After the Mousekewitz family are driven from their New York home by a gang of cats led by gang leader Cat R. Waul (John Cleese), the family embarks on a journey westward in search of better opportunities after being convinced by a supposedly western mouse's pitch. On the journey west, Fievel (Phillip Glasser), the Mousekewitz' son learns that the western pitch is a ruse by Cat R. Waul and his gang to lure mice into building his town, Green River, and eventually turning them into mouseburgers. Fievel is separated from his family and must make his way on foot to save the mice. Elsewhere: Tiger (Dom Deluise), Fievel's cat friend tries to come westward as well and finds himself chased by dogs and captured by Native American mice who mistake him for a god, and Fievel's sister Tanya (Cathy Cavadini) finally gets her chance to sing in front of an audience when Cat R. Waul is impressed by her voice and gives her the opportunity to perform.
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West began development in 1988 with franchise creator, David Kirschner putting the film into pre-production after having completed Child's Play. Unlike the first film Steven Spielberg while credited as producer was not involved in the same capacity as the first one as he was preoccupied with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Hook. The movie unlike the first American Tail is very much a comedy and doesn't go for pathos like the first one, that by itself is a strange enough decision, but when taking into account the writer was Flint Dille whose previous credits include serving as story editor on Saturday Morning Cartoon shows like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and the Garbage Pail Kids animated series that was banned from airing in the 80s who in their right mind thought this was the best approach to making a comedy sequel to a well beloved mostly serious predecessor!? The film was the inaugural release of Spielberg's Amblimation, a studio formed by Spielberg for the animation staff of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? After Richard Williams' studio shuttered. The movie also serves as the directorial debut for Roger Rabbit supervising animators, Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells, and there's some good animation on display, but it's in service of a chaotic atonal mess of a movie.
From the get go the movie just doesn't feel like An American Tail, it's loud, it's zippy, and it has a snarky self-awareness and reference happy approach that's more distracting than funny. The film is structured in both design and animation almost like something you'd expect from a slapstick heavy Looney Tunes cartoon and maybe it would've worked had this not presented itself as a sequel to An American Tail and instead been it's own independent property, but even then that's doubtful because with the film's references to things like Gunsmoke, Shane, and I think The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance since there is a prominent supporting role by Jimmy Stewart (in his last performance) as.... Wylie Burp (groan). During the late 80s and early 90s there was a sort of revival of comedic westerns with things like Back to the Future part III and City Slickers and maybe during development of those films that inspired direction for this film, but I can't say for certain. Either way, the movie captures a lot of visuals associated with the western genre with appropriate landmarks, costuming, and other iconography, but it doesn't really do anything with its setting that justifies it, it just occasionally references these things and that's where the joke begins and ends. One of the more confusing (albeit memorable) sequences involves Fievel traveling by tumbleweed to the town of Green River while the desert creatures all sing the theme song to the TV show Rawhide.....that's the joke.
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West is a showcase for some above average animation, but without a story with stakes or investment or even comedy that works the film is pretty to look at with not much going on underneath the surface.
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West began development in 1988 with franchise creator, David Kirschner putting the film into pre-production after having completed Child's Play. Unlike the first film Steven Spielberg while credited as producer was not involved in the same capacity as the first one as he was preoccupied with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Hook. The movie unlike the first American Tail is very much a comedy and doesn't go for pathos like the first one, that by itself is a strange enough decision, but when taking into account the writer was Flint Dille whose previous credits include serving as story editor on Saturday Morning Cartoon shows like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and the Garbage Pail Kids animated series that was banned from airing in the 80s who in their right mind thought this was the best approach to making a comedy sequel to a well beloved mostly serious predecessor!? The film was the inaugural release of Spielberg's Amblimation, a studio formed by Spielberg for the animation staff of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? After Richard Williams' studio shuttered. The movie also serves as the directorial debut for Roger Rabbit supervising animators, Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells, and there's some good animation on display, but it's in service of a chaotic atonal mess of a movie.
From the get go the movie just doesn't feel like An American Tail, it's loud, it's zippy, and it has a snarky self-awareness and reference happy approach that's more distracting than funny. The film is structured in both design and animation almost like something you'd expect from a slapstick heavy Looney Tunes cartoon and maybe it would've worked had this not presented itself as a sequel to An American Tail and instead been it's own independent property, but even then that's doubtful because with the film's references to things like Gunsmoke, Shane, and I think The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance since there is a prominent supporting role by Jimmy Stewart (in his last performance) as.... Wylie Burp (groan). During the late 80s and early 90s there was a sort of revival of comedic westerns with things like Back to the Future part III and City Slickers and maybe during development of those films that inspired direction for this film, but I can't say for certain. Either way, the movie captures a lot of visuals associated with the western genre with appropriate landmarks, costuming, and other iconography, but it doesn't really do anything with its setting that justifies it, it just occasionally references these things and that's where the joke begins and ends. One of the more confusing (albeit memorable) sequences involves Fievel traveling by tumbleweed to the town of Green River while the desert creatures all sing the theme song to the TV show Rawhide.....that's the joke.
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West is a showcase for some above average animation, but without a story with stakes or investment or even comedy that works the film is pretty to look at with not much going on underneath the surface.