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An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)


An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)


4/10

Starring the voices of
Phillip Glasser
James Stewart
Erica Yohn
Cathy Cavadini
Nehemiah Persoff
Dom DeLuise


Directed by Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells


The second story of An American Tail doesn’t feel particularly unique, even though there’s a noticeable upgrade in the graphics. It seems like the mouse city falls for the same old trick—looking for places where they won’t have to deal with cats. As they soon discover in this movie, no such place exists.

This movie aims to entertain, and in some ways, it succeeds. However, it’s entertainment without much substance, like eating dry bread with no water.

Although the runtime is only a few minutes shorter than the first movie, this one feels much shorter. I’ve seen it more than once before now, but watching it again in 2020, I keep wondering if this version is missing a chunk—or perhaps it’s just the movie’s fast pace that gives this impression.

Like its predecessor, this movie is a musical. However, unlike An American Tail (1986), which had several memorable songs, this one only has one standout track. Tanya, Fievel’s sister, performs The Girl You Left Behind in the saloon, and it’s my second favorite song from the series. The best, of course, remains Somewhere Out There from the first movie.

The plot takes place a few years after the events of the first film. Life isn’t rosy for the Mousekewitz family or the townsfolk, as the cats are still causing trouble. An aristocratic cat named Cat R. Waul arrives and convinces the mice to head west, claiming it’s a place where cats and mice live in harmony. However, Waul has ulterior motives for the mice once they reach the west.

Before the journey begins, we learn that Tiger’s girlfriend, Miss Kitty, is also heading west. (Tiger is the vegetarian cat from the first movie.) When Tiger discovers that Fievel is also going west, he decides to follow.

As usual, Fievel’s curiosity gets the better of him during the train ride. He stumbles upon Waul’s sinister plans for the mice and is discovered. Fievel is knocked off the train, much to his parents’ dismay. Alone in the desert, Fievel must find his way back to his family while also working to stop Waul’s plans.

In the end, this movie wasn’t as commercially or critically successful as the first. It’s not a worthy sequel, but it still made enough money to inspire further direct-to-video sequels and even an animated children’s series.

It’s worth noting that Don Bluth wasn’t involved in this movie. He had parted ways with Steven Spielberg before production began. Instead, Spielberg’s animation production company took charge of this installment.

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