An American Tail: Fievel Goes West is an animated film produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblimation animation studio, presented by Universal Pictures. It is the sequel to 1986′s An American Tail. Don Bluth, the original film’s director, had no involvement with this sequel. Instead, it was directed by Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells. Wells went on to do We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story, Balto, and The Time Machine, while Phil went on to co-direct We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story and direct his own independent features.
The film follows the story of a family of Jewish-Russian mice who emigrate to the Wild West. In the film, Fievel Mousekewitz is separated from his family as the train approaches the American Old West; the film chronicles Fievel and Sheriff Wylie Burp (played by James Stewart in his final film) teaching Tiger how to act like a dog. It is the second film released in the American Tail series, but the fourth installment in terms of the series’ fictional chronology.
It is the sole theatrical sequel to An American Tail, and was followed at the end of the 1990s by another two direct-to-video sequels, both of which took place chronologically before this film. A continuation of this installment, Fievel’s American Tails, aired on the CBS Television Network in 1992.
Production
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West was the first production for Steven Spielberg’s Amblimation animation studio, a collaboration of Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment, whose offices were located in London. There, over 250 crew members worked on the project, which began in May 1989. At the time, Amblimation was also developing We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story, and a screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, which never saw completion.
Owing to creative differences, Don Bluth parted ways with Steven Spielberg, with whom he had directed the original American Tail, as well as the first of 13 Land Before Time films. With no Bluth in sight for the sequel, Spielberg instead relied on Phil Nibbelink, a former Disney animator, and Simon Wells, the grandson of science-fiction author H.G. Wells, to direct the project.
The Frankie Laine song Rawhide is played at the tumbleweed scene of this film, although the version used is from The Blues Brothers.
In addition to a new voice actress, the character of Tanya was heavily redesigned as well. Tiger had minor changes, as does Yasha (the baby) and Fievel looks slightly older.
James Horner returned to write the score to the movie, reusing old themes and introducing new ones.
Reception & box office
Fievel Goes West was a critical failure upon its initial release. It was released in the United States on November 22, 1991 — the same day that another animated film, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, was released. Beauty was the better-received universally, grossing over $110 million and eventually becoming a Best Picture nominee at the Oscars.
Commercially, West grossed less than its predecessor; it opened in fourth place with $3,435,625 despite being shown on nearly 1,700 theaters and eventually made just over $22 million domestically, and $40 million worldwide, for a total of $65,435,625.. By contrast, the original Tail made $47.4 million in the U.S. in 1986, a record at the time for non-Disney animated feature., and a further $36 million worldwide, for a total of $84 million.
Characters
- Fievel Mousekewitz (Phillip Glasser) is a mouse, and the main character of the American Tail franchise; in this installment, he is mostly seen with a cowboy hat on his head, that appears to be reversible into his trademark blue hat. Fievel dreams of fighting alongside his hero, Wylie Burp and being a western hero. Although Tiger and Wylie do much of the work in the final fight scene, Fievel is just as important. At the finale, Wylie gives him his own badge.
- Tanya Mousekewitz (Cathy Cavadini) is Fievel’s sister, who dreams of becoming a singer, and gets her wish thanks to Miss Kitty in Green River. Near the end, she looks at her reflection in the water and washes off her makeup, implying that she realizes she was a star in her own right all along. She also gets two of the movie’s songs, “Dreams to Dream” and “The Girl You Left Behind.”
- Mama & Papa Mousekewitz (Erica Yohn and Nehemiah Persoff) are Fievel’s parents. Papa is still an optimist about new things, especially moving out west.
- Yasha Mousekewitz (no voice credited) is Fievel’s baby sister. Although she is seen more than she did in the original movie, she still only has a very minor role.
- Tiger (Dom DeLuise) is the only cat friend of the Jewish-Russian mouse family. Throughout the movie, he is depicted as a wimp, being chased and bullied constantly by dogs, and revealed to be arachniphobic when he sees Chula for the first time. He later overcomes this fears, becoming more like a dog and taking on Chula after the spider threatens Miss Kitty.
- Miss Kitty (Amy Irving) is a caricature of Dorothy Gibson and Tiger’s girlfriend. She leaves Tiger early on to go down to Green River, looking for a cat who’s more like a dog. She clearly regrets this decision later, in a scene where she remembers all the good times she had with Tiger. Although she is seen in the company of Cat R. Waul, she never shows any evil intentions or disliking of mice. In fact, it is implied that she was never even aware of Cat R. Waul’s plots in the first place. In the end, she is seen happily in the arms of Tiger.
- Wylie Burp (James Stewart) is the aging lawdog of Green River, Fievel’s idol, and a caricature of the real Wild West lawman Wyatt Earp.
- Cat R. Waul (John Cleese) is a caricature of J.P. Morgan and Fievel’s arch-nemesis. He is an aristocratic British cat who plans on exploiting the mice to do labor and then eat them. He has many henchmen and must force them to refrain from eating the mice at all times, or else his plan will fail. Although a convincing conman, he shows that he is not the world’s greatest actor in an early scene where he attempts to do a southern accent (which consists of him awkwardly throwing “y’all” (which, being a cat, he pronounces “yowl”) in at the ends of his sentences). Although later thrown out of Green River, he returns in the follow-up series, through his only accomplice here is Chula.
- Chula the Tarantula (Jon Lovitz) is a caricature of Butch Cassidy and Fievel’s other arch-nemesis, and Cat R. Waul’s main sidekick. Several times throughout the movie, he attacks Fievel and comes very close to catching him at a few points, but is easily outwitted by the crafty mouse. He later takes Miss Kitty hostage, but is thrashed by an angry Tiger and is tossed out of town along with the rest of the cats. He is the only other returning villain in the follow-up series, along with Cat R. Waul.
- Tony, Bridget, and Honest John from the first movie all make cameos. Tony and Bridget are seen during the Homestead Strike (presumably married, now with a child) and later when everyone is settling into Green River. Honest John is seen for a second during “Way Out West” when politicians are mentioned.
- Additional Voices Charlie Adler, Jack Angel, Steve Bulen, Sherry Lynn, Mickie T. McGowan, Patrick Pinney & Frank Welker
