Let me just start by saying I absolutely love "An American Tail", and still consider it one of Don Bluth's better movies. It is dark yes, but it is very poignant and heart warming as well. I never fail to tear up during the song "Somewhere Out There", marvel at the beautiful animation or while the story is admittedly slow it is a beautiful and engrossing one. This sequel is a perfect example of a sequel that is worth watching. In most ways it isn't quite as good as the original, though there are one or two improvements along the way too. It has its flaws, but it is better than the dreadful "Secret of NIMH 2:Timmy To The Rescue" and the mediocre-but-watchable "All Dogs Go To Heaven 2". Also it is one of the better animated sequels out there, and considering how disappointing some of them have been that is saying a lot.
My only real problems with the film are that the plot is a little too episodic, and that the film is too short, if anything it could've done with being 5-10 minutes longer. These aside, I liked the fact the story is cheerier and more fast paced. The animation is not that bad at all, it is colourful and well drawn on the whole, and the editing was above decent. Also the musical numbers are very good here. No, not as good as the ones in the original, and even if they did that is an extremely hard task to come by considering how stunning the music in the original was. "Dreams to Dream" says it all, that song alone pretty much equals the greatness of "Somewhere Out There". "The Girl I Left Behind" is another standout I just loved how upbeat it was. And I would also like to remark that I thought the singing was better here than it was in the original. One of the minor flaws I had with the first film was that I did not like Phillip Glasser's singing voice, I just found it whiny and out of tune. Back to the sequel, Cathy Cavadini does a great job both voicing and singing Tanya, and Linda Ronstadt completely blew me away with her rendition of "Dreams to Dream".
What made the movie though was the voice acting. There was some truly inspired casting, and all involved did wonderfully. Phillip Glasser is still sweet and likable as Fieval, and Dom DeLuise is absolutely hilarious as Tiger and I loved it that Tiger has more to do here. There is one part when he falls into the sea and he comes eye to eye with a fish, and he says rather flatly "Dogfish". John Cleese clearly relishes his role as the villain Cat R. Waul, a villain I preferred over Warren T.Rat, he could be sinister yet funny as well. But the biggest surprise was Jimmy Stewart as Wylie Burp, Stewart was a great actor, evident in films like "Vertigo", "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Rear Window", all classics in my opinion, and he proves once more how talented he was voicing a smaller but wholly relevant character and making the most of witty and sardonic lines. Overall, while not quite as good as the beautiful original, it is a sequel worth watching and was much better than I thought it would be. 8/10 Bethany Cox
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
1991
Action / Adventure / Animation / Family / Musical / Western
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
1991
Action / Adventure / Animation / Family / Musical / Western
Keywords: familydesertsheriffmousecat and mouse
Plot summary
Some time after the Mousekewitz's have settled in America, they find that they are still having problems with the threat of cats. That makes them eager to try another home out in the west, where they are promised that mice and cats live in peace. Unfortunately, the one making this claim is an oily con artist named Cat R. Waul who is intent on his own sinister plan. Unaware of this, the Mousekewitz's begin their journey west, while their true cat friend, Tiger, follows intent on following his girlfriend gone in the same direction.
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A sequel worth watching
The Further Adventures of The Mousekewitz Family
The resourceful and irrepressible Fievel Mouse, voice by Phillip Glasser, not finding the big city life in America all it was cracked up to be decides to leave the family in the Bronx and head west. His head is filled with dime novel adventures as were many human kids in the 19th century of many western characters. In this case it's that famous legendary lawman, Wylie Burp given voice by another legend, James Stewart.
As in the first An American Tail, Fievel Goes West is an utterly charming animated film that will appeal to both children and those reliving their childhoods. The west is just as wild as those novels make it out to be and young Fievel finds that his cat friend Tiger who sounds a lot like Dom DeLuise has gone west also.
But not all cats are good, especially to the mouse community. Evil cat, John Cleese is planning a huge mouse massacre and a feast of mouse burgers for his feline cohorts.
Will the evil Cleese succeed in his plan. Kids of all age, rent this film and find out.
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
When I was a kid I used to like the original first American Tail film, but then they started making straight-to-video sequels. This sequel is the only one I have seen, why did they have to make s sequel, at least as rubbish as this. Young Fievel Mousekevitz the mouse gets lost again (for a little while) and then decides to try and get rid of all the cats from the West part of America, where the story left off. The only parts I can remember of this film were the parts with Tiger the cat and John Cleese as the voice of the villain. Apparently there was also the voices of Jon Lovitz, and, in his last film before his death, Rear Window and It's a Wonderful star James Stewart. They are meant to be the reason for the film earning a second star. Pretty poor!