Musical Mondays Week 12 An American Tail (and Squeakquels)

[Cameron H. 23786]

Who knew Pizza Rat's ancestors had such fine singing voices?

 

We saw...

 

[Cam Bert 8145]

Here's one of those things you never think of as a kid but as an adult you're like "I don't know if my suspension of disbelief is still that high." Could a cat pass itself off as a rat? I mean bonus points for making him a rat and not a mouse because rats are much larger. That said this rat must be on the gigantic side to come close to being the size of a passable alley cat, but he's not even that big. He's maybe three times the size of Fievel but half the size of Mo the child slave labourer rat.

[Cameron H. 23786]

I just wanted to say that this movie was waaaaaay darker than I remember it being.

[SaraK 1980]

Here's one of those things you never think of as a kid but as an adult you're like "I don't know if my suspension of disbelief is still that high." Could a cat pass itself off as a rat? I mean bonus points for making him a rat and not a mouse because rats are much larger. That said this rat must be on the gigantic side to come close to being the size of a passable alley cat, but he's not even that big. He's maybe three times the size of Fievel but half the size of Mo the child slave labourer rat.

 

The proportions in this movie were all over the place. I couldn't get a handle on how big any animal really was here. The cats went from giants to mouse sized very easily. The pigeons I think did too.

 

I don't think I ever saw this movie as a kid, so I have no nostalgic ties to it, but the music seems almost an afterthought in here. Like they realized it was super dark and kind of scary for kids, so they decided to add songs into it to liven it up. I don't know, the tone was really bizarre.

[Cameron H. 23786]

I remember the "There Are No Cats in America" song from when I was a kid, but didn't realize until just now how brutal that song was.

[Cam Bert 8145]

 

The proportions in this movie were all over the place. I couldn't get a handle on how big any animal really was here. The cats went from giants to mouse sized very easily. The pigeons I think did too.

Speaking of weird proportions the great cat of Minsk was suppose to be "as tall as a tree with a tail a mile long." Given that mice are quadrupedal and not bipedal, is he as tall as a tree when up on two legs like these mice are? Even if so, that's incredibly short to have a mile long tail. How do you even get around with a thing like that?

 

I just wanted to say that this movie was waaaaaay darker than I remember it being.

I think that's a defining trademark of all Don Bluth films. What 80s kid didn't learn about the harsh realities of death from All Dogs go to Heaven or The Land Before Time

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

I just wanted to say that this movie was waaaaaay darker than I remember it being.

WAY

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

(Replying a post from the other thread first... Now comes the long post )

 

Going along with the crushing on cartoon/animated charaxcters,I'm really interested in finding out next week who Cam Bert's mom finds Ted Neeley Handsome.

 

Or Maybe Christopher Plummer???

 

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

After watching this movie five times in a week, Max, don't blow all of your notes in one big post! Spin it out over a week!

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

After watching this movie five times in a week, Max, don't blow all of your notes in one big post! Spin it out over a week!

 

BUT!!! (buttherearenocatsinamerica)

 

 

 

O...K...

[EvRobert 1684]

My childhood memories were all over the place on this one. For example, I had forgotten that Fivel gets separated from his family on the boat, during that storm (featuring demon waves!). I somehow thought they all got to America and then something something happens and he gets separated.

 

This movie, IIRC (and trust me I'm doubting my memories on this LOL) came out around the time the Statue of Liberty remodel was being finished with a lot of focus on the SoL and the immigrant experience. It was also the Reagan/America Fuck Yeah! time, so I'm sure this was viewed (or is viewed) as a very pro-"conservative" film. But Fivel, our hero, is an illegal immigrant and a refugee. It's an oddly prescient film.

 

Also that 2D animation is stunning. Not to knock on Disney, but it's a lot better then what Disney was doing at the time.

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

Who knew Pizza Rat's descendants had such fine singing voices?

 

Don't you mean "ascendants"??? Unless the "No Cat's in America" song lied and GrandPapa Mousekewitz didn't die (Papa just passed out and asumed the worse when he came to) and escaped to America only to resurface 130 years after the movies events eating pizza at a N.Y. Subway station

 

So if you meant to write "descendants" then Pizza Rat is Immortal GrandPapa Mousekewitz

[SaraK 1980]

My childhood memories were all over the place on this one. For example, I had forgotten that Fivel gets separated from his family on the boat, during that storm (featuring demon waves!). I somehow thought they all got to America and then something something happens and he gets separated.

 

As someone who found a mouse that had drowned in her dog's water dish recently (and yes, it was traumatizing and I'm still not over it) I found this to be the least believable part of the movie. No mouse could survive that journey to shore. Especially since the bottle he was in was also full of water.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

 

Don't you mean "ascendants"??? Unless the "No Cat's in America" song lied and GrandPapa Mousekewitz didn't die (Papa just passed out and asumed the worse when he came to) and escaped to America only to resurface 130 years after the movies events eating pizza at a N.Y. Subway

 

So if you meant to write "descendants" then Pizza Rat is Immortal GrandPapa Mousekewitz

 

Fixed. Sorry, jokes are hard at five in the morning

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

Fixed. Sorry, jokes are hard at five in the morning

 

It's ALL GOOOOOD! (Hakuna Matata )

 

(Replying a post from the other thread first... Now comes the long post )

 

 

 

Or Maybe Christopher Plummer???

 

 

I just put this together in my head... Christopher Pummer plays Ewan McGregor's dad in "Beginners" and now Ewan is the voice of Lumière in the live action "Beauty and the Beast"

 

I just uncovered...

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

My childhood memories were all over the place on this one. For example, I had forgotten that Fivel gets separated from his family on the boat, during that storm (featuring demon waves!). I somehow thought they all got to America and then something something happens and he gets separated.

 

Yes! I completely forgot that the reason he gets separated from his family was his own stupidity.

 

Oh look! A big storm! LET ME THROW MY HAT UP IN THERE.

 

You got what you deserved, dumb rodent.

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

This is one of my original notes... I'll phrase it as a question to you all...

 

Do you think this Sicilian mouse...

 

 

is the Older brother of Tony Toponi???!!! (Remember how he sings that his "brother Tony" was in trouble with the Sicilian Big Cat Mob Boss Don "Tabby" Tabilioni )

 

 

If so, What did Tony do to piss Don "Tabby" Tabilioni off??? (Other than being a mouse, obviously) Did he run/escape to America before or after Mama Toponi got eaten??? (So many questions, but I think its possible considering his mom died and he's now an immigrant orphan working in Moe's sewing sweatshop)

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

See how much more detail you can get into a post with spreading them out! Nice post, Max! Keep 'em coming every time there's a lag in the forum, and this thread will never die (like HSM!).

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

See how much more detail you can get into a post with spreading them out! Nice post, Max! Keep 'em coming every time there's a lag in the forum, and this thread will never die (like HSM!).

 

 

 

Nice and steady wins the FORUM

[kateacola 2440]

Confession: I haven't finished watching this yet.

I don't know if it's because it's dark and I've been in a weird mood lately, so I didn't finish?

Or if doing the DLM challenge is getting to me and I'm in a movie slump?

 

But I'll try to finish tonight, if I don't pass out when I get home from work.

 

Reading this article (http://mentalfloss.c...t-american-tail) I found out that* without An American Tail, Dreamworks may have not ever been created:

 

An American Tail was jointly produced by Bluth's Sullivan Bluth Studios and Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. The success of the movie, along with that of The Land Before Time, spurred Spielberg to open an animation branch of the business called Amblimation. The company made just three movies before Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen formed DreamWorks—and most of the Amblimation employees were brought over as the "main source feeding DreamWorks' animation division."

 

*Also Siskel & Ebert thought this movie was depressing AF

[tomspanks 9039]

Confession: I haven't finished watching this yet.

 

Same confession here. I got to the part with the demonic ocean (I prefer my oceans friendly like in Moana, btw).

 

One thing that caught my eye in the beginning was the scene back in Russia, where Fivel's mother is seen feeding her baby a bottle. Think about that. Did these poor mice have access to store-bought infant formula back in 1885? If it's not infant formula, what's in the bottle? I highly doubt Fivel's mother had a tiny mouse-sized breast pump. So how/where did they get the milk? Whose milk is this??

[SaraK 1980]

 

Same confession here. I got to the part with the demonic ocean (I prefer my oceans friendly like in Moana, btw).

 

One thing that caught my eye in the beginning was the scene back in Russia, where Fivel's mother is seen feeding her baby a bottle. Think about that. Did these poor mice have access to store-bought infant formula back in 1885? If it's not infant formula, what's in the bottle? I highly doubt Fivel's mother had a tiny mouse-sized breast pump. So how/where did they get the milk? Whose milk is this??

 

Also, that baby disappears at some point. Either they're just leaving it at home while they do poor mouse things, or that bottle feeding did not work out. (I did not see any squeals, so no clue if it returns at some point)

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

 

Same confession here. I got to the part with the demonic ocean (I prefer my oceans friendly like in Moana, btw).

 

One thing that caught my eye in the beginning was the scene back in Russia, where Fivel's mother is seen feeding her baby a bottle. Think about that. Did these poor mice have access to store-bought infant formula back in 1885? If it's not infant formula, what's in the bottle? I highly doubt Fivel's mother had a tiny mouse-sized breast pump. So how/where did they get the milk? Whose milk is this??

 

If you don't think she's creeping into the human baby's nursery late at night - her beady red eyes glowing in the dim light - and stealing that shit, you're kidding yourself.

 

 

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

 

Same confession here. I got to the part with the demonic ocean (I prefer my oceans friendly like in Moana, btw).

 

One thing that caught my eye in the beginning was the scene back in Russia, where Fivel's mother is seen feeding her baby a bottle. Think about that. Did these poor mice have access to store-bought infant formula back in 1885? If it's not infant formula, what's in the bottle? I highly doubt Fivel's mother had a tiny mouse-sized breast pump. So how/where did they get the milk? Whose milk is this??

Maybe it's cat-milk, and those lion-like cats are just defending themselves?

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

Maybe it's cat-milk, and those lion-like cats are just defending themselves?

 

My initial joke was going to be that it's "cockroach milk," but then I realized that cockroaches were sentient in this universe.