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?

[–] Metal_Health 19 years ago

I thought the cats were evil, the Mouse of Minsk was terrifying, but what really scared me was the demon in the ocean. I was 5 when I first watched, and thought something like that could actually happen. Also, for some reason the abandoned museum (its appearance and all the stuff inside) felt creepy.

~And he's the one who likes all our pretty songs and he likes to sing along~

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] KDBizzle 19 years ago

For me, the scarriest thing about this movie was deff the storm sequence. That sequence used to give me nightmares.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] uruseiranma 18 years ago

BLuth was a man who truly, wanted to capture the way of the old films of Disney-he was a fan of the early Disney films, and wanted to do what they did.

As an animator, I've analyzed Disney's films, and overtime, the threat of 'menace' got played down rather dramatically.

'An American Tail' feels in the same vein as the first 5 Disney films. Just look at films like 'Snow White' and 'Pinocchio.' A girl is threatened at knife-point in 'Snow White,' as well as poisoned. But then you look at 'Pinocchio,' and you see just how much poor Pinocchio was put through-the kid drinks and smokes, gets thrown into a cage, and threatened to be turned into firewood if he doesn't perform.

I still feel what's missing from so many cartoons these days is that threat of menace-nowadays, you know that the characters are gonna get out of the situation safe and sound-the films are made so safe that we can't get into the peril of the scene.

Though I've often formulated alternate scenarios suchas:
1)Beauty and the Beast- Belle forced to marry Gaston, and tearfully gazing upon the head of the Beast, now mounted to the wall of his tavern (though in a sadly, forelorn look).
2)Fievel Goes West (I always thought of a scenario where the 'mouseburgers' scenario happened, and Tanya Mousekiwitz, was sadly made to perform for Cat R Waul, knowing that her family had been consumed by him).

Hey, I'm an artist- artists minds don't think like normal people do.

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

[–] jvle100 17 years ago

Whoops! my bad, I'm verry sorry, I wasn't myself that day (a little bit passed with drinks). Anyway, you are right, Bluth was a great animator and, as you said, most part of his work consisted in delivering emotions into the situations happening in his cartoons. Specially this one (which I confess, up until now its impact still reaches me), since its actually the closest representation of a true historical event (the Runaway Jewish population from Russia to America, reminiscent of Fiddler on the Rooftop) suitable for children, but still keeping the horror felt by said population, so that the audience could get a grip of what the oppressed where going through during that period (and the worse was about to come for them with WWII). Fievel was the best representation of the innocence and strength in both heart and mind, as its shown clearly that even though he was mistreated in many ways, he never gave up in the task of finding his family. That was an example of many other details seen in the movie, which are the reason why this movie is a masterpiece.

Thanks for the lesson you gave me man (I aim to be mangaka after all, I should analyze instead of complain.) and sorry.

[–] Sweet_E 18 years ago

The ship scene and the bad experiences scared me, but for the most part I remember this movie as the first one to make me sob.

"Though it be madness, there is a method to it."

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] lunayoshi 18 years ago

What scared me most was definitely that Fievel vs. the Evil Wave scene. Good lord! If nothing else, the music made it nightmarish. You've got to hand it to James Horner. He did an awesome job capturing the emotion of a scene in his background music.

You know what also scared me? When the cats attack the marketplace and Fievel almost gets eaten. Gotta love the scratchy sound effect they used when he grabbed onto the uvula of that cat.

The GMOM never scared me. I always really enjoyed it. The cats got it stuck to 'em! I was happy.

What always made me bawl, though, was the Irish mouse's story of his lover dying and now lying beneath the heather. We watched the movie in my 4th grade class (after I'd watched my VHS a billion times, by that point) and had to bury my head in my arms on my desk as if I was sleeping to hide the fact that I was really tearing up.

-------------------
"I got her machine."
"Her answering machine?"
"No, strangely enough, her leaf blower picked up!" ~Chandler and Joey

[–] bjgrassl 18 years ago

yeah, this movie was scary, those cats......and the wave monster, and the secret weapon, all of em freaked me out, but This was the first movie i ever had (or was that Dumbo?), anyway, it'll always have a special place in my heart, there were those other scenes that could really mess with your mind too, like the overhead railway and that bit with the grammaphone, and especially those homeless mice who lived in the mud. crazy stuff, but with that kindof a movie and as a kid who watched it as a 4-year old, i can say one thing about it.

"That was one heck of a movie"

[–] mjn-seifer 18 years ago

But it wasn't fear...

[–] BethH24 17 years ago

The ' mouse of minsk ' frightened me when i was younger !

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] FrankBooth_DeLarge 17 years ago

I was actually pretty sensitive when I was little, but I watched this countless times and never got scared or sadened by it. I even remember one time my Mom's friend was like "I can't watch An American Tail anymore." I remember being like "Why not?" Then she told me she thought it was sad because Fievel gets separated from his family.

When I was younger it didn't have that much of an affect on me. I watched it again recently and I can understand why people think it's sad. I guess there's some things you understand more when you get older.

www.myspace.com/frankboothdelarge

[–] TalesfromTheCryptfan 17 years ago

Never got scared of this movie, but two animated movies certainly did to me when i was a child in the 80's. Does anyone remember "Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night"? i saw that in theaters when i was 5 back in 1987 living in St. Louis and it scared the bejesus out of me especially that horrifying scene where one of the villains named Puppetino is slowly torturing and changing the human Pinocchio slowly back into a puppet as he screams his head off.

"Let Off some Steam Bennet"-Commando

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Craytonus_AP 16 years ago

Oddly enough, the waves, cats, and other stuff didn't scare me. The only thing that did was . . . THE SECRET WEAPON! But even stranger was that it was a mix of fear and awe. When you see it from the outside you think, "jesus christ that is some scary sh*t". But when you see it from the inside you think, "Yeah! Send those lousy cats running for the hills!"

"I've gotta return some videotapes."
"Jay and Silent Bob, your C.L.I.T. doesn't stand a chance!"

[–] ellelatham 13 years ago

I was saddened by this movie. I bawled my eyes out and most likely would now. I cried in All Dogs too but the only one I was frightened of was Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Christopher Lloyd's character scared the crap out of me in the theatre. Even the animated characters got to me. They were off in that movie. Crazy stuff.

[–] antharper 12 years ago

I cant remember much of this movie from when I was younger, but I did remember that there was a big thing at the end that was scary.

I'm 20 and just re-watched it on Netflix and DAMN that giant mouse's face is scary as hell!