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An American Tail (1986)

tomatometer

29

Average Rating: 4.5/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 5

No consensus yet.

audience

68

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 239,126

My Rating

Movie Info

An American Tail is a beautifully rendered animated flim that tells an overly familiar story in terms children can easily understand. Fievel Mousekewitz and his family of Russian-Jewish mice escape from their homeland in the late 1800s, boarding a boat headed toward America to evade the Czarist rule of the Russian cats. Fievel, however, is separated from his family upon his arrival in New York City, and he discovers to his horror that there are cats in America too (his father said there

Jan 20, 2004

Universal Pictures

Cast

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All Critics (25) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (8) | DVD (1)

Cartoons with ambitions even this noble are as rare as Steven Spielberg films that lose money, but every character and every situation presented herein have been seen a thousand times before.

September 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
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The overall quality of the animation -- baroquely executed if rather conventionally conceived -- makes it worth a look

September 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
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For all its state-of-the-art animation techniques, Spielberg's production remains resolutely conservative: visually it's virtually indistinguishable from Walt at his wimpiest.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Witless if well-meaning.

August 30, 2004 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
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It may be that the truly American tale here is the spectacle of an artist squandering his awesome gifts on the way to becoming a Hollywood institution.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
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he movie has such vague ethnic grounds, however, that only a few children will understand or care that the Mousekewitzes are Jewish. And few of those are likely to be entertained by such a tragic, gloomy story.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comments (7)
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Adorable, heartwarming tale of immigrant mouse.

December 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

Its sappiness is unmissably sincere, and such aching, embarrassing sincerity is never an evil thing in a movie.

November 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy
Antagony & Ecstasy

There's nothing particularly special about An American Tail, save for Bluth's slick animation.

September 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

The story is moving, and the animation includes some powerful images, although some of the early scenes depicting the suffering of the mice in Russia may be too frightening for younger viewers.

September 10, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment (1)
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Like other Spielberg-produced features, this one pays homage to old movie traditions (live-action Westerns) and icons, but the film has been made mechanically.

February 18, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

Click to read the article.

December 31, 2004 Full Review Source: StaciWilson.com
StaciWilson.com

Can't resist any film with singing mice. Truly Bluth's best film.

December 18, 2004

Ethnic mice plus fascist cats in groundbreaking animation.

November 1, 2004

I liked it as a kid, and have liked it less and less every year since.

February 27, 2004
New Times

No Mickey, but a nice mouse.

December 19, 2003
Sun Newspapers of Cleveland

A light and charming little animated adventure.

August 12, 2002
eFilmCritic.com

Audience Reviews for An American Tail

Don Bluths An American Tail has its haters and lovers. A quirky movie with some memorable songs.
May 11, 2008
jmanard52

Super Reviewer

A tale of immigration told through a cartoon world. This plays on a few Classic tales and re-watching the film at the age I am now you can really pick up on metaphors in relation to the human world. Despite all of the modern effects such as CGI, this film still works as a timeless piece of animation.
July 27, 2006
76Majikat

Super Reviewer

    1. Fievel Mousekewitz: Never say never, Papa!
    – Submitted by Jarrod P (3 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Feivel - der Mauswanderer (DE)
  • Fiével et le nouveau monde (FR)
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