User Reviews

The Secret of NIMH was one of the best kid's movies ever. It disturbed and frightened me as a kid in the way a good fairy tale does (or the way adult movies disturb and frighten adults in on a different scale), because it makes you think about big issues, but in a way that kids can still learn from and love to watch. The sequel, wow, it was pretty bad. The animation quality was okay, not as good as the original but not horrible, but the story went the way of a mediocre afternoon TV cartoon. They added a few cartoony characters for comic effect, including a caterpillar and two cats, who could talk although it was never explained how since they had never been experimented on by NIMH. They turned it into a Disneyesque musical, with a song every 10 or 20 minutes. One character switches from an American to a British accent in the middle of the film for no reason. It's not scary in the least, not like the original, even atmospherically like the original scene where Mrs. Brisby confronts the Great Owl. Despite a fairly impressive valley where the mice now live, you don't have any feel for their world like in the original, cobbled together by enhanced intelligence into makeshift versions of the human world, complete with electricity and moving parts. There are strange slang phrases present like, "You know what I'm sayin'?" and "team-player." It is linked to the original, though, and if your kids have not seen it, they will be confused.

I will give it credit for one amazing plot twist in the middle which took me by surprise, and they resisted the urge to cutesy it up like Lucas did with his Star Wars prequels. The voice acting was decent. Some of the jokes were funny. Really though, The Secret of NIMH, the original, had a vision and a lot of hard work put into it. The second felt more like a moderate effort for a calculated return on a direct-to-video sequel they knew most people would ignore outright. Compared to the average Disney movie, just as pure entertainment for kids who've never seen the original, I would rate it a 5 instead of the 3 I gave it. Worth renting, not buying.

It can be hard to do a sequel. Sequels are supposed to be continuations to popular movies to please fans of the movie. Some sequels can be just as good or even better than the original (like "Shrek 2" and "101 Dalmatians 2"), or be good but feel unnecessary (like "Pokemon 2000" or "Airplane 2"), but mostly, it could be bad altogether (I'm sure nobody liked "The Land Before Time 2" or "Scary Movie 2").

With that said, I'm sure that making a sequel to what is undeniably one of the best animated movies ever would be hard to do. I was aware that success would be a problem here, and I was right.

First of all, Don Bluth had no involvement with this movie, and this movie was made without his permission. Many fans, such as myself, were dismayed by the musical numbers that were put into this movie (Nobody likes songs in movies anyway.). Also, I don't like the movie's subtitle. Timmy was supposed to be the character who was sick and had to stay in bed. But now, all of a sudden, he's the hero?

Of course, since this movie came out in 1998 while the original came out in 1982, there was no excuse. It would have been hard to get the original cast back together, especially since five of the original actors died shortly after the original was released (two of which voiced characters who died in the original). Arthur Malet is back as Mr. Ages, and Dom DeLuise is back as Jeremy, and hey, they got Eric Idle into this movie too.

I don't have anything more to say about this awful movie. Stay away from this movie. You'd rather watch the original movie twice or three times a day then watch this movie.

This movie is a serious contender for the 'worst sequel ever' awards nomination category.

Let me elaborate on that...

I'll assume that when you read this review you are already familiar with Don Bluth's "The Secret of NIMH", which was a fine, dark and unusual animated movie that not at all conformed to the patented Disney cartoon mold which was lightweight, wholesome, pastel-colored nonsense with the characters spontaneously erupting in songs or other pace-annihilating planted plot permutations.

Instead, Bluth had the guts to try out his own formula, which was delightfully dark and mystic and devoid of pesky singing characters. The late Elizabeth Hartmann most excellently provided the voice for the humble and brave female protagonist rodent, Mrs. Brisby, and made the timid little mouse bigger than any animated character on the screen I had seen yet. NIMH was a good movie, even if Bluth made some liberal interpretations of the book on which it was based.

Jerry Goldsmith's rousing themes throughout the movie are a delightful bonus too. (the fact that the movie got trashed in the box office by E.T. was partly responsible for the advent of Bluth's most excellent animated laserdisc video arcade games coming into being.) Bluth never quite made another good dark movie after NIMH... The Disney Bug ate his brain, or something, because most of his subsequent films had pukey-cute designs and pesky critters singing (and even pesky marketable comic sidekicks.)

Now, NIMH 2 ...

1) Starts with a lame recap of the first movie; notably, Peter Strauss' voice for Justin has been dubbed over...

2) ... Is followed by the worst video-animated logo you can imagine. It's like a demented 3D Studio learner's first project. You can see the friggin PIXELS!!

3) Has god-awful backgrounds painted in naive primary colors

4) Has god-awful animation which was allegedly outsourced to a bunch of animation sweatshops in eastern europe. It shows.

5) Introduces a token female 'love interest' for the now-grown-up Timothy. She has BOOBS. She's a friggin MOUSE! How revolting... I thought this sort of crap was only made by sweaty fanboys.

6) Introduces a token comic sidekick, which is some kind of incredibly annoying, talking green bug with orange hair, a suit and bowler hat. How out of NIMH style is that, I ask you?

7) Has songs. And I don't mean incidental, or is that accidental stuff you can just crank the volume down at. (Many people didn't like that "Flying Dreams" song in the first movie either.) But noooo! The critters are all a-singing and a-dancing, and the songs are shrill and cacophonic and performed and orchestrated like high school theater plays. How unbearable! One of the songs even has a 'duet' performed with a video split-screen! Wheee!

8) Has the whole NIMH thing, which was a relatively sober and seemingly 'real' medical research lab, turn into Castle Frankenstein and brings one of the most perfectly stereotypical 'villains' into existence, complete with stiff mechanical (meniacal?) cackles and rolling demented eyes. This character looks like a left-over from a budget PC adventure game.

9) Is just stupid (pardon the regression)

10) Is a complete and utter waste of money, an insult to all thinking viewers, kids and grown-ups alike, an iron-studded MGM boot in the face to the artists who made the first movie possible, and the fans who liked it.

In closing, all I want to remark is that I hope MGM will release "The Secret of NIMH" in widescreen on DVD as they promised.

The original Secret of Nimh is an absolute masterpiece,(I do confess I saw this and the original fairly recently) with gorgeous animation, great characters and phenomenal music by the late Jerry Goldsmith, and is regarded by a vast majority including myself as Bluth's masterpiece. However, this sequel is awful in every aspect, and makes Rock a Doodle Doo, Troll in Central Park and almost all of the Disney sequels look like masterpieces, which of course they are definitely not. Sure it is a direct to video sequel, but the cheap production values really show here.

The animation was horrid. The character animations were jarring, and the editing was very choppy. The colours made the backgrounds look extremely flat and dull, and the visual effects rarely impressed either.

One of the highlights of the original was the music by the wonderful Jerry Goldsmith, who has also done magnificent scores for Legend and Rambo:First Blood. In the sequel, the music was dreadful,(lacking the darkness and lyricalism of the original's) and it was pretty evident that Goldsmith's score is sorely missed. "Just say yes" (I think it's called)is the only half decent song in the movie. And the singing was even worse, it was as if the vocalists thought they were singing in a school end of year production.

The dialogue was pathetic, and held no correlation whatsoever to the original or the parts of the book I read. Some of it was extremely cheesy, it really was. Also it completely lacked the mystery and suspense of the first film.(sorry I'm comparing the whole time, and this is what I honestly feel) The plot was also unoriginal and unevenly paced, and inappropriately bright, compared to the darkness and sentiment of the original.

It was also a shame that the characters that made the original so memorable didn't have a bigger part to play. Timmy came across as rather whiny and annoying, a far cry from Elizabeth Hartmann's sorrowful and poignant portrayal of Mrs Brisby who you hardly see in the sequel, and Dom DeLuise was nowhere near as funny as he was in the original. Justin's voice was dubbed, and quite poorly might I add. I also thought, and I am probably the only person to think this, that the villains were rather lame. Despite some spirited voice work from Eric Idle, the villain Martin was very bland, in everything he did and said. In the original, Jenner while not the best and most complex villain ever, was very convincing, a complete juxtaposition of the villain here.

In conclusion, an awful sequel to a beautiful film. The only redeeming quality was the talented voice cast, who were given little to work with. I am truly sorry I am sounding like a broken record, and comparing the sequel to the original, but as honesty is the best policy, I'll be perfectly frank, and say I didn't like this movie at all. 1/10 (originally a 2, but it was worse when I saw it again to make sure I wasn't taking leave of my senses) Bethany Cox.

I totally agree..I LOVED the original one when I was a kid..and still do..its one of my favourite movies..and I really hate when they make sequels to classic movies..especially animated ones..it's so disappointing..and they keep on doing it and I wish they wouldn't..its so sad..another movie they did that with that was so stupid, was Cinderella..they made a sequel? like how dumb..that movie is a CLASSIC..and they basically ruined it...i mean if they make a sequel they could at least make it good..and make the animation like it used to be..and not so cheap looking..they do it with soo many movies and I'm tired of it

As other reviews have noticed, this flick is a slap in the face of those of us who loved the original movie as kids. The animation is truly Saturday-morning level, and I was cringing every time a familiar character popped in -- they had been stripped of whatever edginess they had previously possessed and given voices that grate harshly on the ears of long-time fans. The songs were painful and completely inappropriate every single time, and the story was just plain dumb. I am a camp counselor for kids aged 6 to 10, and even they hated the movie. Parents, please don't subject your kids to this drivel, and fans of the original, don't even think of even picking up the box to this shameful waste of time.

Avoid this movie - especially if you liked its predecessor. It's just simply terrible. The two movies have so little in common that it's just sickening. In fact, I don't even want to write any more about it. Suffice it to say that you should not watch this movie. It's not worth the depression it brings when you think about how much you'd expect from a sequel to such a great movie.

I knew this movie was going to be bad since before production started. Release day finally came. After a month or so of procrastination, I rented it. And I survived. This so-called sequel to The Secret Of NIMH is nowhere near the creepy-yet-cute level of the original. Instead, it looks more like a bad Rescue Rangers episode. The songs not only shouldn't be there, but they're awful. There's nothing new in the plot-it's pure formula-absolutely pure! It's childish, badly written, and the producers tried to compensate for the faults by encasing the thing with gloss. Didn't work.

In the book on which these films were based, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien, 1971), the rats are so much more fascinating than in either of the films. Their plan to move the Brisby household actually works, thanks to the supervision of their mechanical expert, Arthur. In the book, Nicodemus does not get offed, and as far as the original film is concerned, I didn't understand how someone so wise and visionary didn't know better than to stand underneath a structure that could collapse at any minute, or why he didn't see through Jenner's plot. The film would have been so much nicer if Brutus, for instance, had noticed Jenner and stopped him with his electrified spear, then held him in place while Sullivan tied him up and, when they heard from Mrs. Brisby (why couldn't they just stick with Frisby? I don't care if it does sound similar to a toy) that NIMH was coming, they leave Jenner where NIMH can find him and have him sent back. After seeing Mrs. Brisby rescue her house herself with the amulet, some might say, "I think this proves that relying on the kindness of strangers only gets you into trouble." Others might say, "Did you saying 'relying on the kindness of strangers' or 'watching TV'?" This time, Dr. Schultz (the scientist who gave the rats and mice their injections) could give Jenner's cage a padlock. Besides, Mrs. Brisby wouldn't have had to burn her hands on the amulet (why did they even bother adding that?). Why did the Great Owl have glowing orange eyes without pupils? Seriously, he looked nothing like a great horned owl. Also, it never mentions that Mrs. Brisby isn't really a mouse, but rather a meadow vole (which in America is what we often refer to as the "field mouse"). Why doesn't Justin come back with the tools he uses in the book to rescue Mrs. Brisby? Cynthia was supposed to be "slim, pretty and overly fond of dancing", but in the sequel--enough said. Teresa and Martin were supposed to carry Timothy outside, wrapped in several pieces of cloth large and thick enough to avoid exposing him to the cold (okay, so it was raining in the film, but Mrs. Brisby could have asked the rats to bring some sort of waterproof covering, like cellophane). In the movie, they didn't really have the opportunity to help out. It was like the whole point of the film was to make the audience cheer for Mrs. Brisby and yawn at everyone else, forgetting how special they all were, not just she (ie Timothy was supposed to be the smartest and kindest of the four Brisby children). I wouldn't be surprised if this movie made viewers question the importance of teamwork. In the sequel, Nicodemus states a prophecy that only the son of Jonathan Brisby can stop the evil coming to threaten Thorn Valley, so anybody who has read the book might think, "Of course, this explains everything. In the original film, that wasn't the real Nicodemus. That was an impostor. The real Nicodemus would have had much more sense than to let himself be killed--and also, he wears a patch over his left eye (from an encounter with Dragon the cat) and a satchel over his shoulder. Possibly for the movie, he'll also wear a robe similar to that worn by Moses. Soon after he drugged Dragon, and lost his eye, he must have been recaptured by NIMH before he could take his position as the leader of the rats, and been put in a better cage. Don't worry, Nick, your late pal Jonathan's son Timmy is on his way to rescue you, just like you predicted." Timmy could have rescued him, and then Nicodemus could have asked where Timmy's siblings were, and said that he actually wanted all four Brisby children to rescue him to avoid jealousy and hatred, but his prophecy was mistranslated by the time it reached the rats, and apologized for the mistake. He could have said that the evil coming to threaten Thorn Valley was the development of a strip mall. Nicodemus could have explained that he needs every rat and mouse he can find to help him stop it, and Martin (who has somehow wound up at NIMH) could overhear every word of this, and realize that he, too, has a destiny. The three of them could have headed back to Thorn Valley and once more, Nicodemus would have been the leader of the rats, with Justin as his right-hand man, and repeated his message to everyone in Thorn Valley. Nicodemus could have given everybody a chance to help out stopping the mall, including Mrs. Brisby, Teresa, Martin and Cynthia as well as Timmy. They must show the developers a less ecologically sensitive place to build it. On the way, they find themselves forced to outwit--why don't we say, in the sequel, Dragon has a mate named Phoenix, and they have a son named Griffin, and he could be their arch nemesis? They must also deal with natural predators, such as foxes and weasels, and Timmy has the idea to convince them to eat starlings, thereby making things better for the largely displaced eastern bluebirds. Nicodemus could have asked Mrs. Brisby her name, and she could have said, "It's Maia". It would certainly suit her, wouldn't it? After all, it means "good mother", and it goes without saying that she's all of that. As soon as order had been restored to Thorn Valley, Nicodemus could have made some of the rats members of a safety patrol, led by all four Brisby siblings. Where was Elvira, the rats' doctor in the sequel (by O'Brien's daughter Jane Leslie Conly) to the book? Also, why didn't the sequel feature Martin's mate, Breta the meadow vole? Real meadow voles may not have Jenny's blonde ponytail, blue eyes or breasts, but they're adorable just the same. Animals shouldn't need human features to seem more appealing.

It seems to be very popular to hate on this movie solely because it is nothing like the original. And honestly, if you really really can't separate the two and just enjoy this film for what it is, then fine. You don't have to like it. But if you just want to enjoy a film on its own, then yes. This movie is far from perfect, but it is a lot more enjoyable. I liked the first NIMH all right but I found it like almost all of Bluth's films to be very dark and disturbing. The second one didn't have that feeling and instead went for bright an colorful. (shrug) i don't know. it didn't bother me as it seems to bother everyone else.

One of the things that I really like about this film is the song 'I will show the world'. This is a personal bias but, having lost my father at a young age, I can really feel what that song is saying and I can relate to it a lot.

I'm not going to spoil it here but, everyone bashes the twist at the end but...honestly...I kind of liked the twist. I thought it was neat and turned the movie on its head.

Yes I still gave this movie a 6 because it really isn't a GREAT movie, but it isn't really BAD. I have seen a lot worse. I have watched this a few times and have never wanted to rip my hair out or punch the TV so that's a plus. I did wish that mrs brisby would have a bigger part in the film but...what are you gonna do?

Overall, not great, but...not terrible. 6/10

Oh, what an idiot I am. I read the reviews, and I rented this disc-shaped fragment of decaying bovine excrement anyway.... and believe me, I want those 79 minutes of my life back, desperately. I won't rehash the obvious and pervasive reasons why this just might be the worst animated flick ever committed to film (of course I haven't actually SEEN every animated film in existence, so it's possible that there's a worse one out there somewhere, but I doubt it). Those reasons are adequately rehearsed in the other reviews to be seen herein.

I merely want to issue a warning to other potential viewers who loved the first film as I did, and thus might be thinking, as I did, "It CAN'T be that bad..."

Trust me. It can.

Never in my entire existence have I been so entirely disappointed in one single streak. Honestly. My heart falls when I think that an entire generation is likely to remember THIS travesty as the only NIHM movie.

This is little more than a piece of Direct-to-Video drivel, moulded right from the formula that Disney has, as of late, ironed out and pushed down our throats. Maybe I'm jaded, but I still cannot accept this as a NIHM movie.

I was a child when Bluth unveiled the original Secret Of NIHM, over a decade ago now; re-releases, video versions, and all the rest have never dulled the fantasy and wonder of it. This 'sequel', as it sees fit to call itself, has none of that life. The plot is weak, formulamatic; the voice acting is merely marginal; music is used where unnecessary, simply because it can be (The Great Disney Fallacy, in action again); the story of the original is scattered like so much debris...but that's not the worst.

The worst is that there is no wonder here. No grand adventure, no superheroes and magic and characters that make you want to dream with them. None whatsoever.

If this is the new trend of children's movies, my kids are going to watch an awful lot of ratty, worn-out, videos.

I defy anyone to enjoy this "film." Does Don Bluth even know what the satanists at MGM and Wang (both doing their worst work yet) have done with his characters? It's a Non Bluth. Let's face it, it's evil, and I hope someone loses a lot of money on it ... though I doubt it. Please avoid this unconnectable dreck and watch the real "Secret of NIMH." The difference is as vast as the first and fourth "Batman"s.

If anyone is curious and finds themselves wondering about watching the sequel that was made of The Secret of NIMH, quickly drink a lot and forget the idea ever came to you.

The Secret of NIMH 2 is possibly the WORST movie I have ever seen. It is an absolute insult to children's intelligence, and anyone involved in the making of it should be ashamed of themselves. It's an absolute affront to the original - shoddy animation, HORRID and ridiculous plot, shallow, stereotypical, unrealistic characters, mind-numbing storyline, you name it.

It's one of the very few films I've seen where I can find nothing positive to say about it whatsoever. UGH. *shudders* It is truly awful. WHAT were these people thinking???? DO NOT see this movie, especially if you liked the original.

This film is an embarrassment to the memory of the original film, and everyone involved with it should be ashamed. The story is dumb, the animation is horrid, the music is revolting, and the acting, if you can call it that, is possibly the worst part of this movie. Oh sure, it might entertain a not-too-bright 4 year-old, but then again, what wouldn't? Any rating over 1 is nothing short of charity.

There is one thing that 1982's "The Secret of N.I.M.H." and its sequel, produced sixteen years later have in common. And that is that they both conclude with a song that beautiful, touching, and wonderfully-performed. Yes, the song, called "My Life and My Love" as performed by Al Jarreau and Bobbi Page, is truly intoxicating to the ears. And it is, by far, the best thing about the sequel. Unfortunately, it does play over the end credits, and we have to wait that long to hear it.

That's not to say that the second movie, "The Secret of N.I.M.H. 2: Timmy to the Rescue" is necessarily a bad movie. It features third-rate animation, cringe-worthy lines such as "That's for being so evil!", and far too many musical numbers for its own good, but as a totality isn't insufferable. I can't honestly say I like it, but I can't honestly say I dislike it, either.

Still, why, I must ask, was there a need for a sequel? The original "The Secret of N.I.M.H." was a near-masterpiece and like most films at that caliber, ended on a note that, although open for a continuation, really begged to be left alone. And the film was a financial success, but not a smash-hit. So the meaning of "The Secret of N.I.M.H. 2" being green-lighted was obviously one of kids-movie box office exploitation. And whereas the first movie was geared so that adults could enjoy it, and probably would need to sit through it with their youngsters, the second one is aimed directly at children. Young children, specifically.

Mrs. Brisby, the heroine of the first film, plays neither first nor second-fiddle in the second movie. She's a cameo; the star is her youngest son Timothy, who occupied a small portion of running time before. At the end of the first film, Mrs. Brisby saved her family with the help of some intelligent rats who escaped from a laboratory at N.I.M.H. The rats then went to a haven we never saw, called Thorn Valley. In "The Secret of N.I.M.H. 2," Timothy is sent to live with them. He grows up to be a valiant, but disobedient teenager, when he runs into a mouse named Jenny, who recently escaped from N.I.M.H. As it turns out, some mice are still there, being tested upon, and Jenny came seeking their former comrades for help. When a rescue mission proves impossible, Tim and Jenny set out on their own.

In fact, the next two scenes after this moment describe how the good and bad about "Secret of N.I.M.H. 2" rhythmically fluctuates. The two characters leave Thorn Valley in a makeshift hot-air balloon. The scene with them sailing through the air, accompanied by some wonderful music by the talented Lee Holdridge, is magical in its own small way. They are attacked by a hawk, also entertaining, and are forced to the ground. That is all good. But the very next scene is an abomination. They run into a caterpillar who claims to be the "spokes-bug" for the Great Owl. But as it turns out, Jeremy the crow (still voiced by Dom DeLuise) is really just posing as the Great Owl to scam the woodland animals out of their jewelry and credit cards.

Well, the scene's even worse than that, as it's accompanied by a really irritating song.

There are far too many songs in the film; all but two are forgettable. Many are badly-performed. The worst: "I Will Show the World," which Tim sings throughout his childhood. The lyrics are flimsy at best, and two of the singers (representing Tim at different ages) have no special singing talent. When Ralph Macchio, as the teenage Tim, takes over, it improves a tad, but not enough to save the song. But there is also a very good song, "Just Say Yes" performed with enormous spirit by Eric Idle. And his part in the film is a completely unexpected twist that though alarming, actually picks up the pace of the third act a bit.

The animation is the film flips between atrocious and acceptable. There are moments where characters and objects appear out of nowhere in the middle of a shot. At another point, a returning character named Justin (now voiced by William H. Macy) changes color schemes with another rat. And the film is full of sloppy moments such as these. Other problems concern the screenplay, which, like everything else, toggles between good and bad. The first third is really slow-going, when Tim is a little kid, picks up some in the second act, but does not really come to life until the final part. And again, this really is because of Eric Idle's terrific work as the film's villain, whose identity I will keep secret. Mr. Idle, like any great actor, presents a tremendous amount of joy in his role, and this communes to the audience. Also, the romance between Tim and Jenny, though in sight from a mile away, is pleasant in a simplistic way.

Voice acting, in general, is pretty good. Mr. Macchio, in particular, does a courageous job as Timothy. Mr. DeLuise also keeps Jeremy the crow lovable despite not having played the part for sixteen years. The film's saving grace is its running time: a mere sixty-eight minutes. Any longer than that - any more songs! - and it might have completely collapsed. But as it is, "The Secret of N.I.M.H. 2: Timmy to the Rescue" is a nice little kids movie, best suited for those under the age of ten. And its good parts - its wonderful parts - make me feel a little guilty for not being able to really commend it. For a straight-to-video quickie sequel, it stands over some, but not quite enough. For every good moment, there is also a bad one. And the sloppy animation and mostly-inept songs really do wear you out after a while.

Given the choice between diving naked into a tub of ravenous piranhas and watching this movie again, I'd take the piranhas.

When my younger brother (12) fell in love with the book "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH," as well as the Don Bluth movie based off it, he rented this film too. I agreed to watch it with him. Within three minutes, I was ready to either vomit or run screaming from the room. Compared to the original movie, this one is 70 minutes of pain. The art is flat, garish, and just far too cartoonish, as opposed to the fantastic drawing of the original. Even worse, the characters SING. Only Disney has ever been able to create a viewable movie with singing animals, and even then it was slightly annoying. When the main character, a young mouse named Timmy, sings, it is like thumbscrews. Add to this dull, stereotypical characters in stark contrast with the complex originals, new characters that were completely unnecessary, and a plot that could have been recycled from one of many low-budget flicks, and you've got the potential for an hour of horror.

Maybe this has something to do with the sequel's after-the-fact creation. The first movie came out in 1982, this one in 1998. This is glaringly apparent when you see that the plot of this mess hardly picks up where the first movie left off.

In any case, comparing this movie to its predecessor is like saying a harlequin novel is just as good as a Shakespearean romance. If you're in the mood for some painful animation, nauseating music, and tiresome cliches, please partake in "The Secret of Nimh II." Otherwise, well, don't say I didn't warn you.