I Sure as hell did when i was 5 living in St. Louis, i saw it 4 times i had the pajamas, those Mcdonald storybooks, stuffed Fievel, talking Fievel, t-shirt, coloring books and my mom bought me the movie for my 6th birthday.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb"-Batman.
I think I was 5 when it came out. I saw it with my babysitter, and then with my uncle and Cousin (he was babysitting us; it was either American Tale or some movie about a man eating plant- aka Little Shop of Horrors) At 5 years old- guess what I chose! Got the soundtrack for my birthday.
I know that I definitely saw this in theaters but it must have been a re-release or something. In 1986 I would have been two or three years old (three years old in December 1986) and I am sure I was older than that when I saw this. Maybe I am thinking of the sequel that I saw in theaters because then I would have been like seven or eight years old, but I am pretty sure that I saw this one in theaters as well as I can distinctly remember seeing it on the big screen.
Wow! I saw this and I was 2 1/2 or 3, and I remember going to see it ... it was the first movie i ever saw in the theaters.... and it was in St. Louis too. Of course I dont remember a whole lot from the first viewing, other than we were late...but it's been a favorite of mine since then, and my parents got me a stuffed fievel when I was little. I was in the hospital a lot, and he came with me... even going so far as to have an "IV" on his arm :)
When I was 4, this movie was the 1st movie my mom & dad took me to see, and it's been a part of me ever since...
All I've wanted to do is go to America ( where there are no cats ! ), and I know it's because of this movie. And thinking about it now, it's also the major reason why I ended up studying Animation in University.
I still havent been to America yet - but someday... never say never, whatever you do !!
I would have been two years old in 1986...... I don't know whether I saw An American Tail theatrically or not, but I have a very distant, very blurry memory of seeing The Land Before Time in theaters.
I was five when I saw this with my mom, it was one of the special kid matinees only one dollar. Ant the theatre that we saw it had an egyptian theme to it, sphinxes, mummies tombs and minature tombs.
I also sang the song with my mom somewhere out there whenever it was on the radio as a youngster too. Fond memories of this film, I wish they played it on regular tv more often!!
I remember wanting to see the film when it was in theaters, was only 11 at the time it was released, but I didn't because my baby sister was born in the end of Nov. 1986 and with that and Christmas, and everything else we didn't get around to it. (Plus I guess my aunt who used to take My two younger brothers and I to animated films back in the mid-1980s was too busy at that time as well.)
I do remember all of the marketing through McDonalds and so forth that the film did, and the interesting thing is that I recently watched the "Special Edition" version of Disney's Little Mermaid, and saw the part where they interviewed some of the old animators & employees who worked on that film, and at one point they were saying that "Mermaid" was a 'do or die' point in the animation dept's history. (The movie was animated in trailers on a backlot in Burbank apparently.) Anyway, they claimed it wasn't until that movie that they realized all of the marketing opportunities out there to tie in products w/other companies...however though I think in the mid-1980s just prior to that film, their former employee Don Bluth was beating Disney at their own game! lol! American Tail was it, and possibly All Dogs Go To Heaven as well.
I reckon it wasn't screen until 1987 here in Norway, so I was about five then. And my dad took my sister and me to see it, and I was thrilled. Loads of excitement, espessially I remember the cats attacking the village at the beginning of the film. Allready back then I must've overheard my father talking about the Russian tsars and how they treated the people, because I remember I immidiatly connected the cats to the tsars soldiers harriassing the poor peasants.
I remember seeing this in the theater I was four when this came out and I believe it was my dad who took me, I also know that the theater I saw this in doesn't exist anymore. But I remember seeing this on the big screen and being scared by the sea monsters and by the character of Moe. I also remember when we rented on video a buried my head in my blanket when the sea monster scene happened and pop out after is was over.
I went to see this when I was 6. I remember is being at an Eric theatre, and I asked my uncle to hide a can of cheetos under his coat so they wouldn't be taken.