In 1984, Don Bluth,
Steven Spielberg
and Universal Pictures
united to create an animated film designed to rival the beauty of Bluth’s
earlier effort, The Secret of NIMH. It would have been
Universal’s first animated feature since 1965’s Pinocchio
in Outer Space and
Spielberg’s first animated film ever. The film was An American Tail, conceived by producer David Kirschner.
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| An American Tail storyboard. |
Originally, Spielberg wanted an
all-animal world like Disney’s
Robin Hood, but Bluth showed
him Disney’s The Rescuers and convinced him
to make the animal world a hidden society amongst the human world; a format
that was more successful theatrically. Bluth and Spielberg worked out incidents
for the script that would be penned by Tony Geiss
and Judy
Freudberg, frequent contributors to Sesame
Street and
who had just completed the script for the film Follow
That Bird. The main character of the film was a
little mouse named Fievel, after Spielberg’s grandfather. Bluth was initially
against the name, believing its foreign sound would put off American audiences,
but a compromise was reached and Fievel was given the nickname “Filly.”
 |
| Fievel running cycle. |
While the script was being written,
Bluth began developing the character designs. The look of Fievel was the most
important, especially to Sears
who had a large marketing campaign in place around the film. As nostalgia was
at an all-time high amongst baby boomers, and being that there were so many
mouse characters out there, Bluth decided to go retro and used the round and
soft cuddly style that was prevalent around the time of Disney’s Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs.
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| An American Tail poster. |
Bluth worked on the storyboards with
assistance from Larry
Leker and sent them over to Spielberg for changes or
approval. During the production, Don Bluth Studio began using a valuable tool
that would help trim their animating time: a video printer. By recording
actions, they could print them out frame-by-frame to use as reference or, in
some cases, a traceable guide. Unfortunately, any time benefits were lost when
scenes constantly had to be approved by both Amblin
Entertainment and Universal. They were also working
with a significantly smaller budget than other animated features at the time
(causing frequent disputes with the union), and Spielberg’s desire to
incorporate as many songs as possible. In compromise, many scenes were trimmed
or dropped and replaced with shorter ones, resulting in some errors and a
jumbling in the overall narrative. Animation also had a tendency to come back
needing fixing, and turnaround for overseas coloring was slower than expected.
Finally, An American Tail came together for its preview screening in October
of 1986, and was released theatrically on November 21st after a
heavy marketing campaign by Universal. The film, set in 1885, followed the
Mousekewitze family on their journey to a “cat-free” America. They were driven
from their home in Shostka, Russia when Cossacks firebombed the house of the
human family they lived with. Boarding a tramp steamer in Germany, the
Mousekewitzes began their perilous journey to a new home when Fievel (Phillip
Glasser) was washed overboard and seemingly lost at sea. Fievel ended up saved
by a bottle and in America anyway, and set out to reunite with his family
amongst the new perils his new country had to offer.
 |
| Fievel character model sheet. |
Despite mixed reviews, the film
opened in second place only to Crocodile
Dundee.
Positive
word of mouth led to an increase in subsequent weeks. While it became the
highest grossing animated feature upon first release, the fact that the
independent film went toe-to-toe with Disney re-released films The
Song of the South and
Lady and the Tramp and was not
obliterated was the most noteworthy accomplishment. Sears made a killing on Tail merchandise, and the song “Somewhere Out There”
was an immediate hit. The song, the film, and the score by James Horner
were nominated for multiple awards. Worldwide, the film ended up grossing over
$150 million and was one of the top-selling VHS tapes when it was released in
1987.
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| Fievel and Tiger on the case! |
In 1989, Amblin and Universal
entered a partnership to form their own London-based animation studio, Amblimation.
Fievel served as the company’s mascot and appeared with its logo. One of
Amblimation’s first projects was a sequel to An American Tail. Bluth and his new Ireland-based Sullivan
Bluth Studios were set to work on the film again with
Spielberg, but creative differences caused them to bow out. Former Disney
animator Phil
Nibbelink and Simon Wells,
the great-grandson of H.G. Wells,
were brought on board to direct the project. As a result, the animation style
was markedly different from the first and several characters underwent minor
cosmetic changes. Horner returned to score the film.
An
American Tail: Fievel Goes West was released on November 22, 1991—exactly
five years and one day after the original—and was once again up against a
Disney film: Beauty and the Beast.
The film followed the Mousekewitz family as they left a hard life behind in New
York for a supposedly better life in the west. However, Fievel discovers the
move was a plot by Cat R. Waul (John
Cleese) and his cronies to turn the mice into mouse burgers
and is thrown off the train. Fievel, along with his friend Tiger the Cat (Dom
DeLuise) and Western legend Wylie Burp (James Stewart
in his final film role) set out to thwart the cats’ plans and rescue the mice.
 |
| Fievel faces Sweet William. |
Like the original, the film
generated mixed reviews from critics but still performed well at the box
office; however, not as well as its predecessor. The film was a financial
success, but only managed to gross over $40 million worldwide. Undaunted by the
drop-off, Amblimation moved forward with another sequel; this time in the form
of an animated series. Fievel’s American
Tails would pick up directly from where Goes
West left off and was co-produced by Nelvana,
Ltd.
and Universal
Cartoon Studios.
 |
| Cat R. Waul and TR Chula. |
Phillip Glasser, who was cast for
the original movie after being overheard auditioning for an Oscar Mayer
commercial, returned to voice Fievel, as did DeLuise as his best friend, Tiger,
and Cathy Cavadini as his older sister, Tanya (Cavadini replaced original
actress Amy
Green in the sequel). The rest of the characters were
recast: Nehemiah
Persoff was replaced by Lloyd Battista as Fievel’s father; Erica Yohn
by Susan Silo as Fievel’s mother; Amy Irving
by Cynthia Ferrier
as Tiger’s girlfriend, Miss
Kitty; Cleese by Gerrit Graham as Cat R. Waul; and Jon Lovitz
by Dan Castellaneta as Cat’s sidekick, T.R. Chula. Cavadini also gained the
additional role of Yasha, the baby of the family. New to the series was
Fievel’s other nemesis, Sweet William (Kenneth Mars), and his dimwitted
henchmen, Slim and Felonious (both Castellaneta).
Fievel’s
American Tails debuted on CBS
on September 12, 1992, written by Hank Saroyan,
J.R.
Young, David
Carren, J.
Larry Carroll, Sam
Graham, Chris
Hubbell and Grant
Moran. The show continued Fievel’s adventures in the west,
often spoiling the schemes of Cat and Sweet William using his wits and guile.
Otherwise, he helped his family in their violin shop as they dealt with the
other immigrant families in the community of Green River. The series was
animated by Wang
Film Production Co., Ltd., Bardel
Animation and The
Hollywood Cartoon Company. The series’ theme was composed by Saroyan
and Robert Irving,
while Milan
Kymlicka handled the rest of the music. When Fievel was selected
as the spokesmouse for Reading
is Fundamental in 1992, little segments called “Reading
Buddies” showcasing reading were tacked on to the end of the episodes of the
series. Fievel’s ability to read also helped him out of some troubles in the
show proper as a further tie-in to the campaign.
 |
| Papa, Yasha and Tanya. |
The series failed to capture an
audience the way the films--particularly the first--had and the ratings
dwindled as it went on. At the conclusion of its sole season, CBS quietly
cancelled American Tails and it was
off the schedule by the fall of 1993. MCA/Universal
Home Video released six VHS
collections containing two episodes each, as well as
two laserdisc volumes. The United Kingdom saw a similar release in 1995, but
with a different episode order and swapped one of the episodes for the one not
released in the United States. Episodes have also been released to DVD
in France, Germany and Italy.
Amblimation was dedicated to making
more subdued and high-brow entertainment than what was currently being offered
in animation at the time. Unfortunately, that didn’t attract American audiences
and the studio’s few projects underperformed at the box office. It was shut
down in 1997, but Universal went ahead with two more direct-to-video American Tail movies: 1998’s Treasure
of Manhattan Island and
1999’s Mystery of the Night Monster. Fievel and the American Tail mythology live on at Universal Studios Theme Park
in the form of Fievel’s
Playland; a playground that allows visitors to pretend they’re
the size of mice. It outlasted the live
show
that opened around the same time in 1989, and was one of the oldest attractions
at the park.
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