Musical Mondays Week 12 An American Tail (and Squeakquels)

[tomspanks 9039]

"Somewhere Out There" is definitely the stand out.

 

I also really liked...

 

I did like that they rhymed duo with true-o.

[kateacola 2440]

Oh, sure, it's definitely a musical, but it could also very easily be the same film with the songs cut entirely. Someone suggested earlier that some of the songs seemed shoehorned in, and I'd agree with that - there were long, vast stretches of no music: it wasn't integral to every scene.

I mean, La La Land only has 6 songs in it if you're not counting the instrumental/ reprise songs.. and it has a longer run time than this.

(and one is the John Legend song/ song at the concert).

 

I really enjoyed La La Land, plz don't kill me- lol. Just pointing out.

 

 

I'll finish American Tail tonight, so I can be more on topic

 

[tomspanks 9039]

I mean, La La Land only has 6 songs in it if you're not counting the instrumental/ reprise songs.. and it has a longer run time than this.

(and one is the John Legend song/ song at the concert).

 

I really enjoyed La La Land, plz don't kill me- lol. Just pointing out.

 

 

I'll finish American Tail tonight, so I can be more on topic

 

 

But I would argue that the instrumentals are almost as important as the songs in La La Land. Like the Planetarium instrumental. Or Mia & Sebastian's theme! Even the epilogue theme is good. Fuck it, I like them all. When I listen to the soundtrack, I rarely skip over any of the tracks.

[kateacola 2440]

 

But I would argue that the instrumentals are almost as important as the songs in La La Land. Like the Planetarium instrumental. Or Mia & Sebastian's theme! Even the epilogue theme is good. Fuck it, I like them all. When I listen to the soundtrack, I rarely skip over any of the tracks.

The instrumentals are definitely important / great. I'm not taking that away from La La Land.

But I remember the first time I listened to the soundtrack, I was kind of shocked how few 'song' songs there were. Like only 1/3 are songs with singing in it. I guess it just felt like there were more, but there weren't

 

And then with a couple songs that are singing songs (the first two mainly) I thought could possibly have been left out or did not really drive the plot or character development a whole lot.

But I'd def say and everyone else considers La La a musical.

 

Just making this comparison, since I wasn't sure why American Tail would be barely considered a musical.

[tomspanks 9039]

^ Same thing with American Tail. I haven't seen this in decades and I remembered there being more than 4 (or 5?) songs. Also, I was surprised it was only 80 minutes long. It felt a lot longer when I was a kid.

[Cameron H. 23786]

What I was shocked by was how quickly the relationships develop. I remember thinking Tony was really "cool" when I was a kid, so it's funny to discover that he's not really in it for very long. He basically just befriends Fievel and then immediately ditches him for Bridget. Same thing with Henri. If there's one thing I remembered from this movie from when I was a kid, it was the song "Never Say Never." Even before this pick, I've been known to break out into song when someone uses that phrase. I was absolutely shocked with how "not really in this" he was.

[Cam Bert 8145]

I remember Tiger being a bigger part of the story than he was. This is probably because I was thinking of the squeakquel which he is in from the get go.

[tomspanks 9039]

What I was shocked by was how quickly the relationships develop. I remember thinking Tony was really "cool" when I was a kid, but realize that he's not really in it. He befriends Fievel, and almost immediately ditches him for Bridget. Same thing with Henri. If there's one thing I remembered from this movie from when I was a kid, it was "Never Say Never." Even before this pick, I have often broken out into that song whenever someone uses that phrase. I'm was absolutely shocked with how "not really in this" he was.

 

What's the deal with Henri? Is it delusional disorder or maybe even schizophrenia?

[kateacola 2440]

Same thing with Henri. If there's one thing I remembered from this movie from when I was a kid, it was "Never Say Never."Even before this pick, I have often broken out into that song whenever someone uses that phrase.

Think J Biebs has seen American Tail and was inspired by Henri?

[tomspanks 9039]

Think J Biebs has seen American Tail and was inspired by Henri?

 

 

 

[SaraK 1980]

There were so many characters in this movie. And we really sped through all of Feizel's orphan options - the helpful stranger (pigeon), the crooked stranger that led to a brief moment of indentured servitude, street life with friends, a small time hero and then completely orphaned from everyone. it had a lot of plots in such a short movie

[Cam Bert 8145]

 

What's the deal with Henri? Is it delusional disorder or maybe even schizophrenia?

I was wondering the same thing. He's French so is the implication he came over from France with the crew to make it? Maybe because he was played by Christopher Plumber he was suppose to be a French Canadian pigeon.

 

Also, why is he always hanging out with burlesque-like pigeon women?

[tomspanks 9039]

Also, why is he always hanging out with burlesque-like pigeon women?

 

Because they were stronger than Henri. I think they did all the heavy lifting. At the end, it's the lady pigeon who carried the parents while Henry carried the 2 kids. And the other lady pigeons carried the cat.

[Cam Bert 8145]

 

Because they were stronger than Henri. I think they did all the heavy lifting. At the end, it's the lady pigeon who carried the parents while Henry carried the 2 kids. And the other lady pigeons carried the cat.

Maybe he's the Warren Rat of the pigeon world. Pigeons are the rats of the skies.

[kateacola 2440]

So Fievel threw his hat up on deck because he saw fish??

He sees water is coming from the deck..that's obviously not a good sign. I don't get why he thought it was a good idea to go up there?

 

 

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

I've been watching this movie since I was about five years old and I never really found it that dark. I just always found it more grounded and more emotionally relatable than a lot of the Disney stuff I grew up watching, especially the films being produced at the time. Maybe because, as said in the announcement thread, I grew up also watching movies like Secret of NIMH and being most fascinated by the "Chernabog" sequence in Fantasia. That Mickey Mouse stuff with the magic brooms? GFTO. If I want mice, give me them being chased by murderous Cossacks or being experimented upon or escaping extermination. And speaking of Chernabog, I had forgotten about the Demon Sea sequence in the beginning, but seeing it again, I remember loving it.

 

Figures I would grow up to listen to Doom, Death, and Black Metal.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

being most fascinated by the "Chernabog" sequence in Fantasia. That Mickey Mouse stuff with the magic brooms? GFTO. If I want mice, give me them being chased by murderous Cossacks or being experimented upon or escaping extermination. And speaking of Chernabog, I had forgotten about the Demon Sea sequence in the beginning, but seeing it again, I remember loving it.

 

Peter Stormare plays Czernobog in 'American Gods' and he's fucking perfect.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_5H-BmxpTo

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

 

Peter Stormare plays Czernobog in 'American Gods' and he's fucking perfect.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_5H-BmxpTo

"I.... AGREE!"

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

Hold up. I was reviewing James Horner's imdb page (the man was a composing machine!) and then I read he passed away in a plane crash. Shit, I didn't know that.

 

Yeah I had a similar experience when I watched the Oscars and saw his name and picture included in the In Memoriam portion... So sad.

[Cam Bert 8145]

 

Peter Stormare plays Czernobog in 'American Gods' and he's fucking perfect.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_5H-BmxpTo

That scene when he's stroking his hammer and blood is just pouring out of it was so Bryan Fuller it made me really want to go back a rewatch all of Hannibal again.

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

 

"Somewhere Out There" is definitely the stand out.

 

"Somewhere Out There" is the best song in the movie IMHO and for me tied at the number 2 spot "No Cats in America" , "Never Say Never" and "We're A Duo"

 

Another one of my notes...

 

The instrumental song that starts right as Fievel says (Alone in Orphan Alley) "This is my home now" and then the rain stops as the sun comes up is called "Reunited" (Its on the soundtrack CD) and those first 20 seconds were later extended and used as the instrumental track for "Dreams to Dream" that Tanya sings in the sequel "Fievel Goes West"... (A movie that I saw once last week, and most likely see again and have some more comments to share about it )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d85_BH9huvE

[Cameron H. 23786]

If I get a chance (which is a big "if" lately), I'm going to watch the sequels as well. I'm very curious as to where they might go...

 

In fact, let me go ahead and update the thread's title.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

If I get a chance (which is a big "if" lately), I'm going to watch the sequels as well. I'm very curious as to where they might go...

 

In fact, let me go ahead and update the thread's title.

I will do the same. I didn't know there were any squeakquels beyond Fievel Goes West until I looked the movie up on Netflix.

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

I will do the same. I didn't know there were any squeakquels beyond Fievel Goes West until I looked the movie up on Netflix.

 

There are 4 movies in total and parts 3 and 4 where video releases (I've seen part 3 but I remember so little about it)

 

1

2

3

4

 

and a one season 13 episode TV Show as well...

http://www.imdb.com/...?ref_=tt_rec_tt

 

I think they wanted to give the "An American Tail" sqaueakquels a similar treatment as The Land Before Time... Only 10 more movies to go... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4431254/

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Sorry I was MIA. I had a busy weekend and then ended up getting sick on Sunday/yesterday, so I just got around to watching this, and I think it still holds up really well (MUCH better than All Dogs Go to Heaven...). But one thing really bothered me.

 

When Fievel first meets Tiger, Tiger quizzes him on his favorite things before they start the song "A Duo." One of the things he asks him is what his favorite book is, and Fievel says, "The Brothers Karamazov."

 

Now, I know this was inserted because they're Russian. But there's no way that happy-go-lucky kid has read Dostoevsky, and especially not Dostoevsky at his most bleakly philosophical.

 

So I got to thinking, "Well, what Russian Literature would be 1) immediately recognizable to American audiences as such and 2) would be age-appropriate for Fievel?" And after racking my brain, I realized that this is a stupid question because 1) who cares and 2) where the fuck did this kid even learn to read?

 

This is a stupid thing to be angry about, but goddamn it, it's the hill I'm gonna die on.