The Secret of NIMH/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Secret of NIMH

  • Acclaimed Flop
  • Adaptation Displacement: Book? What is this book you speak of? The film is much more well known than the source novel. Even the poorly received sequel seems to be more infamous.
  • Complete Monster: Jenner is completely unfazed in not only killing Nicodemus, but also with the knowledge that the action will also kill Brisby's children, who are trapped in a now-sinking block.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: The song "Flying Dreams."
  • Cult Classic: Regarded by fans as one of Bluth's best works for its deep and complex story and three dimensional characters.
  • Fan Nickname: Elizabeth, as Mrs. Brisby's never-revealed first name, in tribute to her voice actress (who committed suicide). Some even go so far as to call her "Elizabeth Hartman Brisby"
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: Justin and Mrs. Brisby. Some fans tend to mistake Justin's chivalry as romantic advances on the widowed female of another species.
    • Mind you, here's what the actual script has to say about their introduction:

[Justin] notices [Mrs. Brisby]. She has already noticed quite a few things about him.

  • Furry Fandom: This is one of the fandom's flagship movies.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight / Harsher in Hindsight: A mild case, but at some point Mr. Ages asks Justin to take Mrs. Brisby to the library (where she can wait before meeting Nicodemus). Yet it's later revealed that she only has very basic reading skills, and thus would probably not be able to enjoy the reading of a book.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Jenner is regarded as one of the most successful villains in film history. Since he makes the falling of Mrs. Brisby's house and Nicodemus' death look like an accident, no one suspects his cruel deed... until Justin finds out about his plans from Sullivan, of course. Had he counted on that as well as Mrs. Brisby warning the other rats about NIMH coming to exterminate them, he would've gotten away with it.
  • Nightmare Fuel: See here.
  • Retroactive Recognition / Hey, It's That Voice!: Wil Wheaton and Shannen Doherty both got very early roles as child actors in this movie, and this would mark the first of a long line of roles Dom Deluise would play for Bluth.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: Back in the early days of the NIMH fandom, there was a good amount of battle between Justin x Brisby and Jonathan x Brisby (substitute Brisby for the Fan Nickname if desired); this was fueled by a still image of Justin and Mrs. Brisby kissing, rumored to be a shot of a scene cut from the movie; Word of God killed this notion fairly quickly, but the fandom picks at it from time to time.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: Between the lightning sparking off Brutus's halberd, the lightshows from Nicodemus' Crystal Ball, the Mind Screw-y visuals during the NIMH flashback sequences, and the amulet coming to life at the end, the light effects are utterly dazzling.
  • What Do You Mean It's for Kids?/What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?: It's hard to tell whether this is really a family movie. Graphic on-screen character death, horrifying creatures, a completely superfluous "damn," several psychologically disturbing scenes - You know, for kids!

The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue

  • Ass Pull: Two examples;
    • First is Nicodemus' prophecy. It was never mentioned in the first film and was just thrown in for the purpose of giving the film a plot. What's even more jarring is that Nicodemus may have had telekinetic abilities, was wise and had a magical viewing globe but it was never made explicit that he could tell the future. And if he could see the future, shouldn't he have seen that brick coming?
    • Second is Mrs. Brisby's letter to Timmy that Martin is missing. You would think that because Martin is an important character in the story that this letter should be an important plot point, but it is thrown in quite far into the movie just to explain that Martin went missing. It even looks like Timmy pulled the thing out of his ass.
  • Non Sequitur Scene:
    • In the middle of Evil Martin's Villain Song, he sings about fluffy ice-cream clouds and kittens before getting back on topic. Sure, Evil Meatin is crazy, but did he have to get so off-track there?
      • It wasn’t off track. That was his hammy and rather in-character-wise silly way of talking about the wonderful life awaiting his brother, should he decide to cooperate.
    • The "Magic Mystery Show", sung by Jeremy and Cecil, accompanied by a bunch of dancing forest animals. It gets really ridiculous at points (Cecil's 'Optimouse' credit card is every bit as nonsensical as a Bat Credit Card,) and after the animals realize it's a scam and chase Jeremy and Cecil away, no one talks about it again.
  • Disney Acid Sequence: Evil Martin's Villain Song. Good lord.....
  • Marty Stu/Sympathetic Stu: Timmy. He is praised as a hero, before he even hits puberty or does anything worthwhile. He spends much of the movie angsting over his dead father and his supposed destiny to follow in his footsteps. He is generally reckless and inattentive, and yet he still manages to save several other characters, largely by accident. Anyone who disagrees with him is portrayed as in the wrong, and to top it off, he gets the girl after a single line of dialogue.
  • Sequelitis: Where to start? The incredibly bad animation quality and general TOTAL lack of faithfullness to the original film's art direction, completely going against the serious, competent story, mood and characterization of the original film in favor of Flanderization, narmy writing and horribly written MUSICAL NUMBERS. Not to mention the plot is a total Cliché Storm. This sequel is so dreadful, it makes the Disney sequels look like they actually lived up to the originals in sheer comparison!
    • To give an idea, Mrs. Brisby is in the film for about a grand total of 25 seconds. No recognition is made of the amazing stuff she did towards the end of the first film, not even a "Hey, that was some cool stuff you did." The entire conflict of the movie is an extremely obvious Self-Fulfilling Prophecy that can be seen a mile away, the songs absolutely suck, and almost as if to call attention to the horrible animation, there are a few clips from the first film at the beginning, which actually serve to remind the viewer that "Hey, remember this movie? You should be watching that one again, not this one. See how much better it looks?"
      • For many, the ONLY bright spot is Eric Idle as Evil Martin. When he's on screen, it's somewhat less painful.
      • As with many of the unofficial Bluth sequels, Timmy To The Rescue is popular with some younger audiences due to the Lighter and Softer setup (which was likely what was intended).

Both Films

  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Jeremy may count, due to his comic relief role, being voiced by Dom De Luise.
    • "Everyone is Furry for Justin!"
    • Evil Martin seems to have more fans than the sequel as a whole does.
  • Fanon: The fanfic "Rats of Thorn Valley" spawned a Muck (NIMH Muck), which has its own continuity spanning from the end of the fic to around ten years after the movie and is still going strong.
    • Some fanon states that Jonathan is alive; the fic listed above explains how he could be, and it actually makes sense.
    • General fanon stated that the mice survived their drop in the shaft, mostly because because it was a cool plot point and was a little open to interpretation. Funnily enough, this idea was actually picked up by the sequel.
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