An American Tail

An American Tail is a 1986 American animated musical adventure film directed by

An American Tail
Don Bluth, the creator of the Dragon's Lair arcade game, and produced by Sullivan
Bluth Inc. and Amblin Entertainment.[3] It tells the story of Fievel Mousekewitz
and his family as they emigrate from the Imperial Russian territory of Ukraine to
the United States for freedom. However, he gets lost and must find a way to reunite
with them. It was released on November 21, 1986, to reviews that ranged from
positive to mixed and was a box office hit, making it the highest-grossing non-
Disney animated film at the time. Its success, along with that of The Land Before
Time and Disney's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Bluth's departure from their
partnership, prompted Steven Spielberg to establish his own animation studio,
Amblimation.

Contents
Plot
Cast
Production
Development
Theatrical release poster by Drew
Writing Struzan
Casting
Design Directed by Don Bluth
Animation Produced by Don Bluth
Production difficulties
Gary Goldman
Music
John Pomeroy
Personnel
Reception Screenplay by Judy Freudberg
Critical response Tony Geiss
Box office
Accolades Story by David Kirschner
Media Judy Freudberg
Home media Tony Geiss
Theme parks
Starring Cathianne Blore
Sequels and legacy
Alleged plagiarism
Dom DeLuise

References John Finnegan

External links Phillip Glasser
Amy Green
Madeline Kahn
Plot Pat Musick
In Shostka in 1885, the Mousekewitzes, a Russian-Jewish family of mice who live Nehemiah Persoff
with a human family named Moskowitz, are having a celebration of Hanukkah
Christopher
where Papa gives his hat to his 5-year-old son, Fievel, and tells him about the
Plummer
United States, a country where there are no cats. The celebration is interrupted
when a battery of Cossacks ride through the village square in an anti-Jewish arson Neil Ross
attack and their cats likewise attack the village mice. Because of this, the Will Ryan
Moskowitz home, along with that of the Mousekewitzes, is destroyed.
Hal Smith
In Hamburg, the Mousekewitzes board a tramp steamer headed for New York City. Erica Yohn
All the mice aboard are ecstatic at the process of going to America as there are "no
Music by James Horner
cats" there. During a thunderstorm on their journey, Fievel suddenly finds himself
Edited by Dan Molina
separated from his family and washed overboard. Thinking that he has died, they
proceed to the city as planned, though they become depressed at his loss. Production Amblin
companies Entertainment[1]
However, Fievel floats to New York City in a bottle and, after a pep talk from a
Sullivan Bluth
French pigeon named Henri, embarks on a quest to find his family
. He is waylaid by
Inc.[1]
conman Warren T. Rat, who gains his trust and then sells him to a sweatshop. He
escapes with Tony Toponi, a street-smart Italian mouse, and they join up with Distributed by Universal Pictures
Bridget, an Irish mouse trying to rouse her fellow mice to fight the cats. When a Release date November 21, 1986
gang of them called the Mott Street Maulers attacks a mouse marketplace, the
immigrant mice learn that the tales of a cat-free country are not true. Running time 80 minutes

Bridget takes Fievel and Tony to see Honest John, an alcoholic politician who Country United States
knows the city's voting mice. However, he can't help Fievel search for his family, as Language English
they have not yet registered to vote. Meanwhile, his older sister, Tanya, tells her
Box office $84.5 million[2]
gloomy parents she has a feeling that he is still alive, but they insist that it will
eventually go away.

Led by the rich and powerful Gussie Mausheimer, the mice hold a rally to decide what to do about the cats. Warren is extorting them
all for protection that he never provides. No one knows what to do about it, until Fievel whispers a plan to Gussie. Although his
family also attends, they stand well in the back of the audience and they are unable to recognize Fievel onstage with her
.

The mice take over an abandoned museum on the Chelsea Piers and begin constructing their plan. On the day of launch, Fievel gets
lost and stumbles upon Warren's lair. He discovers that he is actually a cat in disguise, and the leader of the Maulers. They capture
and imprison Fievel, but his guard is a reluctant member of the gang, a goofy, soft-hearted long-haired orange tabby cat named Tiger,
who befriends and frees him.

Fievel races back to the pier with the cats chasing after him when Gussie orders the mice to release the secret weapon. A huge
mechanical mouse, inspired by the bedtime tales Papa told Fievel of the "Giant Mouse of Minsk", chases the cats down the pier and
into the water. A tramp steamer bound for Hong Kong picks them up on its anchor and carries them away. However, a pile of leaking
kerosene cans has caused a torch lying on the ground to ignite the pier, and the mice are forced to flee when the fire department
arrives to extinguish it.

During the fire, Fievel is once again separated from his family and ends up at an orphanage. Papa and Tanya overhear Bridget and
Tony calling out to Fievel, but Papa is sure that there may be another "Fievel" somewhere, until Ma
ma finds his hat.

Joined by Gussie, Tiger allows them to ride him in a final effort to find Fievel and they are successful. The journey ends with Henri
taking everyone to see his newly completed project—theStatue of Liberty, which appears to smile and wink at Fievel and Tanya, and
the Mouskewitzes' new life in the United States begins.

Cast
Phillip Glasser as Fievel Mousekewitz. While "Fievel" is the generally accepted spelling of his name, the opening
[4][5] of the Yiddish name (‫ פ ֿײַװל‬Fayvl). (Cf. Shraga Feivel
credits spell it as "Feivel", the more common transliteration
Mendlowitz and Feivel Gruberger.) (The ending credits spell his name as "Fievel".) However , many English-speaking
writers have come to adopt the spellingFievel (with reversed i and first e) especially for this character; it was this
spelling that was used on the film's poster
, in promotional materials and tie-in merchandise, and in the title of the
 sequel An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. His last name is a play on the Jewish-Russian last name "Moskowitz",
the name of the human occupants of the house his family is living under in the beginning of the film.
Amy Green as Tanya Mousekewitz (singing voice provided by Betsy Cathcart), Fievel's older sister. Optimistic,
cheerful, and obedient, she continued to believe that he was alive after he was washed overboard en route to the
United States. She was given an American name "T illie" at the immigration point atCastle Garden.
John P. Finnegan as Warren T. Rat, a very small cat disguised as a rat and the leader of the Mott Street Maulers, a
gang of cats who terrorize the mice of New Y ork City. He is accompanied nearly all the time by his accountant Digit,
a small British-accentedcockroach.
Nehemiah Persoff as Papa Mousekewitz, the head of the Mousekewitz family who plays the violin and tells stories to
his children.
Erica Yohn as Mama Mousekewitz, Fievel's mother. Countering Papa's dreamy idealism, she is a level-headed
pragmatist, and appears to be the stricter of the couple. She also has a fear of flying.
Pat Musick as Tony Toponi, a streetwise teenage mouse of Italian descent and with a "tough New orker" Y attitude.
The name "Toponi" is a play on "topo", the Italian word for "mouse".
Dom DeLuise as Tiger, a 40 or 50-inch tall, cowardly, long-haired, orange, bushy-tailed tabby cat who also happens
to be vegetarian (with the exception of the occasional fish).
Christopher Plummer as Henri, a pigeon of French descent, who is in New o Yrk City while building theStatue of
Liberty.
Cathianne Blore as Bridget, an attractive mouse with an Irish accent and ony's T girlfriend. Kind, passionate, yet soft-
spoken, she acts as a kindly motherly figure to Fievel.
Neil Ross as Honest John, a local Irish-born mouse politician who knows every voting mouse in Nework Y City. An
ambulance-chasing drunkard who takes advantage of voters' concerns to increase his political prestige, he is a
caricature of the 19th-centuryTammany Hall politicians.
Madeline Kahn as Gussie Mausheimer, a German-born mouse considered to be the richest in New Y ork City, who
rallies the mice into fighting back against the cats.
Will Ryan as Digit, Warren's British cockroach accountant who has a fondness for counting money , but is plagued by
frequent electrical charges in his antennae whenever he gets nervous or excited.
Hal Smith as Moe, a fat rat who runs the sweatshop Fievel is sold to by W arren.
Dan Kuenster as Jake, first burly Member of the Mott Street Maulers. Enjoys listening to his boss' music on the violin
as he, Tiger, and the other gang members play poker . He later catches Fievel after the very first chase. He guards
the poor imprisoned Fievel until Tiger wakes him up and comes to take his place. They later chase him again after
Tiger has freed him. But they never catch himagain. They chase him all the way to theChelsea Pier. They are later
chased away by the "Giant Mouse of Minsk".

Production

Development
Production began in December 1984 as a
collaboration between Spielberg, Bluth, and
Universal, based on a concept by David Kirschner.
Spielberg had asked Bluth to "make me something
pretty like you did in NIMH...make it beautiful." In a
1985 interview, he described his role in the
production as "first in the area of story, inventing
incidents for the script, and now consists of looking, Steven Spielberg in
every three weeks to a month, at the storyboards that 2017
Animator Don Bluth in 2006
Bluth sends me and making my comments." Bluth
later commented that "Steven has not dominated the
creative growth of Tail at all. There is an equal share of both of us in the picture." Nevertheless, this was his first animated feature,
and it took some time for him to learn that adding a two-minute scene would take dozens of people months of work. In 1985 he
stated, "at this point, I'm enlightened, but I still can't believe it's so complicated."[6] It was Universal Pictures' first animated feature
film since Pinocchio in Outer Spacein 1965.

Writing
Originally, the concept consisted of an all-animal world, like Disney's Robin Hood, but Bluth suggested featuring an animal world
existing as a hidden society from the human world, like Disney's The Rescuers. After viewing The Rescuers, Spielberg agreed.
Emmy-award-winning writers Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss were brought in to expand the script. When the initial script was
complete, it was extremely long and was heavily edited before its final release. Bluth felt uncomfortable with the main character's
name, thinking "Fievel" was too foreign-sounding, and he felt audiences wouldn't remember it.[6] Spielberg disagreed. The character
was named after his maternal grandfather, Philip Posner, whose Yiddish name was Fievel. (The scene in which he presses up against
a window to look into a classroom filled with American "schoolmice" is based on a story Spielberg remembered about his
grandfather, who told him that Jews were only able to listen to lessons through open windows while sitting outside in the snow).[7]
Spielberg eventually won out, though something of a compromise was reached by having Tony refer to Fievel as "Filly." Spielberg
also had some material cut that he felt was too intense for children, including a scene Bluth was developing revolving around wave
monsters while the family was at sea.[6]

Casting
Bluth described the process of voice casting as "sometimes you can select a 'name' voice [i.e., a well-known actor] because it fits the
essence of the character so well. Other times, you need to seek an obscure voice, close your eyes, and just listen to it. If it has the
highs and lows in the deliverance of lines and it captures the focus of the character, it allows the animators to get a true fix on the
action."

Glasser (Fievel) was discovered by accident when Bluth and his crew overheard him auditioning for an Oscar Mayer
commercial.
Green (Tanya Mousekewitz) was a young actress who had done some previous television series work and several
commercials.
Persoff, a respected actor in many films, waschosen to play the part of Papa Mousekewitz mostly because he had a
similar role as Barbra Streisand's father in Yentl.
Yohn (Mama Mousekewitz) has appeared inmany features, but her work as a Russiangypsy on a TV show
attracted the attention of Bluth and John Pomeroy .
Finnegan won the role of Warren T. Rat by reciting excerpts ofShakespeare's Hamlet in the voice of a Brooklyn taxi
driver. This idea inspired the writers to makeWarren a pretentious illiterate who continually misquoted Shakespeare.
Musick (Tony Toponi) is one of a small number of women in animation chosen to voice a m ale character. She based
his voice on a friend she knew from grade school.
DeLuise (Tiger) had worked previously with Bluth in The Secret of NIMH, and DeLuise even added material to the
script at various points. During the songA Duo, he suggested they stop the music where the lyrics mention "back
scratch" and have Fievel actually scratch T iger's back.
Henri was originally to be voiced by comedianSid Caesar, and was conceived as scraggly and worn, but later
Plummer was cast for the part and Henri was drawn with a more dignified look. Bluth felt Henri was an essential
character to act as a voice for the statue "welcoming" Fievel to the new world.
Kahn was chosen to play the part of Gussie Mauseheimer with the hopes that she would use a voice similar to the
one she used as a character inMel Brooks' Blazing Saddles.
Will Ryan (Digit), Neil Ross (Honest John), Cathianne Blore (Bridget), and Hal Smith (Moe) are all voice actors well known in the
animation industry.[6]

Design
In designing the look of the film and its characters, Bluth worked with Amblin Entertainment and the Sears marketing department
(Sears had a major marketing push on the main character). He decided to make a stylistic shift from the more angular "modern style"
of animation of the time to a style similar to Disney animation from the 1940s, where the characters have a more soft and cuddly feel.
This proved successful, and at release many critics praised the "old fashioned style" of the film's look and feel.[6] This was during a
[8] who at this time were seeking products for their
period when the market for nostalgia was particularly strong among baby boomers,
young children, and only three years before the beginning of theDisney Renaissance for the studio Bluth once worked for.

Animation
Bluth preferred to storyboard an entire picture, but it soon proved to be an enormous task. Larry Leker was brought in to assist,
turning Bluth's rough sketches into final storyboard panels. Bluth commented that he would then "send them over to [Spielberg].
Often I brought them over myself, so that I could explain them. Steven would get very excited by what he saw, and we'd edit the
boards right there...adding more drawings, or trimming some back." A large crew of animators was pulled together from around the
world, utilizing cel painters in Ireland. Discussion arose about moving the entire production to Ireland, but Spielberg balked at the
idea of a story called An American Tail being produced overseas.[6]

At this time, Bluth and his crew discovered that using a video printer greatly increased their productivity. They could videotape an
action, then print out small black and white thermal images from the tape for reference for both human and animal characters, a
shorthand method similar to the rotoscoping technique (called in fact xerography) used since the earliest days of animation, in which
sequences are shot in live action and traced onto animation cels. They also utilized the process of building models and photographing
[6] a technique also used in many Disney films.
them, particularly the ship at sea, and the "Giant Mouse of Minsk",

Production difficulties
During production, Amblin and Universal expected to view the dailies and approve all major work on the film, and various outside
parties also requested changes here and there. This caused the production to buckle from excessive oversight, and made Bluth feel
that he was losing freedom of control over the production process. As the release deadline approached, pressure grew throughout the
crew and numerous problems arose, ranging from slower-than-expected cel painting in Ireland to low footage output by some
animators. Also, the songwriters had written the score much later than originally desired. Suddenly scenes had to be dropped to save
time and money and new, shorter scenes had to be created to help pick up the story points lost in the process, sometimes making the
story line look jumbled. Notable cuts include the Mousekewitzes' journey across Europe, a scene in which they first meet Tiger and
he gets stuck up in a tree, an upbeat song that Fievel was planned to sing while imprisoned in the sweatshop, and a scene that gave
greater explanation of the changing of names at Ellis Island. Cuts are also responsible for baby Yasha's apparent disappearance after
the boat trip.[6]

The film was also plagued by union difficulties. Bluth had agreed to accept $6.5 million to get it produced (which later grew to
$9 million), at a time when Disney was spending around $12 million per film. He knew it would be difficult, but felt it was worth the
sacrifice to work with Spielberg on a major project. With the agreement of his employees, salaries were frozen for a year and half.
Unlike the former Bluth studios, the new Sullivan Bluth studios were non-union, and when many workers attempted to withdraw
from the union, it sparked a battle between Bluth and the union that continued through most of production. It was mostly this struggle
fered a more supportive atmosphere.[6]
that later compelled Bluth to relocate to Ireland, which he felt of

Music
Spielberg's original vision for the film was as a musical—it is said he wanted a
"Heigh-Ho" of his own (referring to the popular song from Disney's Snow White "...there is no way you could put a
score like this in any other kind of film.
and the Seven Dwarfs)[6] initially, but had to drop out of the film due to a busy
It would only work in animation or if I
schedule. After he completed Aliens, James Horner composed the score for the wrote a ballet. I loved doing it."
film, which was recorded in England and performed by The London Symphony
– Composer James Horner[6]
Orchestra and the Choir of King's College. Two excerpts of period music also
appear in the film: The Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa and Poor
Wand'ring One from the 1880 comic operaThe Pirates of Penzanceby Gilbert and
Sullivan. There is also a musical reference to the 1947 song Galway Bay popularized by Bing Crosby. Initially Bluth and his team
were disappointed with the first score recording, but once edited, they found the music worked quite well. The final score became one
of the film's strongest points.[6]

After the first round of songs were written, it was decided a special song would be written for Linda Ronstadt to sing over the end
credits with James Ingram. Called "Somewhere Out There", it was composed by Horner andBarry Mann with lyrics by Cynthia Weil,
[6]
won a Grammy Award, and became one of the most popular songs from an animated feature since the 1950s.
An official soundtrack containing 14 tracks from the film was first released in An American T ail: Music
November 21, 1986 by MCA Records, and was made available on audio cassette, from the Motion Picture
vinyl record, and CD.[9] It was later released digitally by Geffen Records on Soundtrack
February 5, 2013. Soundtrack album by Various
Artists
Track list
Released November 21, 1986[9]
1. "Main Title" (5:07)
Genre Soundtrack
2. "The Cossack Cats" (2:15)
3. "There Are No Cats in America" (3:00) – sung by Papa Mousekewitz, Length 49:04
and an Italian and Irish mouse, and the Chorus
Label MCA Records (1986)
4. "The Storm" (3:59)
Geffen Records (2013)
5. "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor" (2:44) – Chorus
6. "Never Say Never" (2:25) – sung by Fievel, Henri, and the chorus of Producer James Horner
female pigeons
Don Bluth Music of Films
7. "The Market Place" (3:02)
8. "Somewhere Out There" (2:40) – sung by Fievel and aTnya (Betsy
chronology
Cathcart) The Secret An The Land
9. "Somewhere Out There" (3:59) – sung by Linda Ronstadt and James of NIMH American Before
Ingram
(1982) Tail: Music Time
10. "Releasing the Secret Weapon" (3:38)
from the (1988)
11. "A Duo" (2:38) – sung by Fievel and Tiger
Motion
12. "The Great Fire" (2:54)
Picture
13. "Reunited" (4:44)
Soundtrack
14. "Flying Away and End Credits" (5:59)
(1986)

Singles from An American Tail:

Personnel Music from the Motion Picture
Linda Ronstadt - vocals (track 9) Soundtrack
James Ingram – vocals (track 9)
Leland Sklar – bass (track 9) 1. "Somewhere Out There"
Russ Kunkel – drums (track 9) Released: 1986
Don Grolnick – keyboards (track 9)
Bob Mann – guitar, arranger, conductor (track 9)
Professional ratings
Guy Moon – synth pads (track 9)
Review scores
Reception Source Rating

AllMusic [1]

Filmtracks [10]
Critical response
The film maintains a 70% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 27 reviews and an average rating of 6.35/10. The consensus
is: "Exquisitely animated, An American Tail is a sweet, melancholy immigrants story."[11] Critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave
it "two thumbs down" on a November 22, 1986, episode of their television program At the Movies, calling it "the most downbeat
children's movie since Return to Oz", and that it was "way too depressing for young audiences."[12] Both reviewers also criticized
how it gave little mention that the main characters were Jewish, or that the attack on their home at the beginning was an antisemitic
one. They called it "a Jewish parable that doesn't want to declare itself" and felt that it "chickened out on its ethnic heritage".[12]
Conversely, Rita Kempley of The Washington Post called it "a bright-eyed tale of Jewish triumphs that will find a place in many
young hearts", adding that "It reiterates the happiness of homogeneity, prepares the pups for both brotherhood and the free enterprise
system. And it's as pretty as a cascade of soap bubbles."[13] In his own review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave it two
stars out of four, giving credit to the animation, calling it "full and detailed, enhanced by computers and an improvement on so much
."[14]
recent animation that cuts corners," but that the story was too "dark and gloomy
Halliwell's Film Guide gave it one star out of four, saying "[This] expensive cartoon feature [has] not much in the way of narrative
interest or indeed humor."[15] Vincent Canby of The New York Times gave it two stars out of five, stating, "An American Tail looks
good but the tale itself... is witless if well-meaning," adding that its high points were scenes involving the characters Gussie
Mausheimer and Tiger.[3][16] In his review for the Chicago Reader, Pat Graham panned its "flimsy characterizations" but said that
"the overall quality of the animation—baroquely executed if rather conventionally conceived—makes it worth a look."[17] Common
Sense Media gave it largely positive reviews, as the group stated "This is a heartwarming animated tale about the experience of
immigrants coming to America. Told from the perspective of an adorable young mouse, An American Tail should engage kids in an
important part of U.S. history.".[18]

Box office
The film has grossed up to $47 million in the United States, also known as the domestic box office, and $84 million worldwide. At
the time of its domestic release, it became the highest-grossing non-Disney produced animated feature. It was also one of the first
animated films to outdraw a Disney one, beating out The Great Mouse Detective (another traditionally animated film involving mice
that was released in 1986 but four months earlier) by over US$22 million. However, The Great Mouse Detective[19] was more
successful with critics, most notably Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.[20] The modest success of The Great Mouse Detective played a
large role in the Disney Renaissance;[21][22] due to the fact that it was both a critical and financial success, which saved Walt Disney
Animation Studios from going bankrupt after The Black Cauldron had flopped at the box office a year earlier. It would later be
outgrossed by Bluth's next film, 1988's The Land Before Time, which marginally outperformed Oliver & Company. However, Oliver
& Company did beat out The Land Before Time at the domestic box office by $5,000,000. The record would quickly be shattered with
the release of The Little Mermaid, the film that many consider to be the start of the Disney Renaissance, three years later after the
release of the film, beating out Don Bluth's own film,All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Accolades
The film won "Best Animated Motion Picture" at the 9th Youth in Film Awards, with actors Phillip Glasser and Amy Green also
receiving an award for "Best Animation Voice Over Group" for their roles as Fievel and Tanya.[23] It was also nominated for "Best
Fantasy Film" and "Best Music" during the 14th Saturn Awards, losing to The Boy Who Could Fly and Little Shop of Horrors,
respectively.[24]

The song "Somewhere Out There" written by James Horner received a number of accolades during the 1987–1988 award season,
including Grammys for "Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television" and "Song of the Year",[25] as well as
"Most Performed Song from a Motion Picture" from both the ASCAP and Broadcast Music.[26] It also received a Golden Globe
nomination for "Best Original Song from a Motion Picture", and an Academy Award nomination for "Best Original Song", losing
both to "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun.[27][28]
 Award Nomination Nominee Result
Academy
Best Music, Original Song "Somewhere Out There" Nominated
Award
ASCAP Award Most Performed Songs from a Motion Picture "Somewhere Out There"
BMI Film & TV Won
Most Performed Song from a Film "Somewhere Out There"
Award
Golden Globe
Best Original Song – Motion Picture "Somewhere Out There" Nominated
Award
Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion
Grammy Picture or for Television "Somewhere Out There" Won
Award
Song of the Year
Best Fantasy Film
Saturn Award An American Tail Nominated
Best Music
Phillip Glasser (Fievel) & Amy
Youth in Film Best Animation Voice Over Group
Green (Tanya) Won
Award
Best Motion Picture – Animation An American Tail

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:

Somewhere Out There - Nominated

Media

Home media
The film was first released on VHS in 1987, and later on LaserDisc in both regular[29] and CAV play editions in November 1991 by
MCA Home Video in North America, and CIC Video internationally.[30] On August 11, 1998, both An American Tail and its sequel
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West were digitally restored and rereleased onto VHS in a 2-pack box set with both videos having
clamshell cases. A DVD version was first made available on January 20, 2004 by Universal Studios,[31] which was presented in
fullscreen aspect ratio only, and contained a number of changes from earlier versions, including re-dubbing certain character's voices
in the Orphan Alley scene, the addition of new voices where there was previously no dialog, and new "humorous" sound effects. This
version was reprinted along with other Universal films such as its sequel, The Land Before Time,[32] and Balto.[33] It was released in
widescreen on Blu-ray for the first time on March 4, 2014, which included a digital HD and UltraViolet copy.[34] It had the same
changes as the DVD, although part of the film's end credits music score was 9% sped-up this time (due to time constrictions). A re-
release of the fullscreen DVD version with new cover artwork followed on February 3, 2015.[35] All four American Tail films were
[36] That release marked the first widescreen debut of the first two
re-released on a combination pack DVD released on June 13, 2017.
films on a Region 1 DVD.

Theme parks
A Fievel-themed playground was built at Universal Studios Florida, featuring a large water slide and many oversized objects such as
books, glasses, cowboy boots, and more. A similar playground used to be at Universal Studios Hollywood, alongside a stage show
based on the two movies, but were closed down in 1997 and replaced with Coke Soak and T2-3D: Battle Across Time. It is the only
such playground at any ofNBC Universal's theme parks.

Sequels and legacy

The film gave rise to a number of follow-up media of which Don Bluth had no direct involvement. The theatrical sequel Fievel Goes
West, directed by Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells and produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Watts, was released in 1991 and
follows the adventures of Fievel and his family as they move from New York to the Wild West.[37] A 13-episode TV series based on
it called Fievel's American Tails aired on the CBS network between September and December 1992.[38] Two direct-to-video films
were also later produced by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment: The Treasure of Manhattan Island in 1998,[39] and The Mystery
of the Night Monster in 1999.[40]

A video game based on this moviewas released for PlayStation 2 only in Europe in 2007 byData Design Interactive.[41]

Fievel would also serve as the mascot for Spielberg's Amblimation animation production company, appearing in its production logo
until the studio's dissolution in 1997. In March 2000, it was announced that he would also become the official children's spokesman
for UNICEF, with the organization's director of communications Craig Kornblau remarking that "Fievel Mousekewitz is a popular
endearing character for children everywhere," and "His immigration experiences reflect the adventures and triumphs of all cultures
and their children."[42]

Alleged plagiarism
Art Spiegelman accused Spielberg of plagiarism due to the fact that the Jews are depicted as mice in the film just as in Spiegelman's
earlier Maus, a metaphor he had adopted from Nazi propaganda. Instead of pursuing copyright litigation, he opted to beat its release
[43]
date by convincing his publishers to splitMaus into two volumes and publish the first before he even finished the second.

References
1. "An American Tail (1986)" (https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/67249?sid=da66141b-a7c1-4995-93ab-33f4
546cfd4d&sr=3.3701875&cp=1&pos=0). AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
2. "An American Tail" (https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=americantail.htm). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved
August 12, 2018.
3. Canby, Vincent (November 21, 1986)."An American Tail" (https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A0DE0DA
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External links
Official website
An American Tail on IMDb
An American Tail at The Big Cartoon DataBase
An American Tail at Box Office Mojo
An American Tail at Rotten Tomatoes
Fievel Mousekewitz at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.

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