An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

As many of my generation, I share a certain fondness when I think of the name Don Bluth and the movies he directed in the '80s. The sequels based on his works, however, shattered all of the magic and wonder from his worlds into the smallest of pieces. Herein lies the question- could a sequel to a Don Bluth movie ever be considered good?

It's time to brush up on your best Clint Eastwood impression as we embark on a Texas-sized adventure in An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.

DVD Cover: With a darker sourced material, this sequel is obviously aiming for lighter and safer pastures, as demonstrated by the brighter colors, happier facial expressions, and the looming figures of Tiger and a new character striking an "Oh, you!" pose, hinting at humorous times.

Though not entirely a bad DVD Cover, certainly not the worst I've seen, I've got to point out that Fievel's candy cane-like guns are absolutely ridiculous. I know they're supposed to be toys (Real heroes don't use guns, kids!), but seriously- candy cane stripes? It's obvious enough that they're not real guns with the pop strings attached to them!

Anyone else getting Hey Dude flashbacks right about now?

Plot: The movie opens to a very obvious dream sequence in which the title character, Fievel, is standing beside his idol, the sheriff Wylie Burp (see what they did there?), voiced by a very aged James Stewart. Considering that this was his last role before he passed away in 1997, I will stifle my complaints on how tired and worn out he sounds.

A gang of cats aptly called the Cactus Cat Gang attacks and Whylie tells Fievel to run for it and save himself. Of course Fievel doesn't do this proceeds to kick cat ass all over the place. As the heated gunfight with the Cactus Cat gang comes to a head, Fievel's thoughts are interrupted by his mother calling him for dinner. The scene slowly fades back to New York and Fievel makes his way home.

The scene then changes to Fievel's sister, Tanya (now voiced by Cathy Cavadini aka Blossom of Powerpuff Girls fame), singing Somewhere Out There. Now, if I could just go off on a a tangent here, I generally like this song. However, if there's one complaint I've always held against An American Tail, it's this- the song is clearly about two separated lovers wishing to be together, right? There's no way this can be interpreted as anything else, right?

Then why is this song used for Tanya and Fievel to sing to in the first movie?! Isn't that... squicky? I mean, it's a beautiful song, but why was it used in a scene where the siblings are singing to each other?!

Get off the stage!

Anyway, back to the movie- it would seem, despite her beautiful voice, humanity isn't quite ready for Tanya's talents as they throw food for her. Her family, being the supportive group they are, encourage her to sing in hopes of getting more food. Wow.

While Fievel teases Tanya about her singing, a train roars overhead, knocking the Mousekewitz family house askew. As they regain themselves, Papa Mousekewitz laments about how America was supposed to be a land of opportunity, but fears that because they aren't doing well financially, he won't be able to buy Fievel any gifts for his birthday.

Fievel of course tells his father he doesn't want any gifts and Tanya makes a joke about singing in front of a gift shop, hoping for people to throw gifts at her for her family. As Papa Mousekewitz starts to believe everything will get better, we hear a crash outside, revealing that Fievel's friend Tiger is having troubles of his own as well.

I'd make that face too if I were a cat that was asked to be more like a dog.

After one too many cat puns, we find that Tiger's girlfriend, aptly named Miss Kitty, is leaving for Green River, a town out west. She claims there are better cats out there that are tough like dogs, an attribute she won't find in Tiger. So she breaks up with him and leaves on the next stagecoach out, much to the poor guy's misery.

The story moves on to a rather sudden cat attack, sounded by the mice's cat attack security personnel. The band of attacking cats is lead by a rather dignified character that goes by the name Cat R. Waul, voiced by the always pleasant John Cleese. Like the villain Warren T. Rat of the first film, Cat R. Waul is also saddled with a pun name.

I digress. Cat R. Waul issues an attack on the mice, but only as a way of directing the panicked groups into the sewers. Seeing the chaos unfolding before him, Tiger attempts to spring into action, but is paralyzed with fear when one of Cat R. Waul's minions turns out to be a rather annoying spider.

Is this guy pulling a Trollface or is it just me?

Fievel, forgetting that he's two inches tall and natural prey for a starved ally cat, stupidly joins in the fight, calling out the nearest cat, Cowboy style. Along the way he somehow reaches inside his Russian-style hat, turns it inside out, and makes it turn into a Western-style hat. The hell...?

Anyway, the cat is quick to realize he could easily eat Fievel and moves in on the kill. Fievel is quick to wet himself and cower in fear. Right when it looks like the movie will be over before it started, Papa Mousekewitz strikes up an ear-grating tune that stuns the cat, allowing Fievel to escape.

The cat recovers himself and gives chase, flinging Fievel into an open can that rolls down the street, gaining speed. His mother and sisters quickly jump in as he passes, and after a bit of a chase, his father manages to get inside the can as well.

Rule #1 of Zombieland: Cardio.

As the can rolls ahead of the cat, it comes to an abrupt stop right at the gate to the sewer. As the beast advances on them, the Mousekewitz family tries to haul ass and get the can to roll over the upper lip of the sewer gate. Just as the cat pounces down on them, the can lifts over the lip and they plunge into the darkness.

After some ominous words from Cat R. Waul, the scene changes to the sewers, where the Mousekewitz family has managed to use the can as a raft of sorts. It seems that their trip down river will be safe- PSYCH! The river flow turns itself up to 11 and the family is sent on a wild ride, Fievel being the only one dumb enough to enjoy such a life threatening ride.

What happens next can only be described as the worst trap ever- using a western styled puppet, Cat R. Waul manages to up sell some tickets out west to the mice, all the while making some really odd verbal screw ups that would send any suspicious mouse into hiding, but we have to get this family out west somehow, so dumb plot hook it is!

Would anyone REALLY fall for something this stupid?

The next morning, Tiger wakes up after fainting and finds that Fievel left him a letter telling him that his family is moving to Green River. In tradition with Fievel perpetually missing everyone he's supposed to meet at any given time, he misses saying good by to Tiger, but his Dad tells him that he was "just a cat", which is all SORTS of bullshit considering what Tiger did for the Mousekewitz family in the first movie.

Speaking of Tiger, he tries his hardest to see Fievel one last time, but runs into poor humor attempt after poor humor attempt, screeching along the way in a manner that makes my ears bleed thinking about it.

After that, we are treated to one of those sequel songs that means exactly what you think it means. Remember the song in An American Tail when the mice were describing what it would be like to live in America? We get one of those, only it's western-flavored this time!

Suddenly cheeses...?

The scene changes back to Tiger because I guess the producers thought this would be funny, as his dog troubles continue, leading to him jumping onto a stagecoach and heading out west, only to find out the stagecoach is being driven by a dog (what the hell?!) and when he tries to jump off, he gets tangled in a net and is dragged out west whether he likes it or not.

Back on the train, everyone's asleep, except Fievel, who suddenly grows a pair and randomly treks across the connecting train car wires to get into another one of the cars for God knows what reason. While there, he comes across that really convincing puppet, but soon realizes that the thing's a fake when it doesn't respond to his pestering.

All the while below him, Cat R. Waul decides to remind his lackeys why they just can't eat the mice as they sleep. His plan isn't outright revealed, but it's basics are that it is much simpler and easier to befriend the mice instead of chasing them about.

There's no way revealing our true nature could come back to bite me in the butt. Perish the thought!

Cat R. Waul then decides he'd fancy a mouse sandwich, but before he devours his victim, Fievel manages to slip the puppet into the sandwich. Cat R. Waul, being the refined gentlecat he is, notices a difference of texture to his pallet, and yanks the remains of the puppet down, knocking Fievel into his grasp.

What happens next is a sort of Gollum-like scene between Cat R. Waul and... well, himself. He's caught between giving into his primal urges and outright eating Fievel vs his businessman persona, who rationalizes that if he eats the child, his family will get suspicious and his plans will fall through.

So instead he gets his spider-y friend, Chula (voiced by Jon Lovitz), to knock him off one of the train car wires and into the desert while his family is watching, thinking the event is a horrible accident.

To eat, or not to eat. That is the question.

Back with the worst excuse for humor ever that is Tiger, he manages to free himself of the net he's caught in, but ends up lost in the desert.

At the same time, the Mousekewitz family arrives in Green River, but having lost Fievel has gravely dampened their spirits. They chose a home near the water tower at the same time Chula plugs up the steady leak that provides the mice with enough for survival. At that very moment, Cat R. Waul swoops in with promises of partnership between cats and mice, an opportunity that fools the heartbroken Mousekewitz family hook, line, and sinker.

Jesus cat has spoken!

Out in the desert, Fievel and Tiger are having their shares of desert torture. They both fall victim to one mirage each before wandering the desert in defeat, even to the point where they cross paths with each other and, believing the other one they are seeing is a mirage, simply pass each other up.

Unfortunately, we follow on with Tiger, who gets captured by Native American mice stereotypes who plan to eat him. Subtle. After the Chief of Stereotypes attempts to communicate with a series of gibberish, he comes to see Tiger as a God because of a similar shaped rock formation in the distance. How odd.

Fivel doesn't seem to be fairing any better, as he is hunter by a hawk, takes refuge with a scorpion, and is finally captured by said hawk as it flies away, hoping to eat the tasty snack at a later time.

Back with Tiger, he breaks the fourth wall and tells the audience that he's been confused for the tribe's "Tiger God". As a gesture of good faith, they shoot fireworks (don't ask) at the hawk that nabbed Fievel, sending the kid crashing into Tiger's bowl, which he promptly drinks, mouse and all.

Probably the last place you wanted to be.

After a really disgusting series of events set within Tiger's innards, he finally manages to spit Fievel up and the two have a nice little reunion. Fievel asks Tiger to return with him to Green River, but Tiger says the natives don't like people who eat and run. How he knows that is beyond me, but let's go with it. He sends Fievel away in a tumbleweed set to Green River. Again, don't ask.

Fievel manages to get home via tumbleweed and has a reunion with his family, who tearfully, yet briefly, welcome him home. Fievel tries to explain the danger the town is in, but he starts off by saying Tiger is being worshiped as a God in the desert, so naturally his family doesn't believe him.

This leads to Fievel stumbling into the newly mouse and cat constructed bar, where he spots Cat R. Waul rallying up his supporters, who stupidly shout about how happy they are with the promise of mouseburgers on the horizon. How the mice JUST OUTSIDE THE DOOR don't hear this is beyond me.

In the midst of his speech, Fievel stabs Cat R. Waul with a fork, sending the poor feline crashing through the roof and out of his clothes, where by far the STRANGEST scene takes place.

Did I mention when this is going down, the woman is squealing "Pussy, pussy, pussy!"?

After an escape and what I can assume to be a mental deletion of the scene that just passed, Cat R. Waul attempts to eat Fievel, but is stopped by an angelic voice singing in the distance. Hey, wait a sec, the mice just outside the damn bar can't hear the chants for mouseburgers, but Cat. R Waul can hear a single girl singing? What's up with that?!

Furthermore, remember how I said how mismatched the song Somewhere Out There was with its animation scene for An American Tail? That happens in this movie too. The song used is Dreams To Dream, a beautiful song about accomplishing your dreams. But what we get is Tanya singing, blissfully unaware as Cat R. Waul stalks her, has his hand dance with her, and essentially KIDNAPS her to star in his bar shows. Jesus!

As the scene progresses, Cat R. Waul brings Tanya to Miss Kitty in hopes of having her train the girl to sing at the bar. After a quick make over and a pep talk, Tanya hits the stage and is an overnight sensation with the cats, much to Fievel's dismay as he tries to warn her about Cat R. Waul's plans.

Yeah, this isn't creepy at ALL.

Deciding that it's up to the legendary Wylie Burp himself, Fievel sets out to find the old hero, only to find him too aged by time and dog puns to be of any use. So the two strike up a deal- Fievel gets a dog friend to come to Green River and Wylie Burp will train him to fight the cats. Only Fievel doesn't know a dog, so he goes for the next best thing.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, he asks Tiger. But how does he manage to get the lazy kitty to give up his life of God-ness? By bribing him with the scent of Miss Kitty's perfume and the promise of regaining her love, of course! Remember, kids- if asking nicely doesn't work, bribe 'em with pussy.

The two return to Green River and after some comedic dog training mishaps, we have ourselves a little training montage when Tiger decides to get serious.

It's time to kick ass in a way that only children's films know how!

The trio advances on the town just in time to save the mice from being crushed in what looks like a cutting of the ribbon ceremony from Cat R. Waul's mouse trap. Again, Cat R. Waul's excitement is getting the best of him, making for some interesting slips of the tongue. Coupled with the fact that the mice are sitting on a terribly disguised trap, I don't see how this plan would fool anyone.

A fight erupts and plays out pretty much like the opening of the movie, except for Tiger being the apprentice to Wylie Burp and the fact that everyone is using a slight shot instead of a gun. However, unlike in the opening, our heroes find themselves outmatched, until an unlikely suggestion from Fievel prompts the two into giving the cats the LAAAAAZY EYYYYYYE.

What's the LAAAAAZY EYYYYYYE, you ask?

Well that's just silly.

This scares the minions away, which really pisses off Cat R. Waul, who issues the command to spring the mouse trap. Despite Cat R. Waul's... God help me, caterwauling, none of the mice realize what is going on until Tanya starts singing about what's happening. This causes Cat R. Waul to panic because he doesn't want to kill Tanya and the other mice manage to escape.

In the chaos, Wylie Burp catapults Fievel onto the mounted gun Cat R. Waul was operating, disarming the cat and causing him to fall onto the spring loaded mouse trap. At the same time, Tiger makes short work of Chula and the other cats when they threaten to take hostage of Miss Kitty.

After springing the trap and launching the cats into a mail bag, Cat R. Waul swears revenge, but is cut short when the mail train snatches up the bag, cats and all. Much to Cat R. Waul's horror, the woman from before is right outside the window, and she quickly claims him as her own pet, dressing him in a set of baby clothes with pet names to go with it.

Hey, it beats being stuffed into her cleavage.

It would seem that peace has finally come to Green River after the cats had been forced out of the town. The water tower leak is flowing like a river thanks to the magic of children's lack of knowledge about water towers, Tanya gives up her career as a singer because of some half assed character development, and Wylie Burp appoints Fievel as an honorary sheriff with some parting words of wisdom as the movie meets it's end.

Final Thoughts: As much as I ranted about how stupid the other mice were throughout the movie just to get the plot moving, I firmly believe that this is one of the better sequels out there, if not one of the best.

Unlike Disney sequels, this movie doesn't rely on making a single joke a character said as a throwaway line the basis of their entire character for a movie. It's refreshing to see that as Fievel and Tiger both got equal share of the spotlight, they even managed to squeak in some story for Tanya too, if only to put some songs into the works. Despite the terrible pun name, Cat R. Waul is one of the most interesting sequel villains I've encountered so far, a charming and intellectual character rather than a scary, brute force type. Very refreshing!

Also, unlike Disney sequels, the animation for this movie is downright GORGEOUS. Even without the help of Don Bluth himself, the feel of the original movie, thought lightened and fluffed in the sequel, is still largely the same. And they don't forget about lighting, something Disney has yet to show me in their continuations!

As good as this one is, there were two more An American Tail sequels, neither of which take place in the west. But I'm feeling optimistic. As good as this movie was, surely the other two movies were treated with equal care?

SONOFA-