While emigrating to the United States, a young Russian mouse gets separated from his family and must locate them while trying to survive in a new country.While emigrating to the United States, a young Russian mouse gets separated from his family and must locate them while trying to survive in a new country.While emigrating to the United States, a young Russian mouse gets separated from his family and must locate them while trying to survive in a new country.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 6 wins & 7 nominations total
Dom DeLuise
- Tiger
- (voice)
Christopher Plummer
- Henri
- (voice)
Erica Yohn
- Mama Mousekewitz
- (voice)
Amy Green
- Tanya Mousekewitz
- (voice)
John Finnegan
- Warren T. Rat
- (voice)
Pat Musick
- Tony Toponi
- (voice)
Cathianne Blore
- Bridget
- (voice)
Neil Ross
- Honest John
- (voice)
Betsy Cathcart
- Tanya Mousekewitz
- (singing voice)
- (uncredited)
Johnny Guarnieri
- Italian Singer Mouse
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Warren Hays
- Irish Singer Mouse
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
T. Daniel Hofstedt
- No Cats in America Chorus
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFievel was the name of Steven Spielberg's grandfather.
- GoofsIn the cat's lair Tiger mentions to Fievel that he is a fan of broccoli. The film is set in the 1885-1886 time frame. Both broccoli and cauliflower were unknown in the United States then. In fact, both vegetables were not commercially grown in the United States until Italian immigrants started commercially growing both vegetables in California in the 1920s.
- Quotes
Honest John: [At the wake of Mickey O'Hare] Poor lad. So young. He never had a chance to vote. Well, he'll vote from now on. I'll make sure of that.
[Writes Mickey's name on a notebook under "Ghost Votes"]
- Crazy creditsThe first half of the end credits feature period engravings of what New York City looked like in the 1880s.
- Alternate versionsThe 2006 DVD release includes a remastered 5.1 soundtrack, both in Dolby Digital and DTS. It also has some dialogue changes compared to the original, most noticeably: Extra dialogue that was recorded but never used, and different voices for the orphans towards the end of the film (adults instead of kids - these are actually the original voices, which were replaced by children after the scene was animated).
- ConnectionsEdited from The Secret of N-I-M-H (1982)
- SoundtracksThere Are No Cats in America
Music by James Horner and Barry Mann
Lyrics by Cynthia Weil
Performed by Nehemiah Persoff, Johnny Guarnieri, and Warren Hays
Featured review
I was introduced to An American Tail after perpetually reading the 'book' of the second film, Feivel Goes West. I can't say which one I enjoyed more although at the time, I think I was seven, but this one I understood a lot better.
The sweet-hearted tale of a family of Russian mouse emigrants who travel to America, the 'land of opportunity' but on their way lose their son, really manages to perk up your day. It has all the classic elements of a family flick: great characters, wonderful score and songs, and of course a happy ending (You can't say you didn't expect that).
In some ways it's meant to be almost a satire, a parallel story of many Russian immigrant families who flee to America from the Cossacks: there is actually a scene in the beginning involving the ransacking of a Russian village by Cossacks, aided of course, as most history books conveniently omit, by their vicious slavering cats who destroy the mouse population. This satire is slightly lost once they reach America, but the simple plot of the mouse boy trying to find his family again works very well. It's quite frustrating at times as we see how close they all come to running into each other; a split second here and a well-timed door slamming there, and it could have been all over in thirty minutes of screen time. But where would be the movie in that?
Lastly, the voice cast does a great job. While I personally think the sequel had a better cast, An American Tail boasts some fine names as well - Dom DeLuise and Nehemiah Persoff who also did the sequel, Christopher Plummer, and Madeline Kahn all combine for a great effect. It's not necessary to see this to also see the sequel but it definitely deserves to be watched. Touching, light-hearted and with one of the most beautiful theme songs you will ever hear, it's a winner. ***1/2 / *****
The sweet-hearted tale of a family of Russian mouse emigrants who travel to America, the 'land of opportunity' but on their way lose their son, really manages to perk up your day. It has all the classic elements of a family flick: great characters, wonderful score and songs, and of course a happy ending (You can't say you didn't expect that).
In some ways it's meant to be almost a satire, a parallel story of many Russian immigrant families who flee to America from the Cossacks: there is actually a scene in the beginning involving the ransacking of a Russian village by Cossacks, aided of course, as most history books conveniently omit, by their vicious slavering cats who destroy the mouse population. This satire is slightly lost once they reach America, but the simple plot of the mouse boy trying to find his family again works very well. It's quite frustrating at times as we see how close they all come to running into each other; a split second here and a well-timed door slamming there, and it could have been all over in thirty minutes of screen time. But where would be the movie in that?
Lastly, the voice cast does a great job. While I personally think the sequel had a better cast, An American Tail boasts some fine names as well - Dom DeLuise and Nehemiah Persoff who also did the sequel, Christopher Plummer, and Madeline Kahn all combine for a great effect. It's not necessary to see this to also see the sequel but it definitely deserves to be watched. Touching, light-hearted and with one of the most beautiful theme songs you will ever hear, it's a winner. ***1/2 / *****
- Laitue_Gonflable
- Oct 31, 2003
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Fievel a'r Byd Newydd
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $47,483,002
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $5,234,446
- Nov 23, 1986
- Gross worldwide
- $84,542,002
- Runtime1 hour 20 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
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