An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (also known as An American Tail II: Fievel Goes West) is a 1991 American animated Western musical comedy adventure film directed by Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells (in their feature directorial debuts), with producer Steven Spielberg for Amblin Entertainment and animated by his Amblimation animation studio and released by Universal Pictures. A sequel to 1986's An American Tail, the film follows the story of the Mousekewitzes, a family of Russian-Jewish mice who emigrate to the Wild West. In it, Fievel is separated from his family as the train approaches the American Old West; the film chronicles him and Sheriff Wylie Burp teaching Tiger how to act like a dog.

Fievel Goes West was the first production for the short-lived Amblimation, a studio Spielberg set up to keep the animators of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) working. It is also the only Amblimation film to use cel animation, the last in the series to do so, and the last to be released in theaters. While the animation medium was transitioning to computers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Spielberg wanted almost all of the animation of Fievel Goes West to be hand-drawn, describing animation as "an arts-and-crafts business". He also wanted the animation to have a "live-action" feel. Phillip Glasser, Dom DeLuise, Nehemiah Persoff, and Erica Yohn reprise their roles from the first film for Fievel Goes West. Tanya's original voice actor, Amy Green, was replaced by Cathy Cavadini, and new characters were voiced by John Cleese, Amy Irving, Jon Lovitz, and James Stewart in his final film role. James Horner returned as a composer and wrote the film's song "Dreams to Dream", which garnered a Golden Globe nomination.

Premiering at the Kennedy Center on November 17, 1991, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West began its American theatrical run on November 22. This was the same day Walt Disney Pictures' Beauty and the Beast (1991) was distributed, making it the third instance of two animated films being released on the same date. Fievel Goes West was promoted with a wide array of tie-ins and started in the top ten at the box office. The film grossed $22 million in the United States against a budget of $16 million. Some film journalists and executives attributed this to having to compete with the Disney film.

Upon its release, Fievel Goes West received mixed reviews from critics: while its animation, score, and voice performances were praised, most criticisms targeted its story, pacing, and lack of character development. However, it found success when it came to home video sales, quickly reaching the top of the video charts when released on tape in March 1992; at the time, the film held the record for shortest theater-to-home-video transfer, and it has since gained a large cult following. In addition to garnering more home media releases, television airings, and video game adaptations later on, the film has made numerous 2010s retrospective best-of lists from online publications, especially best Netflix-available Western films. Fievel Goes West was followed by a short-lived CBS series named Fievel's American Tails and two direct-to-video films: An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998) and An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster (1999).

Plot

In 1890, five years after emigrating to the United States, the impoverished Mousekewitz family are still struggling against the attacks of mouse-hungry cats. Fievel spends his days thinking about a bloodhound-sheriff called Wylie Burp, while Tanya dreams of becoming a singer. Meanwhile, Tiger's girlfriend, Miss Kitty, leaves him to find a new life out west, remarking that perhaps she is looking for "a cat that's more like a dog".

A British aristocratic cat named Cat R. Waul launches an attack on the mice, forcing them to flee into the sewers. There, they come across a cowboy mouse, who is in fact a marionette controlled by Waul, who tricks the mice into moving out west. Tiger tries catching up with his friends, but is thrown off course by a group of dogs. While on the train, Fievel wanders into the livestock car and overhears the cats' intentions to eat the mice. After being discovered, Fievel tries to flee but Waul has his hench-spider, T.R. Chula, strand Fievel in the middle of the desert. Devastated over his loss, his family arrives in Green River, Utah.

Upon arrival in Green River, Chula blocks up the water tower, drying up the river. Waul approaches the mice and proposes to build a new saloon together, although intending to trick the mice into doing the bulk of the work and eat them afterwards. Meanwhile, Fievel wanders aimlessly through the desert, as does Tiger, who has found his way out west as well, and they pass each other. However, they each figure that the other is a mirage and continue on their separate ways. Tiger is captured by a local mouse native tribe and hailed as a god. Fievel is picked up by a hawk, dropped over the native village and reunites with Tiger. Tiger chooses to stay while Fievel catches a passing tumbleweed, which takes him to Green River. He reunites with his family, but they are oblivious to Waul's plans. At the saloon, Fievel overhears the cats' plan yet again and is discovered once more by Waul. Waul tries eating Fievel, but is thwarted when he hears Tanya singing. He sends Tanya to Miss Kitty, who is now a saloon-girl cat and she reveals that she came at Waul's request. He tells Miss Kitty to put her on stage and Tanya performs for the cats. Meanwhile, Fievel is chased by Chula and taken prisoner, but flees.

Despondent, Fievel speaks with an elderly bloodhound sleeping outside the jail, discovering he is actually Wylie Burp. Fievel convinces him to help and train Tiger as a lawman and as a dog. Though initially reluctant, Tiger relents at the suggestion that a new persona might win back Miss Kitty. They return to Green River to fight the cats, who attempt to use a concealed giant mouse trap on the mice at sunset during the opening of Waul's saloon. Tiger, Wylie and Fievel fight the cats, during which Miss Kitty and Tanya discover the trap. Tanya rushes to the mice and, using her singing abilities, helps them escape. Seeing this, Waul uses a giant revolver as a makeshift cannon on the fleeing mice, but Fievel intercepts him. As Chula takes Miss Kitty hostage, an incensed Tiger rescues her, and the heroes use the mouse trap as a catapult to send Waul and his cats out of Green River. The cats fly into a mailbag, which a passing train picks up and leaves.

Enamored by his new personality, Miss Kitty reunites with Tiger. Tanya becomes a famous singer and the water tower flows with 1,000 gallons again, making Green River bloom with thousands of flowers. Fievel finds Wylie away from the party, who hands him his sheriff badge. Fievel is unsure about taking it but realizes that his journey is not over.

Voice cast

Phillip Glasser as Fievel Mousekewitz
Cathy Cavadini as Tanya Mousekewitz
Dom DeLuise as Tiger
Amy Irving as Miss Kitty
James Stewart as Wylie Burp
John Cleese as Cat R. Waul
Jon Lovitz as T.R. Chula
Nehemiah Persoff as Papa Mousekewitz
Erica Yohn as Mama Mousekewitz
Patrick Pinney as One Eye
Jack Angel as Frenchy
Mickie McGowan as Saloon Lady
David Tate as additional voices

Production

Development

A sequel to Steven Spielberg's An American Tail (1986) under the working title An American Tail II was put into pre-production by David Kirschner in April 1988 after he finished producing Child's Play (1988); when announcing the project that same month, he summarized that Fievel will "fight the cat-tle barons. It's like a John Ford western with Jewish mice". Kirschner started pre-production as Spielberg was setting up filming for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) in Europe. The screenplay was written by Flint Dille, who was led to the position by writing for Spielberg's Tiny Toon Adventures (1990–92).

Spielberg produced the live-action animated film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), which was the top grossing motion picture of 1988. As a way to keep the movie's animators working, due to the closure of Richard Williams Animation, Fievel Goes West was its first production and over 250 crew members from 15 different nations

Don Bluth, who had partnered with Spielberg on both the original film and The Land Before Time (1988), was set to direct and have Sullivan Bluth Studios provide the animation; owing to creative differences, however, they parted ways. With no Bluth in sight for the sequel, Spielberg instead relied on ex-Disney animator Phil Nibbelink and ex-Richard Williams storyboard artist Simon Wells, the great-grandson of science-fiction author H. G. Wells, to direct the project. He accepted the offer based on his enjoyment of the first American Tail and "I love sound studios anyway – there's none of the hassle and boredom and time wasting you get in television". Spielberg met James Stewart at a party asking him to voice Wylie Burp, and all of Stewart's lines were recorded in ten days; his last involvement in a Western was in The Shootist (1976). As Fievel Goes West was a parody of Western films, the animators heavily studied the works of John Ford and Sergio Leone. The voice actors were videotaped during their recording sessions, and the animators used the footage as reference for moving the characters. The biggest focus was on keeping Cat R. Waul's movement similar to his voice actor's while recording in the studio, as the directors wanted him to feel like Cleese instead of just a cat voiced by him. While not assigned to supervise Miss Kitty's animation, she asked for the position and got it. and a contender by the Academy Award voters for a Best Original Song nomination, although it did not receive one.

Marketing and release

thumb|An American Tail: Fievel Goes West made its debut as the big children's theatre act of the [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts|John F. Kennedy recital before its nationwide theatrical release.]]

Fievel Goes West was initially planned for a fall 1990 release, but was delayed to a late 1991 date. In 1989, the date was moved again to Christmas 1992 before reverting to Christmas 1991 in May 1990, when the subtitle Fievel Goes West and a follow-up television series was also first announced. It was moved to the fall of 1991 in November 1990. It made its worldwide premiere at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as their big children's theatre recital performance, on November 17, 1991, where 275 inner-city kids that were guests of Fannie Mae's company attended the event; the children also made their own American Tail storybook and posed with a costume version of Fievel for pictures. Notable adult attendees includes Chuck Robb, Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, Al Gore, Marvin Bush, Margaret Bush, Fred Grandy, Elliot Richardson, and Robert Haft.

Both Fievel Goes West and Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991) began their United States theater runs on November 22, 1991; this was the third instance of two animated films being released on the same day, after The Land Before Time and Oliver & Company in 1988, and The Little Mermaid and All Dogs Go to Heaven in 1989. Boston Herald noted the clash as "a testimony to the revival of interest in feature-length animation". Along with competing with an unusual number of family films with middling budgets such as The Addams Family, Curly Sue, My Girl, and Spielberg's Hook,

40 brands licensed with Universal to promote the film, including the non-profit Reading Is Fundamental, which used the character of Fievel as a mascot for Reading Buddies kits; and Pizza Hut, which used characters from the film on designs their Pizza Packs and soft-drink cups, a decision influenced by their previous tie-in success with the Disney summer film The Rocketeer (1991). In the summer of 1992, Universal Studios Florida opened American Tail: Fievel's Playland, a playground featuring set recreations of An American Tail and Fievel Goes West. Boxtress also released an illustrated book version of the film written by Cathy East Dubowski and Beverly Lazor-Bahr.

Home media

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West received its first VHS and cassette release on March 19, 1992. Nichols and Tower Video's John Thrasher predicted it would do well in sales due to a lack of competition. According to Nichols, three million copies were rumored to be circulated, although MCA/Universal was willing to reveal the real number. and even when it was dethroned by a reissue of One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), it remained at the number-two spot of the Top Kid Video chart for several weeks. On April 10, 1992, the U.S. Postal Service began selling envelopes with 29-cent Western-Americana-themed stamps designed by Harry Zelenko to promote the home video of Fievel Goes West; 19 of them were reissued on May 1 using recycled paper. The release was pulled from the shelves in January 1993. Fievel Goes West garnered its first American television airing on April 13, 1997, via a Disney Channel "Tune In to Kids and Family Week" promotion of another TV debut, Pocahontas (1995). On August 11, 1998, as part of Universal Family Features's highly-family-demanded $15-million campaign to relaunch the American Tail franchise after a six-year moratorium; digitally-restored versions of An American Tail and Fievel Goes West were released on VHS on a 2-tape release. On the issue of October 3, 1998, the set debuted at number 19 on Billboard<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Top Kid Video chart.

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West was released on Video CD in Hong Kong on July 20, 2001, on DVD in the United States on September 25, 2003, Spain on September 29, 2005, and Denmark on November 15, 2011. In the United Kingdom, it first appeared on December 6, 2006, on DVD as part of a Slim 2 box set that featured the first two American Tail films. Similar two-film DVD collections were released in Spain on June 22, 2009, and the United States on August 22, 2010. The film was part of a DVD collection that included all four movies in the franchise on June 13, 2017. Fievel Goes West was issued to Blu-ray on April 4, 2017, in the United States, July 4 in Canada, and September 25 in the United Kingdom. Unlike the previous home media releases, the film has a sequence edited, like the infamous hidden penis doodle that was briefly seen during Tanya's version of "Dreams to Dream" was removed, thanks to the controversy. On online platforms, the film was released to Amazon Prime on November 11, 2013, Netflix on April 1, 2017, and Movies Anywhere on October 12, 2017.