An American Tail | NW Film Center

United States • 1986 • 80 mins.

After leaving behind his role at Disney as the animation director on such films as The Rescuers and Pete’s Dragon, Don Bluth and a group of former Disney artists struck out on their own and soon had a hit with The Secret of NIMH (1982). In collaboration with Steven Spielberg, Bluth followed NIMH up with the story of Fievel, a young mouse who is separated from his family during a forced emigration from Russia to America in the late 1800s. Displaying an uncommon emotional depth and accompanied by the Grammy Award-winning song “Somewhere Out There,” Fievel’s efforts to reunite with his loved ones form a tense and touching narrative of universal appeal.

Genres: Animation, Adventure

Appears in: Kaleidoscopic Visions: Animation Classics

The Northwest Film Center recognizes and honors the Indigenous peoples of this region on whose ancestral lands the museum now stands. These include the Willamette Tumwater, Clackamas, Kathlemet, Molalla, Multnomah and Watlala Chinook Peoples and the Tualatin Kalapuya who today are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and many other Native communities who made their homes along the Columbia River. We also want to recognize that Portland today is a community of many diverse Native peoples who continue to live and work here. We respectfully acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities—past, present, future—and are grateful for their ongoing and vibrant presence.