Sunday, April 26, 2009

An American Tail

Day 116 - 4/26/09 - Movie #115

BEFORE: Almost done with animated rodent films - who knew there were so many?

THE PLOT: While emigrating to the United States, a young Russian mouse gets seperated from his family and must relocate them while trying to survive in a new country.

AFTER: Well, this film was directed by Don Bluth, so that means that the characters spend half their time separated, and calling out each other's names - then they get reunited and say each others names over and over... This is also a little too cutesy and sappy for me - they should have spent more time in Russia, with the Jewish mice and the Russian Cossack cats, that was somewhat reminiscent of Art Spiegelman's great "Maus" comics (where the Jewish mice were held in concentration camps by Nazi cats). I'm no lawyer, but I'd say that since Spiegelman would have a valid case against Spielberg & Co. if he wanted to pursue it...

Voice standouts were Dom Deluise as Tiger and Madeline Kahn as Gussie. Possible plotholes - if a mouse fell off of a ship heading from Europe to New York, wouldn't the prevailing current take him BACK to Europe, not the rest of the way to NYC? Also, if the mice could rise up against the cats in America, why couldn't they stand up to the Cossack cats in Russia? I guess America's the home of protests and civil disobedience, but it's not an exclusive thing...

RATING: 4 out of 10 herring

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