MovieChat Forums > An American Tail (1986) Discussion > Who else was scared?

Who else was scared?

posted 20 years ago by c-ashes
39 replies | jump to latest

I remember renting this when i was like four and it scared the crap outta me. The cats scared me cause they were so reckless and evil looking, the part when he's on the ship and all the mice are singing about the terrifying experieces they endured with the cats ( the Irish mouse especially) The part when the boat is getting attacked by that wave demon thing, AND let's not forget THE SECRET WEAPON! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? Don Bluth's movies scare me, this and the secret of Nihm scared me. Anybody else get scared?

[–] geordiedelights 20 years ago

Hell yes I was scared by this and also by by the Land Before Time. That T Rex was probably the scariest thing I had had seen on film when I was younger, nightmares galore, happily now im all of 21 not so much though I fully intend to re-watch then when I get home from university so there is a possibility that I will return to this board as scared as a was a a little girl

[–] teh_liz 20 years ago

According to my mom I used to bawl when Fievel was lost at sea, but of course this was when I was little. I've been watching this movie for basically my entire life, and I've come to see that it's an intelligent representation of things that brought immigrants from all over to this country, and still in a way that children can understand -- Russian peasants being afraid of Cossacks is a little difficult for children to understand, but they can understand mice being afraid of cats.

[–] elgrandTA82 20 years ago

I saw this for the first time when I was four and yeah I was scared by the sea monsters tormenting Fievel when he's trying to hang on to the boat and I remeber that Moe guy really scared me when I first saw him. Don't remember what my first reaction to the cats were, to long ago. I was also pretty upset about fievel being seperated from his family. I watch the film now and nothing about it scares me though I still feel sorry for the little mouse, even though he did bring it all on himself.

[–] Popcorngal (4937) a year ago

True Feival was reckless and hard headed. Similar to Nemo.

[–] Tyler_Durden87 20 years ago

Not scared... Sad...
I remember the film as shatteringly depressing! :(
Though I really want to see it again... Havn't seen it in at least 10 years! :)

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] uruseiranma 20 years ago

There was that one point where Warren T Rat is leading Fievel to where the young mouse thinks his family is, the door opens and the little mouse is yanked off the floor and we get a close-up of this ugly, evil-looking, laughing rat, who basically runs a 'sweatshop' of sorts on collected 'runaway' mice. Common practice-find a young kid, turn him into your 'personal' worker- the kid does the work, and his 'owner' collects his salary.

The scary part later on when I thought of it, was how amazingly realistic they portrayed working conditions for immigrants. Hasn't changed all that much since the 19th century- we're still managing to find ways to shortchange those wanting a better life (Sorry for the negativity, I just saw 'Beautiful Country' a week ago, and it kind of stuck in my head).

A-ha-ha-ha, you're really weird!-Willy Wonka

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] Jedzeke9092 19 years ago

I'm not really sure if I was scared or disturbed. As others have said, it is a bit much for a young child. For a children's cartonn, it is too realistic and just not quite right for youngsters. The last time I saw this was when I was about 10, and I am still a bit disturbed to this day. Everytime I hear that song "Somewhere Out There", the entire awkward feeling the movie gives me comes back. It was a very nice effort, but it was aimed at the wrong age group

[–] uhimconfused 19 years ago

It doesn't make sense not to let kids see movies like this at a young age. I imagine most of the people here saw the movies at a tender age of 4-8 or so, but I could be wrong. Either way I dont think it had drastic effects on the development of children that did see it, me included. I see a lot of threads on imdb saying 'oh don't let your child watch this until they are x.' X is usually about 10 or 12 but I just really don't see the point in shielding children from a childs movie that pokes at emotions aside from happiness. I mean--the story resolves it's self and everything. I just don't really understand.

[–] cyguration 9 years ago

Ehh.... I don't know if I agree with that.

I know this comment is a decade late and practicing the kind of thread necromancy that the Flaming Fist would look down upon like rhetoricians critiquing a Donald Trump speech, but I don't think I can adopt to the idea that not shielding kids is a great thing to do.

I just really don't see the point in shielding children from a childs movie that pokes at emotions aside from happiness. I mean--the story resolves it's self and everything. I just don't really understand.

I get where you're coming from, but even to this day this movie, An American Tail, has left a searing image on the very fabric of my soul. Many of the emotions expressed in this thread are the same ones I experienced when I was younger having watched this film. It instilled within me (for quite some time after having watched it) a great sense of dread, fright, sadness and depression.

I don't know if that's really the sort of thing I think kids between 4 - 12 should experience without being readily prepared for how that kind of thing can affect them.

It's certainly not an easy topic to address, though, and it certainly doesn't take away from the quality of this film or the content contained therein.

[–] vivalaslauren 19 years ago

I watched this movie when I was about 3. And about once a week for the next 7 years. It never scared me, neither did the Secret of Nimh or, one that always scared my freind, the Great Mouse Detective. It's weird because movies scare me really easily now...

[–] jdkraus 19 years ago

Thinking of the secret wepon scares me! Especially as a child, but i enjoy this film. The beginning scared me as well, when fivel's home was destryoed (the czar atack), and all the cats of course, but I always applaud when they are forced to retreat!!!! lol

Assume cowardly positions! (Run!)

[–] maiira 19 years ago

The Secret Weapon was the 'legendary' "Giant Mouse of Minsk." And yes, it really was quite frightening.

Just as an aside, according to my mother I used to wander up to complete strangers when I was little and say "I have to find my family." Lord knows what the hell was going through the poor stranger's mind when they heard this. They probably thought my parents were negligent alcoholics or something.

"Oh, sugar...you just gone and done the dumbest thing in your whole life..."

[–] maybellinezmascaragurl 19 years ago

I sorta remember watching this when I was little... I don't really remember being very freaked out, though.

That Mouse of Minske still creeps me out!!!!!

Anyway, I think kids can watch it... I do, and I'm told I act like a kid all the time!!!!!

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] am_buglet_82 19 years ago

I first saw "An American Tail" when I was five years old.

Not a whole lot about it scared me, except the cats and those WAVES.
The waves scared me more than the cats, because they were like giant demon-like monsters plunging forward toward Fieval.
Interestingly enough, the Giant Mouse of Minsk never scared me.
In fact, I always thought it was breathtakingly awesome!

"The Land Before Time" didn't scare me at all, but I was always uncomfortable when Littlefoot's mother died, because back then I didn't get all mushy and weepy at movies...and it annoyed me when my mother did (Now I cry at movies! Talk about poetic justice).

I got "All Dogs Go to Heaven" for my eighth birthday. This movie scared me a little, even though it also gave me a huge crush on Charlie. One part that scared me were Carface's face changing into demonface when he says, "A ray-gun" *shudders*.
Another part that scared the bejabbers out of me was Charlie's nightmare about going to Hell.
I mean yikes!
The little part at the end where the demon comes for Charlie before he's rescued by the Whippet Angel might have scared me a little, but not as much as that nightmare!

I didn't see "The Secret of Nimh" until I was older (can't remember how old), which is probably a good thing. Some parts of that disturbed me even when I was older. One part that scared me was the fight between Jenner and that other mouse, where Jenner slashes the other mouse, and then gets the knife in his back! That would have frightened the crap out of me if I'd seen it at the ages of 5-7.
The Great Owl's eyes and Nicodemus's eyes might have scared me too, because of the freaky glowing they did.

My two favorite Bluth movies are "An American Tail" and "All Dogs Go to Heaven".

Out of curiosity, which of Don's movies are bright and sunny?
I'm having a bit of trouble thinking of one, because in all of the Don movies I've seen there's at least a little creepiness about them.

"She will remember your heart when men are fairy tales in storybooks written by rabbits"

[–] SavvyLicious 19 years ago

YES! I was only talking to my mum about this yesterday, the waves bit was really nasty and the cat thing. Great film though, I might get it on DVD!

Joaquinian
Member of GRAMMAR

[–] Miss_DW 19 years ago

I watched ADGTH for the first time this year, (I'm 17) and I was still mildly freaked out by Charlie's nightmare about Hell. I definitely would've been scared of that as a kid, and I understand why my mom hadn't let me watch the movie. I also agree about the crush on Charlie thing... he's quite a good character.

Nothing really scared me in An American Tail though, even as a little kid.

[–] 19 years ago

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