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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