United Nations in New York, the Rescue Aid Society, receives a note from an orphan, Penny (Michelle Stacy), pleading for her rescue. Hungarian mouse Miss Bianca (Eva Gabor) accepts the case and appoints janitor Bernard (Bob Newhart) to help her. They do some investigating and locate an old cat nearby named Rufus (John McIntire) who knew Penny. Rufus tells them about pawn shop owner Madame Medusa (Geraldine Page), who previously threatened to abduct Penny.

Miss Bianca is a cute little mouse

Madame Medusa and her partner, Mr. Snoops (Joe Flynn), are nowhere to be found because they left to try and find Devil's Eye, the world's largest diamond. Apparently, the two mice learn, Mr. Snoops indeed kidnapped Penny and took her to Devil's Bayou in order to try to find the diamond. Miss Bianca and Bernard enlist the aid of Orville the Albatross (Jim Jordan) and Evinrude the dragonfly (James MacDonald) to get them to Devil's Bayou.

"Welcome to Air Orville"

Medusa and Mr. Snoops kidnapped Penny to force her to go down a pirate's hole in order to retrieve the diamond. After evading Medusa's pet alligators Brutus and Nero, Miss Bianca and Bernard find Penny, and they devise a plan to set her free. Before they can set the plan in motion, though, Medusa and Snoops send Penny down into the cave to get the diamond, with Miss Bianca and Bernard hiding in her pockets.

Medusa is quite an original character

They find the Devil's Eye, but when they try to take it, the cave suddenly floods. They grab the diamond and barely make it out, and Medusa then takes the diamond for herself, cutting Snoops out completely. A terrific fight over the diamond then ensues, and after some trickery, Miss Bianca and Bernard manage to imprison Medusa and Snoops.

Medusa scaring Penny

The two mice and Penny then try to leave on a swamp boat, but Medusa breaks free and pursues them. A race ensues to see whether the two mice and Penny can make it out of the swamp before Medusa manages to catch them and recover the diamond.

"Now we've gotten ourselves into a fine kettle of fish!"

Anyone who follows comedy knows that Bob Newhart was - and remains to the day of this writing - the master of the verbal tic and the frightened demeanor and slow-burn frustration with the crassest ineptitude by others in the simplest things. Here, he has plenty of material with which to work and chews the scenery with gusto. His Bernard is afraid of flying, afraid of the number 13, and overall just a major pain to all those around him. Newhart himself was flying high at the time of this film, in the midst of his classic '70s television series, and he makes this film hum. He gets ample support from master comedian Joe Flynn (who unfortunately passed away during production)  as the clumsy but non-malevolent Snoops. Other stalwarts of Disney animation voice roles such as Pat Buttram, John Fiedler and George Lindsey round out the cast.

Rufus, Penny's old friend

The animation team included many of Walt Disney's old hand for the last time, and also newcomer Don Bluth (who left after this film to create masterpieces such as "The Land Before Time" and "The Secret of NIMH." A real changing of the guard was in the offing, but the veterans from the 1930s were able to crank out one last hit before they handed off their duties to the new generation. They were fussy old men by then, refusing to let anyone interfere with their drawings, but their rabid self-protectiveness paid off in the end.

Medusa is just lovely, isn't she?

Computer graphics were still far in the future, but advancements in the xerographic animation process drastically reduced the black outlines that had plagued Disney animation since "One Hundred and One Dalmations." There might have been another connection with that film, as an early idea was to resurrect Cruella de Vil as the villainess, but that idea was given up. Instead, veteran animator Milt Kahl based the drawing of Medusa on his ex-wife.

Miss Bianca and Bernard

The film was a huge financial success, the first without Walt Disney's direct guidance, and earned the honor of serving as the inspiration for the first sequel of any Disney animated feature, "The Rescuers Down Under." There is a lot of humor, and not just from Newhart, as Orville is a center of comic relief. There are some scenes that might frighten small children, such as alligators snapping at Medusa, but nothing as dark as, say, what we all know happened in "Bambi."

Mr. Snoops

The music of "The Rescuers" is a high point of this Disney movie, supporting the narrative and earning an Academy Award nomination for "Someone's Waiting for You" by Sammy Fain, Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins (sung by Shelby Flint). The music in "The Rescuers," heavy on the synthesizers, does have a certain '70s vibe to it which either will be off-putting, or have you subconsciously dreaming of bell bottoms and clogs.

Medusa with the diamond

The idea of having talking mice as the heroes of "The Rescuers" must seem almost passé today, but it had never been done before in a Disney movie. The use of mice for sympathetic characters later, of course, became almost a standard in animation films, for example in the two Cinderella sequels, "Cinderella II: Dreams Come True" and Cinderella III: A Twist in Time," and in "The Great Mouse Detective." It is easy to forget that somebody had to think up the idea and do it first, and nice to give proper credit when you can. Well, here is the origination of the idea in "The Rescuers."

Can you tell that Medusa was modelled on an animator's ex-wife?

It is unfair that "The Rescuers" has been largely forgotten by a vast segment of the public. "The Rescuers" and "The Rescuers Down Under" characters are fantastic, the Rescuers songs are top-notch, and the rescuers villain, Madame Medusa, is a classic. This should be revered as highly as all other original Disney movies. It belongs in every Disney movie collection. Walt would have been proud, and this Rescuers movie, released along with "The Rescuers Down Under" in a Blu-ray release in August 2012, is a high point of Disney movies and animation in general.

The Rescuers trailer is below.




2012

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An American Tail (1986) - Fievel Does America

An American Tail: Wildly Popular Tail, um, Tale of The Immigrant Experience... as Mice

Don Bluth, having finished "The Secret of NIMH" to rave reviews and the bankruptcy of his business, hooked up with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment for "An American Tail" (1986). Unlike Bluth's first feature film, this one turned out to be both a critical and a financial success. It is a charming tale with first-class production values, and like Bluth's other films has developed a cult following that only seems to grow with time. It owes a large debt of gratitude, of course, to Disney movie "The Rescuers," which introduced the concept of cute mice as lead characters.

Fievel

It is 1885 in Russia, and a Russian-Jewish family of mice - the Mousekewitzes - are being attacked by vicious cats belonging to Cossacks. With their village destroyed, the mice board a ship and begin their journey, but the boy, Fievel (Phillip Glasser), is washed overboard en route during a storm. The family eventually arrives in America, believing that Fievel has drowned.

Bridget, Fievel's friend

Fievel, however, is fine after having floated to America on a bottle. He befriends a pigeon, Henri (Christopher Plummer), who encourages him to find his family. Along the way, conman Warren T. Rat (John Finnegan) befriends him, but then sells Fievel to a sweatshop. Fievel manages to get out and hooks up with Italian mouse Tony (Pat Musick) and Irish mouse Bridget (Cathianne Blore). Their illusions about America being cat-free is shattered when a gang of cats attacks them in a marketplace.

Gussie Mausheimer

An anti-cat organization led by Gussie Mausheimer springs up among the mice, and Fievel figures out a plan. The mice begin building a trap for the cats in an abandoned building on the Hudson. Fievel finds out that Warren T. Rat is actually a cat in disguise, but before he can tell anyone, he is captured by the cats and locked up. Things don't look good for him until a nice cat named Tiger (Dom DeLuise) befriends him and sets him free.

Honest John

The cats chase Fievel back to the pier, right into the trap the mice have set. When the cats arrive, the mice release a giant mechanical mouse. It chases the cats off the pier and into the Hudson. They climb onto a tramp steamer headed to China and are never seen again. Fievel's mother (Erica Yohn) finds his hat after the battle, and Papa Mousekewitz (Nehemiah Persoff) realizes his son is still alive and start thinking of a way to find him.

Tony Toponi, Fievel's friend

"An American Tail" is done in Bluth's usual animation style, with rotoscoping of human characters and cartoonish animal figures. This makes the humans look very realistic, while the animals have more of a dream-like quality. You don't see many people anyway, they usually are left in the shadows or only shown partially. The colors usually are dark and moody, befitting the subject, but that makes the animation seem of lower quality than it might if everything were bright and cheery. There are some bright colors during the happy occasions, but those are few and far between. The animation can get a bit distracting at times because Bluth likes to move it around a lot, but you get used to it. Also, the animation tends to be a bit inconsistent, with characters noticeably changing shapes and sizes.

Tiger talking to Fievel

The tale is an obvious political metpahor for the immigrant experience and their "the streets are paved with gold" misconceptions. It is easy to read a lot into it, perhaps more than was intended. The mice are portrayed as being naive and of various religions and backgrounds, while the cats seem to have a vicious predatory uniformity between Russia and the United States. It is a bit over-done, but that probably was the intent, to hammer the point home. While it's obvious who the cats represent in Czarist Russia, it's a bit less clear who they are supposed to be in the States. This ambiguity is one of the key flaws in the film and could unintentionally make some people uncomfortable.

Warren T. Rat's accountant Digit

There is a lot of darkness in this film. Child labor is depicted, as well as a lot of violence by the cats. There's a manipulative con artist cat, scenes of cats destroying homes, and a lot of edgy scenes. Little children may be disturbed by some of this and may not look at the family cat in quite the same way for a while.

Warren T. Rat, crooked as they come

The music by James Horner is all right, not sensational. Barry Mann does the songs, and "Somewhere Out There" may stick with you for a while, also "There Are No Cats." "Somewhere" was nominated for an Oscar and a Grammy.

Warren T. Rat making a point

Probably the weakest part of the film is the plot. The story has little going for it other than "young immigrant is lost in New York." Character development leaves something to be desired (the sudden friendship between Tiger and Fievel is a bit much), and there seem to be an awful lot of stereotypes in the film (drunk Irishmen, noble, brave, pure and cultured immigrants, relentless oppressors with no morals, that sort of thing). That does set up a nice us-versus-them confrontation, though. I sure hope those cats like Hong Kong!

Fievel having some fun

Overall, Bluth's previous "The Secret of NIMH" is the better film, but this one appeals directly to a broader demographic and had the marketing power of Steven Spielberg behind it. There's a lot more to successful filmmaking than quality, and the different performances of the two films at the box office really shows that. "An American Tail" is a good animation film that you will enjoy if you identify with the poor, oppressed mice, and one of the better animation films of the '80s.

Below is the original trailer:

2012

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The Secret of NIMH (1982) - Disney Without Disney

The Secret of NIMH: Don Bluth Explodes with Creativity

It isn't often that you can say that a film which forced its creator into bankruptcy is a classic, but that is the case with "The Secret of NIMH" (1982). Don Bluth left Disney with 16 other animators in 1979 and struck out on his own, calling his shop Don Bluth Productions. This was their first feature film, an adaptation of an award-winning 1972 book, "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien. It is a cult classic, but it did not do well at the box office upon release, so the new studio had to close up shop and try something else. Bluth went on to do other stellar work, such as The Land Before Time, but this measures up with anything else he's done.

Mrs. Brisby makes a new friend

Mrs. Brisby (Elizabeth Hartman) is a retiring field mouse who lives with her family in a cinderblock on the Fitzgibbon farm. The block is in a field that soon will be plowed, so she plans to leave shortly. Her son Timothy falls ill with pneumonia, though, and her late husband's friend Mr. Ages (Arthur Malet) warns that Timothy will need to stay inside for a few weeks to recover. Returning from her visit to Ages, the Fitzgibbon's cat Dragon almost catches her.

Jeremy the Crow and Mrs. Brisby

Farmer Fitzgibbon starts plowing the next day. Together with Auntie Shrew (Hermione Baddeley), she delays that by vandalizing his tractor. With the help of her friend Jeremy the Crow (Dom DeLuise), she calls on the Great Owl (John Carridine), who advises her to see Nicodemus (Derek Jacobi), a mysterious leader of rats that live beneath a rose bush.

The colors in this film are spectacular

Visiting the rats' home, she finds to her astonishment that it has electricity and looks just like a human's house, albeit underground. Nicodemus reveals that the rats on the farm were part of a secret experiment by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) which made them as smart as humans. The rats are about to leave the farm and start their own civilization elsewhere. He decides to help her, and gives her a special stone that has magical powers.

Nicodemus is one strange dude

Nicodemus has a plan to help her, so she goes into the farmhouse and drugs Dragon so he won't interfere. Unfortunately, little Billy Fitzgibbon (Joshua Lawrence) catches her and keeps her as  a pet in a birdcage. While imprisoned, she overhears a telephone conversation with NIMH and learns that the rats are to be exterminated the next day. She escapes and goes to warn Nicodemus and his Captain of the Guards, Justin (Peter Strauss).

Mrs. Brisby's reflection in the stone

The rats, led by Nicodemus, are moving the cinderblock during a thunderstorm. One of the rats, Jenner (Paul Shenar), doesn't want to help Mrs. Brisby and sabotages the move along with his sidekick Sullivan (Aldo Ray). The cinderblock falls and crushes Nicodemus to death. It looks like an accident, and Sullivan blames himself. When Mrs. Brisby arrives and warns the other to leave, Jenner leaps at her and tries to steal the stone that Nicodemus gave her. Justin fights Jenner, who confesses to killing Nicodemus, and stabs him. Now, the rats only need to figure out how to finish moving Mrs. Brisby's home and where they will live from now on themselves.

The rain adds a nice touch

Having left a major studio to work on his own, Bluth's completion of this film at all was an epic achievement. His budget was tiny, and he was only given 30 months to complete it (Disney animation films, with a full staff and access to everything they need, typically take at least twice that long). Many new techniques were invented for this production (rotoscoping, multiple color palettes for characters so they would look different in different lighting conditions, etc.). The film went over budget, and Bluth and others had to mortgage their homes to finish.

A spot of tea would do nicely

What resulted is a film that has excellent music by Jerry Goldsmith (his first animated feature), sung by Paul H. Williams and Sally Stevens. It includes a tearjerker of a plot and some of the most seamless classical animation done since the golden age of the 1940s and 1950s. Color is used to enhance mood, with backgrounds changing from dark to light as action heats up, and the characters are drawn beautifully. It is not going too far to say that the animation was at least as good as anything done since "Sleeping Beauty." When this came out, people were honestly saying "I didn't realize they made animation films like this anymore."

Nicodemus giving Mrs. Brisby the amulet

"The Secret of NIMH" is legendary among animators who know their history. It was like a beacon shining in the night when it came out because of Disney's animation problems at the time. It is not a cartoon for children, which of course also has its place, but serious animation that anyone can enjoy. The action is sparse in places, and things get a bit talky now and then, but the story retains our interest. The whole idea of a magical amulet is a bit of a cheat that wasn't in the book, so it isn't perfect. The film, though, has enough good things going for it that it credibly stands next to the best that Disney could do. That's quite an achievement for a bunch of guys working out of Don Bluth's garage.

The secret

This is the favorite film of a great many people who know an awful lot about animation. If you take the time to watch it, you may find yourself delighted at the antics of the heroic Mrs. Brisby and the dastardly Jenner.

Below is the original trailer.

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