An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

Voices of: Phillip Glasser, Nehemiah Persoff, James Stewart, Cathy Cavadini, Dom DeLuise,Amy Irving, John Cleese, Jon Lovitz
Directed by: Phil Nibbelink, Simon Wells
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Family
1991

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Fievel (Phillip Glasser) and his family move west for a better life, but move unknowingly into a cunning cat's trap.

Review:

Tim: I really loved An American Tail growing up. I have vaguer feelings about the sequel, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. This film came out five years after the original and I was 9 years old when it was released. In my youth, I enjoyed the movie, but it was clear to me even then that it wasn't as good as the original. As an adult with children of my own, I revisited this film with them. It's a decent movie, but a far drop from the original.

At first, the premise of the sequel seems jarring. The cute little immigrant mouse from the original is now a cowboy? There's actually a good idea buried here. The first film was a powerful story of immigration to the United States, wrapped up in a children's film. Once here, many immigrants found that America wasn't quite the land they were promised. In their search for a better life, many of them did travel out west for the prospect of better futures. So, the idea that Fievel and his family would do this is actually keeping within the original premise. Where the movie falls down is not fully pursuing this idea and using that premise as an excuse to give us a substandard western movie. To be fair, I like the idea of an animated western (I'm a big fan of the genre), but the execution is just lacking here.

It seems there were more than a few behind-the-scenes issues that hurt this film. Don Bluth did a fantastic job with the original movie, but sadly didn't return as director here. Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells are quite simply not talented enough directors to bring this movie to life. They manage to make a decent movie, but you're just struck by how this movie pales to the original. The first movie felt like it was about something- it depicted an immigrant's life in cute creatures, but it told a powerful story and delivered an excellent message. Young kids watching it identified with the immigrants, the hope for their families, their desire to work hard and build a better life. That's something children should be exposed to. What do they learn from this movie? You can't trust a cat? The level of sophistication has dropped significantly here.

The story never really comes together. It feels like there's a ton of ideas (some of them good), but they aren't fully pursued or realized. The idea of the aging sheriff dog is wonderful (although his name, Wylie Burp is so stupid) but this plot line never really develops into anything interesting. Tiger's whole story felt tacked on and discordant. He's mistaken for a god by Indian mice in a horribly culturally insensitive sequence (it was 1991, after all). Then, inexplicably, this is dropped so he can train to be a dog. I mean, honestly, it's idiotic and makes so little sense. The whole cat plot doesn't make sense either- a giant mousetrap? Seriously, that's what this film tries to sell you. I could only shake my head in frustration.

The voice cast is good, as many from the original returned- Nehemiah Persoff, Phillip Glasser, Dom DeLuise, among others. The new additions were fantastic. Most noteworthy is the legendary James Stewart in his final role. It makes me sad that this movie wasn't better- he deserved a great final film. However, his voice work as Wylie is really good. I loved his voice, even as a kid. It's one of the better reasons to see this film. John Cleese does some really good work as the antagonist. As a whole, the cast is definitely a strength.

The animation is another strength. It looks really good. I read that Steven Spielberg wanted a "live action" look to the film and that's what the animators did. The colors and depiction of the characters is memorable. I have very little complaint with the animation department- the hand drawn approach worked.

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West is a decent movie and it does have some strengths. However, it's not even close to the original and it has more than a few flaws. It's funny, my five year-old son loved the first movie and when this one was over, he didn't immediately profess great love. He did run around the house like he was fighting cats, though. That might sum up this film- lots of action and style, very little substance underneath.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5



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An American Tail