The world of animated films has changed a lot over the years. The current trend (in which Disney has a lot to do) is that films aimed at younger audiences avoid any themes that may generate negative emotions in what is known as “family-friendly” themes. But this has not always been the case. There was a time when children experienced tough moments such as loss, social injustices, or evil in a much more explicit way than the present. This is the case of Fievel and the New World, a film that came out of the minds of Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg and decided to explore society through the eyes of a little mouse.
It is one of the toughest animated films
Decades ago, Disney left a handful of scenes and films that would be marked in the minds of children of that time for their toughness. The Lion King or Bambi are the two clearest examples, but other films like The Black Cauldron were a box office disaster due to their dark themes. In that sense, the box office revenue would mark an evolution in the company that would lead it to bet on much more family-friendly and peaceful works.
However, this was not the case in 1986, when Don Bluth sought to reaffirm his identity through works that separated from the mouse company. One of the main ways to be considered more than a Disney animator was precisely the tone of his films and the social depth that some of them acquired. While one of his best-known works would be Anastasia, before reaching 1998 there were other relevant films, such as Fievel and the New World.
In Fievel and the New World (An American Tail in English), we find what it means to be a newly arrived immigrant in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century through the eyes of a young mouse that misfortune follows at all times. In the middle of the boat trip, he loses his parents due to a storm and must fend for himself from the moment he touches land. That leads him to encounter all kinds of characters, many of them exploitative and selfish, that allow to reflect, as if it were a chapter of Bohemian Lights, the society of the time.
Themes like poverty, abandonment, social rejection, or the abuse of the powerful classes are disguised through an animation that has nothing to envy Disney and infantilizes the world in which the action takes place. Therefore, many children of the time found a fun (though sometimes sad) odyssey with a little mouse as the protagonist in the style of The Rescuers.
But if those children were to watch it now, the interpretation they would make would be very different. Fievel and the New World is a totally devastating film that shows misfortunes constantly. What is worse, the fire, the storm, the cat attack, or the rejection suffered by Fievel? Throughout the hour and a half that it lasts, the journey is completely tormenting. And the worst part is that it is, because it shows many aspects of real life.
With all this, Fievel and the Magic World was a success of the time followed by three more installments in which the society of the time was further explored. It was also the film that led Spielberg to open a subsidiary dedicated to animation within Amblin Entertainment or the first time James Horner worked on an animated film. And, certainly, it is a well-made film that is worth dusting off.
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