SPOILER: Here is a film so bad that it would make Jesus say: "Man, I should've stayed dead." Yes, I know, it was made for kids, but even children's movies generally have scripts. Not this one! This one takes a serious subject matter (the terrible experiences of American immigrants in the late 19th century)...and turns that into an 80 minute Tom and Jerry cartoon.
Okay, we start off with a family of Russian-Jewish mice being persecuted by Cossack cats, so they emigrate to the USA. The youngest mouse gets separated and then must look for his family. It wasn't until after this scene ended that I realized that I was suppose to be getting exposition or come to care about these characters. It was at least another 20 minutes in before I realized that this young mouse was supposed to be the story's protagonist. Fievel acts and sounds like a real 4-year-old. Go up to a 4-year-old that you know and start following him around with a camera. As you'll see within seconds, 4-year-olds are not very compelling characters. At least Ariel and Belle had character arcs.
The filmmakers are not interested in developing characters, or building emotional bonds, or exploring any of the history lessons they superficially throw at us. They just keep each scene moving aimlessly to the next. Fievel gets sold into a sweatshop. Okay, here's a chance for the story to explore sweatshops, their historical contexts, Fievel's character and his reaction to abuse...nope, they have him escape in the very next scene, without so much as a single scene explaining what they did at the sweatshop or the reason for its existence. Fievel escapes by coming up with a plan that none of the older or wiser laborers could ever have come up with: he climbs out the window! Holy Crap'n'Balls! Despite the movie being sympathetic to the plight of immigrants, it actually is filled with caricatures and stereotypes. During the "No Cats In America" song, an Italian mouse, with Italian stereotypes sings about the mafia and his brother Tony. Later me meet a major character who's Italian American. Guess what his name is? TONY! Later he falls in love with an Irish mouse, who in case you couldn't tell was Irish by her accent, is also dressed in green! The lack of plot continues. The terror of the cats are supposed to be metaphors for the terrible experiences that the immigrants face. Of course this metaphor only goes so far if logic is applied to it (what does the presence of cats have to with the presence of sweatshops, poverty, and terrible living conditions that the mice live under?). There's a character named Warren T. Rat (ho ho, wow, what witty writing! I wonder if Voltaire worked on this script!) who apparently runs a "feline protection racket" for the mice. I say "apparently" because we never see him do this and it's only mentioned in passing. Maybe a scene of him actually doing business would've established this a bit more.
And still it went on! It wouldn't end! Fievel gets captured and imprisoned so he can sing a song with a superfluous character and then escapes again! "Good job," the filmmakers must've told each other, "We wasted a good 10 minutes of screen time, how can we keep wasting them? C'mon, we gotta make this sucker last 80 minutes, or else I won't be able to afford a hooker for my step-son's prom." Eventually the smelly mice get rid of all the cats by building a giant Mouse of Minsk based on the Russian folk stories Fievel would hear. Too bad he couldn't have been more inspiring by doing something that kids could actually relate to or do themselves. Then a fire starts and Fievel gets separated from his homeboys. He wakes up in a slum with a bunch of bullies. How the hell did he end up there? I don't know about you, but when I go to sleep, I tend to stay in the same place; I don't wake up in a random place with strangers. The bullies convince Fievel that his family doesn't want to find him, which has actually been the truth for most of the movie.
Finally we come to the end, and it seems like the movie has finally gotten something right! Fievel is reunited with his family and there is a moment of genuine drama and emotion. After all, this was the scene that the entire rest of the movie was written for. But does it end there? No; how dare I be so naive? We must get a tacked-on scene of a French bird showing Fievel his statue. For a film that blew all of its chances to touch on history, how nice to end on the educational fact that the Statue of Liberty was actually built by a pigeon! I feel so much wiser now! But hold on, the entire point of the movie was that the various immigrants were oppressed in the US, and that the American dream was built on lies. I happen to agree with that message, but then why the hell do you end the movie with shots of the Statue of Liberty? Yeah, let's give our kids a bunch of junk about cats and mice, dress it up with historical context to make it seem deep, and then slap on a sickeningly patriotic ending. An American Tail? That's just a nice way of saying An American Butt. Kiss mine! So, kids, did this movie teach you anything? Did you learn a single thing about the plight of Russian immigrants? Did any of you get the Tammany Hall reference or the fact that Honest John was a caricature of Boss Tweed? Hell, most adults probably didn't get that.
Here's what I learned from this movie: the next time you see a mouse, frickin' stomp on it!!!!
Okay, we start off with a family of Russian-Jewish mice being persecuted by Cossack cats, so they emigrate to the USA. The youngest mouse gets separated and then must look for his family. It wasn't until after this scene ended that I realized that I was suppose to be getting exposition or come to care about these characters. It was at least another 20 minutes in before I realized that this young mouse was supposed to be the story's protagonist. Fievel acts and sounds like a real 4-year-old. Go up to a 4-year-old that you know and start following him around with a camera. As you'll see within seconds, 4-year-olds are not very compelling characters. At least Ariel and Belle had character arcs.
The filmmakers are not interested in developing characters, or building emotional bonds, or exploring any of the history lessons they superficially throw at us. They just keep each scene moving aimlessly to the next. Fievel gets sold into a sweatshop. Okay, here's a chance for the story to explore sweatshops, their historical contexts, Fievel's character and his reaction to abuse...nope, they have him escape in the very next scene, without so much as a single scene explaining what they did at the sweatshop or the reason for its existence. Fievel escapes by coming up with a plan that none of the older or wiser laborers could ever have come up with: he climbs out the window! Holy Crap'n'Balls! Despite the movie being sympathetic to the plight of immigrants, it actually is filled with caricatures and stereotypes. During the "No Cats In America" song, an Italian mouse, with Italian stereotypes sings about the mafia and his brother Tony. Later me meet a major character who's Italian American. Guess what his name is? TONY! Later he falls in love with an Irish mouse, who in case you couldn't tell was Irish by her accent, is also dressed in green! The lack of plot continues. The terror of the cats are supposed to be metaphors for the terrible experiences that the immigrants face. Of course this metaphor only goes so far if logic is applied to it (what does the presence of cats have to with the presence of sweatshops, poverty, and terrible living conditions that the mice live under?). There's a character named Warren T. Rat (ho ho, wow, what witty writing! I wonder if Voltaire worked on this script!) who apparently runs a "feline protection racket" for the mice. I say "apparently" because we never see him do this and it's only mentioned in passing. Maybe a scene of him actually doing business would've established this a bit more.
And still it went on! It wouldn't end! Fievel gets captured and imprisoned so he can sing a song with a superfluous character and then escapes again! "Good job," the filmmakers must've told each other, "We wasted a good 10 minutes of screen time, how can we keep wasting them? C'mon, we gotta make this sucker last 80 minutes, or else I won't be able to afford a hooker for my step-son's prom." Eventually the smelly mice get rid of all the cats by building a giant Mouse of Minsk based on the Russian folk stories Fievel would hear. Too bad he couldn't have been more inspiring by doing something that kids could actually relate to or do themselves. Then a fire starts and Fievel gets separated from his homeboys. He wakes up in a slum with a bunch of bullies. How the hell did he end up there? I don't know about you, but when I go to sleep, I tend to stay in the same place; I don't wake up in a random place with strangers. The bullies convince Fievel that his family doesn't want to find him, which has actually been the truth for most of the movie.
Finally we come to the end, and it seems like the movie has finally gotten something right! Fievel is reunited with his family and there is a moment of genuine drama and emotion. After all, this was the scene that the entire rest of the movie was written for. But does it end there? No; how dare I be so naive? We must get a tacked-on scene of a French bird showing Fievel his statue. For a film that blew all of its chances to touch on history, how nice to end on the educational fact that the Statue of Liberty was actually built by a pigeon! I feel so much wiser now! But hold on, the entire point of the movie was that the various immigrants were oppressed in the US, and that the American dream was built on lies. I happen to agree with that message, but then why the hell do you end the movie with shots of the Statue of Liberty? Yeah, let's give our kids a bunch of junk about cats and mice, dress it up with historical context to make it seem deep, and then slap on a sickeningly patriotic ending. An American Tail? That's just a nice way of saying An American Butt. Kiss mine! So, kids, did this movie teach you anything? Did you learn a single thing about the plight of Russian immigrants? Did any of you get the Tammany Hall reference or the fact that Honest John was a caricature of Boss Tweed? Hell, most adults probably didn't get that.
Here's what I learned from this movie: the next time you see a mouse, frickin' stomp on it!!!!