Un cuento americano: Faivel va al oeste

This is my absolutely most favorite cartoon movie ever. it has action, romance, adventure, and gun slinging. The music was really good. I loved every minute of this movie. I'm a big fan. I've loved this movie since I was in 1st grade,( thats when it came out into theaters). I recommend this movie to anyone who loves a good cartoon movie. This one is a classic. You wont be disappointed.

Fievel, the cute little mouse from An American Tail, is going west for Fievel Goes West. This is one of very few sequels that really deserve the title of the original classics. Fievel Goes West may not have as many touching moments as the original, but that's because it's more of a fast-paced western comedy rather than a heartwarming, sometimes tragic tale (tail?) as An American Tail was.

A by-product of the comedic approach is the look of the movie. Instead of the dark, dull, forbidding color scheme of the first movie, the sequel is supposed to be bright, funny, and altogether welcoming. Thus, you get bright sunshine (sometimes a bit too bright from the characters' point of view) and varied color. The animation hasn't changed all too much, unlike The Land Before Time's sequels for video. The animation retains a bit of Don Bluth's touch, though still a bit different. Altogether, the animation is just about as good as it could be in 1991.

The film as a whole is a gem, but the one thing truly, wonderfully beautiful thing about Fievel Goes West is James Horner's immortal soundtrack. The songs are just as good as An American Tail, which is saying a lot; besides, you have a brutally edited reprise of "Somewhere Out There" from the first film, sung by Tanya. Speaking of Tanya, she's voiced by someone different, presumably to allow for her great singing. For proof, all you need to do is listen to "Dreams To Dream". Great though the aspiring singer is, the end credits rendition of the song by the crazy Lindstradt lady is beautiful.

In Fievel Goes West, our title protagonist is lost on the way to Green River, where he will supposedly find a new lease on life with his family and lots of other hopeful mice. But the dream is shattered when Fievel explores the train, and finds a bunch of cats and a huge spider, led by the smooth talking Cat R. Waul, plotting to befriend the mice before turning them into mouse-burgers by means of a mysterious "better mousetrap"! But Fievel is found out, and the spider knocks him off the train, leaving him hopelessly lost in the desert. I thought they might have made up something different, not the whole mouse-gets-lost-must-return-to-family routine. I couldn't help feeling they'd done that before. However, Dom DeLuise returns for a bigger part alongside the legendary canine sheriff Wylie Burp.

So, overall, what of this sequel? Well, it certainly does the original justice. Yes, it does lack the heart of the original, but having less heart than An American Tail does in no way mean being heartless. Don Bluth might not have had a hand in this, but Fievel Goes West lives up to Bluth's classic story of a little mouse called Fievel.

Animation-9/10; Story-7/10; Plot-7/10; Comedy-8.5/10 = Overall-8/10

I can TOTALLY see why I liked this more than the first as a kid; it's funnier, brighter, faster, more action-packed and the chaotically entertaining Tiger is given way more. It's also nowhere near as powerful or beautiful as the first; all the strong racial metaphors and immigrant sympathy is gone. Nonetheless, it's simple, cartoon-y fun that holds up...at least with nostalgia, anyway.

Well, this is one of those films that seems about a step-and-a-half away from being truly great. You have undeniable star power in John Cleese, James Stewart, and Don Bluth regular Dom deLuis. You have a handful of snappy tunes. You have bright colors and technically brilliant animation. Yet I watched it and came away from it thinking, "There was something wrong with this flick. What was it?" After due deliberations, the answer came to me: the writing.

The script is little more than a clothesline on which to hang a series of visual gags and opportunities for Cleese to give his character a few Pythonian scenes. It takes a promising premise for an entertaining sequel and burdens it with instantly forgettable songs (snappy though they were) and an insufferably cute protagonist. It's great for kids, don't get me wrong. If you're childless, however, save it for video and watch it for the quality of the animation. While astounding, it can't make up for the lack of story.

This episodic sequel to "An American Tail" is worth seeing if for nothing more than to hear James Stewart's voice as Sheriff Wylie Burp. Stewart is my favorite actor of the past times, and it's always a delight to hear him. The rest of the movie is mediocre and forgettable at best. Some people thought it was an improvement over the first film, but I wonder why? Sure, the original was sentimental and predictable, but it had the classic song "Somewhere Out There" written by James Horner, and also a much better, straight-forward story. The second movie seems more of a Saturday-morning cartoon style western comedy. There's very little story or heart. I guess more people prefer the light-heartedness of this movie than the sentimentality of the first. Now I won't knock this movie for some who like it, but I wish the first film was more appreciated by people. See this only for James Stewart's voice. Note: I also liked the main character of Fievel better as an immigrant from the first movie.