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[[File:american_tail_ver2.jpg|frame]]
A collaboration between [[Don Bluth]] and [[Steven Spielberg]], '''''An American Tail''''' starts off on Hanukkah in 1885, opening in a Russian schtetl. The camera pans past the house belonging to the human Moskowitz family to reveal a tiny duplicate house inhabited by the Mousekewitz family. They are Jewish-Russian mice who are forced to escape persecution after [[You Can't Go Home Again|their village is destroyed in a pogrom]] [[Cats Are Mean|by Cossack cats]].▼
Believing in the American dream they head to [[New York City]] by boat because "[[Crowd Song|there are no cats in America, and the streets are paved with cheese.]]" The hero, a little mouse named Fievel, is washed overboard in a storm, and his search for his family, who [[No One Could Survive That|believe he is dead]] and therefore [[Gave Up Too Soon|aren't looking for him]], forms the bulk of the film. Once arriving in America, all mice immediately discover that there are indeed cats in America. They begin living in a typical late 19th century immigrant manner: working in a sweatshop, living in horrible conditions, being extorted by gangs and living in constant fear of being eaten.<ref>
▲A collaboration between [[Don Bluth]] and [[Steven Spielberg]], ''An American Tail'' starts off on Hanukkah in 1885, opening in a Russian schtetl. The camera pans past the house belonging to the human Moskowitz family to reveal a tiny duplicate house inhabited by the Mousekewitz family. They are Jewish-Russian mice who are forced to escape persecution after [[You Can't Go Home Again|their village is destroyed in a pogrom]] [[Cats Are Mean|by Cossack cats]].
▲Believing in the American dream they head to [[New York City]] by boat because "[[Crowd Song|there are no cats in America, and the streets are paved with cheese.]]" The hero, a little mouse named Fievel, is washed overboard in a storm, and his search for his family, who [[No One Could Survive That|believe he is dead]] and therefore [[Gave Up Too Soon|aren't looking for him]], forms the bulk of the film. Once arriving in America, all mice immediately discover that there are indeed cats in America. They begin living in a typical late 19th century immigrant manner: working in a sweatshop, living in horrible conditions, being extorted by gangs and living in constant fear of being eaten.<ref> Okay, that last one is specific to immigrant ''mice'', but you get the picture.</ref>
Such is the plot of the most popular animated film of the 1980s that doesn't involve a [[The Little Mermaid|singing crab]]. It was a surprise hit at the box office in 1986, and it became the highest grossing animated film of all time, much to Disney's sheer horror. It would keep this title until the debut of the ''next'' [[Don Bluth]] film, ''[[The Land Before Time]]''. One important thing to come of all this was that the film displayed that animation could still be profitable at a time when the industry was in a slump, and caused Disney to step up its game in face of the competition. So in a way, this very film triggered a chain reaction that brought about [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]].
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Tellingly, more people remember the song "[[Award Bait Song|Somewhere Out There]]" than, say, the immigrant struggle aspect.
Almost as well known is the [[Lighter and Softer]] [[Contested Sequel]], ''Fievel Goes West'', in which the Mousekewitz family leaves New York for the Wild West (made without Bluth's involvement, but with Spielberg still on board), but largely forgotten is the short-lived TV series in the same setting, and two additional [[Direct to Video
{{tropelist}}
== Series-Wide ==
* [[All Animation Is Disney]]: This is not helped by the fact that ''An American Tail'' and its sequels were regular showings on Toon Disney, or the fantastic [[Award Bait Song]] similar to the ones that Disney became so well-known for in subsequent years.
* [[American Dream]]
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* [[Are We There Yet?]]: Fievel asks this on the boat ride to America in the first movie, and on the train ride out west in ''Fievel Goes West''.
* [[Armed with Canon]]: ''Fievel Goes West'', the [[Lighter and Softer]] first sequel which [[Don Bluth]] wasn't involved with, seemed to take a few shots at the first movie (such as Tanya getting tomatoes thrown at her for singing "Somewhere Out There", and New York turning out to be a [[Crapsack World]]), and in general carried itself as if [[Lighter and Softer]] equaled better. Then the third movie came along, with yet another different team of writers. Fievel wasn't out west anymore, but in New York, and the writers decided to throw in a [[Wham! Line]] about Fievel having a dream where he moved out west, implying that the second movie is now [[Canon Discontinuity]]. They then proceeded to erase the [[Love Interest]] of Tony Toponi from the first film and pair him with their new character (which didn't even work in-story).
* [[Art Evolution]]: And in its sequels, devolution. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111118122512/http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs26/f/2008/132/4/5/The_Real_Tanya__by_Skyline19.jpg Take this, for instance.]
* [[The Artful Dodger]]: Tony Toponi, a streetwise orphan mouse.
* [[Award Bait Song]]: "Somewhere Out There" in the first movie. They tried to do it again in the sequels, "Dreams to Dream" from ''Fievel Goes West'' being the only other remotely successful attempt, as it also received a Linda Ronstadt cover.
* [[Barefoot Cartoon
* [[Beast Fable]]: They're not just mice. They're immigrants.
* [[Big Applesauce]]
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* [[Weirdness Censor]]: Not once do the humans ever find it odd that they're surrounded by talking, clothed mice and cats. Not to mention no one notices the Giant Mouse of Minsk either. This continues in all other sequels and adaptations, stretched to even more ridiculous heights in all three sequels.
== ''An American Tail'' ==
* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]]: Complete with the hideout of the Mott Street Maulers (containing a piano, tables, and other odd things that don't belong in a sewer), a big room with discarded bird cages, and a weird...bug-eating..reptile...thing...
** [[Justified Trope|This is 1885 we're talking about.]] Sewers in New York were that big because they needed to be large enough for maintenance people to move around down there.
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* [[Cue the Rain]]: As Fievel, all alone, curls up in Orphan Alley to cry, it starts to rain.
* [[Cut Song]]: Fievel was supposed to have another song in the sweatshop.
* [[Digital Destruction]]: The DVD release was horribly tampered with, as is discussed on [https://web.archive.org/web/20111118051409/http://donbluthanimation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=991 this forum]. Background music and sound effects were changed or added, new voice-overs were inserted, and the orphans who bully Fievel near the end have different voices (though at least the added/alternate dialogue was from the original recording sessions, even for the orphans - if you look at the lip sync of the animation, you can see that their mouth movements match the voices on the DVD version. It still doesn't excuse it, though).
* [[Disney Acid Sequence]]: "We're a Duo", Fievel and Tiger's ode to [[The Power of Friendship]], vaguely resembles one of the music videos from [[Michael Jackson]]'s "Off the Wall" album.
* [[Disney Villain Death]]: Well, sort of.
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* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: {{spoiler|Fievel doesn't get his happy ending until he all but gives up on life.}}
** Pretty much applies to all the mice. They only get peace when they take the initiative to actually drive the cats away. {{spoiler|Using a giant mouse engine. Fortunately, [[Batman|cats are a superstitious and cowardly lot.]]}}
* [[Eek!
* [[Elmuh Fudd Syndwome]]: Gussie "Wewease ze Secwet Weapon" Mausheimer. Voiced by Madeline Kahn who recycled the voice from the character she played in ''[[Blazing Saddles]]''.
* [[Failed a Spot Check]]: Fievel and his family keep missing each other when they're nearby. Perhaps the most frustrating time is when Fievel is at the podium at a rally that all the mice in New York are at, and his sister Tanya can't see him because someone's hat is in the way.
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* [[Gorgeous Period Dress]]: On the more wealthy female characters.
* [[Gone Horribly Right]]: The mice manage to stop the Giant Mouse of Minsk robot from being released early... only to have to release it immediately after it stops.
* [[Gravity Is a Harsh Seamstress]]: After being hurled out a window by a [[Eek!
* [[Gut Feeling]]: "I just have this feeling - like Fievel's alive!"
* [[Grass Is Greener]]: [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|In America!]]
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* [[Nice Hat]]: Fievel is given one for Hannukah at the beginning. Because it's his [[Orphan's Plot Trinket|only link to his family]], many an [[Indy Hat Roll]] ensues. One of the first causes him to be swept off the ship.
** Funny thing is, the hat seems to vanish an reappear on occasion. It's a pretty important object to have so many continuity errors.
* [[No Cartoon Fish]]: The herring and "sewer shark" are drawn photo-
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Honest John is a pretty blatant parody of [[wikipedia:William M. Tweed|"Boss" Tweed]].
* [[Not Even Bothering with the Accent]]: See [[Fake Russian]] in the Trivia tab.
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* [[Take My Hand]]: Papa tries to grab Fievel's hand after he slips onto the deck of the ship. Sadly, Fievel's sleeve rips and he ends up washed overboard.
* [[Token Romance]]: Tony and Bridget
* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]: All over the movie. The woman who [[Eek!
** Then of course there's the two humans at the park who walk right past the rather loud mouse rally taking place.
* [[Wasted Song]]: For some reason the jazzy background orchestration for Warren's first scene is completely absent from the soundtrack, and thus is impossible to find anywhere.
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** Not by that much if you look carefully.
== ''Fievel Goes West'' and ''Fievel's American Tails'' ==
* [[Aesop Amnesia]]: Everyone from ''Fievel's American Tails'' has this condition, due to the fact that it hardly even acts like ''Fievel Goes West'' happened.
* [[All Animals Are Dogs]]: Played for laughs in when Wylie Burp teaches Tiger how to be a dog.
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** Done within ''Fievel Goes West'' itself at the beginning where Fievel shoots a bunch of cats and gets a badge from Wylie Burp. A [[Dream Within a Dream]] if you think about it.
** Some people see Fievel's dreaming in the third movie as foreshadowing.
* [[Animation Bump]]: Say what you will about ''Fievel Goes West'', but you have to admit that the animation was of amazing quality, even at the time it was
* [[Ascended Extra]]: A few of the extras from ''Fievel Goes West'' went on to become recurring characters in ''Fievel's American Tails''.
* [[Ax Crazy]]: Chula doesn't have the ax, but his personality fits the bill.
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* [[Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping]]: Cat R. Waul, voiced by the extremely English [[John Cleese]], tries to fake a Texas accent when operating his mouse marionette, but despite the liberal use of "y'all" it's... less than convincing.
** ''[[Don't Explain the Joke|That's ze joke.]]''
* [[Pain
** It's also how Tiger catches the train-briefly-while being chased by a dog.
* [[Parental Obliviousness]]: Fievel ''tried'' to tell his parents that Cat R. Waul was going to turn the mice of Green River into mouseburgers. [[Not Now, Kiddo|But did they listen?]]
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* [[Shout-Out]]: To ''Gunsmoke'', with "Miss Kitty".
** The "Rawhide" theme is being sung by [[The Blues Brothers]].
** Also, many of the storefronts and signs in (the human-sized) Green River have the names of crew members on them, including both of the film's directors and several of the artists responsible for the background layouts. In addition, right before Fievel dispatches the villains, you can see a nameplate on the rear of the giant mousetrap (facing upside-down) which reads "Made in Acton, London"
** Cat R. Waul screams "Revenge!" as he is driven out of town on the train, similar to his character in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi2sUcVkm9E the Dirty Fork sketch] in [[Monty Python's Flying Circus]].
** Another one involves a mouse mentioning various destinations (one while boarding, the other before narrowly escaping being eaten by Cat R. Waul) while closing each phrase with "...and Green River", likely an homage to [[Mel Blanc]]'s famous [[The Jack Benny Program|Jack Benny Show]] [[Catch Phrase]] of a train leaving for "...Anaheim, Azuza, and Cuc-amonga".
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* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: How could the entire population of mice build an enormous fully functioning mouse trap and not have any single hint of suspicion?
** Plus, how could they not notice that the cats in Green River are the same ones who attacked them in New York? (Also add on how they fell for the obvious puppet ploy early in the film, including Car R. Waul even forgetting to control it whilst favourably describing himself.)
* [[Took a Level
* [[Toon Physics]]: What Fievel's hat apparently runs on in this film, what with turning into a cowboy hat when pulled inside-out.
* [[Too Smart for Strangers]]: The ''Fievel's American Tails'' episode "A Case of the Hiccups" utterly averts this trope. When a strange [[Snake Oil Salesman|doctor named Travis T. Hippocrates]] comes to town offering free candy, Fievel's mother ''allows'' Fievel to become the doctor's assistant, and pass out free candy to everyone in town which gives mice hiccups so he can sell them a placebo "cure". After Fievel figures out what the candy is doing he tries to back out of his "partnership", but the doctor kidnaps Fievel and traps him in a jar. [[Fridge Horror]] ensues if you consider how the real life, non G-Rated-version of this scenario would likely play out.
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* [[Wasn't That Fun?]]: Fievel chimes in "Let's go on that ride again!" after he and his family have a terrifying trip down a sewer waterfall in a discarded tuna can.
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?]]: Jon Lovitz as a nasty, web-spitting (huh?) [[Giant Spider|tarantula]].
* [[Wicked Cultured]]: Cat R. Waul wears a top hat with a cane (though in the proper time period), speaks with a British accent, and adores high-class songs, making Tanya [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3e/Cat_R._Waul_introduces_Tanya.JPG his own personal diva]{{Dead link}}.
* [[Young Gun]]: Fievel daydreams about being a Young Gun at the beginning of ''Fievel Goes West'', complete with his hero Wylie Burp telling him to 'get out while he still can', and Fievel blatantly disobeying him and shooting out a gang of villainous cats.
== The Direct-to-Video Sequels ==
* [[Abhorrent Admirer]]: In ''The Treasure Of Manhattan Island'' as they reach the native village, Scuttlebutt becomes the target of an amorous, [[Big Beautiful Woman|huge female mouse]]. Later said mouse finds out that he's a bad guy and [[Beware the Nice Ones|promptly kick his ass]].
* [[American Dream]]: [[Discussed Trope|Discussed at length]] in ''The Treasure Of Manhattan Island'' though it is arguably a major theme in all of the movies...except maybe [[
* [[Animation Bump]]: The third movie, which was done by [[TMS Entertainment]], has surprisingly better animation than you'd think for a direct-to-video production. The same can't be said for ''Mystery of the Night Monster'' (handled by Tama Productions).
* [[Anywhere but Their Lips]]: Cholena makes it pretty clear that she doesn't share Tony's attraction to her, but by the end of the movie she cuts him some slack and gives him a kiss on the cheek.
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* [[Beneath the Earth]]: The subterranean tribe of Native American mice in ''The Treasure of Manhattan Island''.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: {{spoiler|The ending of ''The Treasure of Manhattan Island'' is the only [[Bittersweet Ending]] in the series. Yes, the evil factory owners who've been exploiting the workers are put under control by Papa's labor union, but they haven't really been defeated, and [[Karma Houdini|they haven't really paid for all of the trouble they've caused either]]. And Cholena's Native American tribe still has to live underground because the European mice are still evil, racist and unable to co-exist with them.}}
* [[
* [[Broken Heel]]: Fievel gets his shirt caught on a rusty nail as he and Tony are fleeing a speeding train in the third movie.
* [[Bullet Seed]]: Fievel uses this against cops in ''The Treasure of Manhattan Island''.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Animated Films]]
[[Category:Historical
[[Category:The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
[[Category:Wang Film Productions]]
[[Category:Tama Productions]]
[[Category:The Eighties]]▼
[[Category:Saturday Morning Cartoon]]
[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Western Animation]]
[[Category:An American Tail]]▼
[[Category:Film Westerns]]
▲[[Category:An American Tail]]
[[Category:Western Animation of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Western Animation of the 1990s]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Tail, An}}
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