An American Tail (franchise)
| An American Tail | |
|---|---|
 Official franchise logo | |
| Created by | |
| Original work | An American Tail (1986) |
| Owners | |
| Years | 1986–1999 |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | See details |
| Animated series | See details |
| Games | |
| Video game(s) | See details |
An American Tail is a franchise based on the 1986 animated feature film of the same name directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios/Amblin Entertainment.
The franchise follows the adventures of Fievel Mousekewitz, a Russian-Jewish mouse immigrant to the United States in 1885. The franchise opened up several attractions at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Florida including "Fievel's Playland" and "An American Tail Show".[1] All four American Tail films were released on a combination pack DVD released on June 13, 2017.[2]
Films
[edit]| Film | U.S. release date |
Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Story by | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| An American Tail | November 21, 1986 | Don Bluth | Judy Freudberg & Tony Geiss | David Kirschner and Judy Freudberg & Tony Geiss |
Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy |
| An American Tail: Fievel Goes West | November 22, 1991 | Phil Nibbelink & Simon Wells | Flint Dille | Charles Swenson | Steven Spielberg and Robert Watts |
| An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island | February 15, 2000 | Larry Latham | Len Uhley | Larry Latham | |
| An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster | July 25, 2000 | ||||
An American Tail (1986)
[edit]An American Tail is the original 1986 film which follows Fievel and his family as they immigrate from Russia to the United States and how he subsequently gets lost and aims to reunite with them.
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)
[edit]An American Tail: Fievel Goes West is a 1991 western sequel to An American Tail. This film has been exhibited four times at the Jimmy Stewart Museum since 2015,[3] a dedication to the late James Stewart in his final role.
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998)
[edit]An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island is a 1998 direct-to-video sequel and is noted for exploring darker themes unlike the past films. This film contributes Elaine Bilstad's final appearance, releasing it posthumously in the United States in early 2000.[4]
An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster (1999)
[edit]An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster is a 1999 direct-to-video sequel, released in the United States in mid-2000.[5]
Television
[edit]| Series | Season(s) | Episodes | Originally released | Showrunner | Executive producer | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | Network | ||||||
| Fievel's American Tails | 1 | 13 | September 12, 1992 | December 5, 1992 | Columbia Broadcasting System | David Kirschner | Steven Spielberg | Ended |
Fievel's American Tails is a 1992 spin-off TV series and continuation of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. This series remained abandoned after the release of the direct-to-video sequels until NBCUniversal regained rights to the series in 2020 and is now available on Peacock.[6]
Cast and characters
[edit]List indicator
This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in more than two films in the series.
- An empty, dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
- S indicates an appearance as a character's singing voice.
| Characters | Films | Television | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| An American Tail | An American Tail: Fievel Goes West |
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island |
An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster |
Fievel's American Tails | |
| 1986 | 1991 | 1998 | 1999 | 1992 | |
| Fievel Mousekewitz | Phillip Glasser | Thomas Dekker | Phillip Glasser | ||
| Tanya Mousekewitz | Amy Green Betsy CathcartS |
Cathy Cavadini | Lacey Chabert | Cathy Cavadini | |
| Papa Mousekewitz | Nehemiah Persoff | Lloyd Battista | |||
| Mama Mouskewitz | Erica Yohn | Jane Singer | Susan Silo | ||
| Tiger | Dom DeLuise | ||||
| Tony Toponi | Pat Musick | Silent cameo | Pat Musick | ||
| Bridget | Cathianne Blore | ||||
| Honest John | Neil Ross | ||||
| Henri | Christopher Plummer | Silent cameo | |||
| Warren T. Cat | John Finnegan | ||||
| Digit | Will Ryan | ||||
| Gussie Mausheimer | Madeline Kahn | ||||
| Wylie Burp | James Stewart | ||||
| Cat R. Waul | John Cleese | Gerrit Graham | |||
| T.R. Chula | Jon Lovitz | Dan Castellaneta | |||
| Miss Kitty | Amy Irving | Cynthia Ferrer | |||
| Cholena | Elaine Bilstad | ||||
| Leeza MillerS | |||||
| Chief Wulisso | David Carradine | ||||
| Dr. Dithering | René Auberjonois | ||||
| Mr. Grasping | Ron Perlman | ||||
| Scuttlebutt | John Kassir | ||||
| Police Chief McBrusque | Sherman Howard | ||||
| Nellie Brie | Susan Boyd | ||||
| Madame Mousey | Candi Milo | ||||
| Reed Daley | Robert Hays | ||||
| Twitch | John Mariano | ||||
| Slug | Jeff Bennett | ||||
| Lone Woof | John Garry | ||||
| Sweet William | Silent cameo | Kenneth Mars | |||
Additional crew and production details
[edit]| Film | Crew | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer(s) | Editor(s) | Production companies | Distributing company | ||||
| An American Tail | James Horner | Dan Molina | Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Sullivan Bluth Studios |
Universal Pictures | 1 hr 21 mins | ||
| An American Tail: Fievel Goes West |
Nick Fletcher | Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Amblimation |
1 hr 15 mins | ||||
| Fievel's American Tails |
Hank Saroyan & Robert Irving and Milan Kymlicka |
Rob Kirkpatrick | Universal Cartoon Studios, Amblin Television, Nelvana Studios |
Columbia Broadcasting System | 6 hrs 30 mins (30 mins/episodes) | ||
| An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island |
Michael Tavera and James Horner |
Jay Bixsen & Danik Thomas | Universal Family & Home Entertainment Productions, Universal Cartoon Studios, TMS-Kyokuichi Corporation |
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment | 1 hr 19 mins | ||
| An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster |
Jay Bixsen | Universal Family & Home Entertainment Productions, Universal Cartoon Studios, Tama Productions |
1 hr 18 mins | ||||
Critical response
[edit]| Title | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic |
|---|---|---|
| An American Tail | 71% (28 reviews)[7] | 38% (7 reviews)[8] |
| An American Tail: Fievel Goes West | 57% (14 reviews)[9] | — |
| Fievel's American Tails | TBD (4 reviews)[10] | — |
| An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island | TBD (3 reviews)[11] | — |
| An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster | TBD (2 reviews)[12] | — |
In other media
[edit]Video games
[edit]- An American Tail: The Computer Adventures of Fievel and His Friends (1993): a Microsoft DOS point-and-click adventure game developed by Capstone Software and Manley & Associates, Inc., the plot follows a premise based on An American Tail and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.
- An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1994): a Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game developed by Shimada Kikaku and published by Hudson Soft. The plot follows a premise that is based on the film of the same name.
- An American Tail Movie Book (1998): an Interactive storybook for Windows and Macintosh computers developed by Wayforward Technologies and published by Sound Source Interactive.
- An American Tail: Fievel's Gold Rush (2002): a platform game for Game Boy Advance developed by Hokus-Pokus. It received mixed reviews from critics, and was created for younger players.[13]
- An American Tail (2007): a platform game developed by Data Design Interactive and published by Blast! Entertainment, the plot is based on the film of the same name; while the game was released exclusively in Europe.[14] The game consists of ten levels with four bonus levels, where the player must guide Fievel on a preset path from start to finish. Gameplay takes different forms in different levels, where the player controls the main character through mechanics such as running in a bubble, riding the back of Henri the pigeon, parachuting downwards and others while collecting stars or pieces of cheese along the way.[15] The game was noted for being a "rip-off" of Sega's Super Monkey Ball series and received largely unfavorable reception.[16]
Music industry
[edit]- "Somewhere Out There" (1986): Created as the main theme of the of An American Tail, the rock and roll ballad version performed by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram was included in the movie during the end-titles sequence. The song is notable for winning two Academy Awards at the 30th award show, one for Song of the Year and the other for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television. It was also nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for Rondstadt and Ingram. It also earned attention for its nominations for Best Original Song at the 44th Golden Globe Awards and the 59th Academy Awards, respectively.[17]
- "Dreams to Dream" (1991): Created as the main theme of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, the rock ballan version was performed by Linda Ronstadt and debuted during the end-titles sequence of the movie. The song was noted for having a troubled production history. Anita Baker was initially slated to perform the song before dropping out and being replaced by Ronstadt, only for the latter to reject the offer to include her recording in the film. Replaced by Céline Dion, the single was completed and produced for the movie, before producers later requested that Ronstadt's vocal performance be reinserted into the song.[18][19] Despite its conflicted production, the finished single earned a nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song,[20] and was on the short-list for the nominations for Academy Award for Best Original Song though it didn't earn a nomination for the latter.[21]
Stage
[edit]An American Tail Theatre : Released as a live stage show based on An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, the production debuted at various Universal Parks & Resorts theme parks that ran from 1990 to 1992.
Playground
[edit]Fievel's Playland : Playground based on the first and second films, it made you feel like you were the size of a mouse, where you can climb on oversized objects, and even ride on a 200-foot water slide, it lasted at Hollywood from 1989 to 1997, and in Florida from 1992 to January 16, 2023.
References
[edit]- ^ "Reviews – No One Puts You in the Movies Like We Do!". GameFan. Vol. 1, no. 9. August 1993. p. 94.
- ^ "An American Tail: 4 Movie Complete Collection". Amazon. June 13, 2017. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
- ^ "Sunday Matinee – "An American Tail: Fievel Goes West"". The Jimmy Stewart Museum. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Eileen (December 25, 1999). "'Mummy' Shoots Universal's Sales Over $1 Bil.; Retailers Win with Sight and Sound". Billboard. Vol. 111, no. 52.
- ^ Nichols, Peter M. (July 28, 2000). "Home Video; It's a Sequel? O.K., I'll Take It". The New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ "Watch Fievel's American Tails on Peacock".
- ^ "An American Tail". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
- ^ "An American Tail". Metacritic. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
- ^ "An American Tail: Fievel Goes West". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
- ^ "Fievel's American Tails". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ "An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ "An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ "Fievel and the Lost Treasure". Jeuxvideo.com. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
- ^ Cowan, Danny (July 9, 2007). "Release This!". Gamasutra. UBM. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
- ^ "Gamespy – An American Tail". Gamespy. IGN. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
- ^ "An American Tail (2007) — Backloggd". Backloggd.com.
- ^ "Best Original Song - 59th Academy Awards (1987)". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on February 2, 2018. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ Rapkin, Mickey (May 18, 2017). "The Oral History of Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On': Controversies, Doubts & 'Belly Pains' In the Studio". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 3, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ "Profiles of Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias, Moby". CNN. May 18, 2002. Archived from the original on July 26, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ "American Tail, An: Fievel Goes West". Golden Globe Awards. Archived from the original on July 26, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
- ^ Sharkey, Betsy (February 16, 1992). "For the Oscars It's a Familiar Tune". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 2, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2019.