An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
Aired	April 17, 2018
Running Time	16:48
Previous Review	Jack and Jill
Next Review	TBA
Link	http://channelawesome.com/an-american-tail-fievel-goes-west-nostalgia-critic/

(The Channel Awesome logo is displayed, followed by 2018 title sequence)

NC: Hello, I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it so you don't have to. In 1986, Don Bluth released the animated classic An American Tail.

(Footage of the movie is shown)

NC (vo): With an aggressive yet still heartfelt tone, it chronicled the lives of a family separated, used clever commentary to display the expectation versus the reality of immigrants arriving in America, and showed the power of the fighting spirit to locate what you thought was lost forever.

NC: And then the sequel came out. (a shot of the poster for said sequel, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, is displayed in the corner) It's a cowboy movie! (grins and nods)

(The title for this movie is displayed, followed by footage of it)

NC (vo): Released in 1991, Fievel Goes West clearly has little connection with the original in terms of tone, animation, or even the people who made it, and instead decides to make a goofy western. I don't know why this movie exists, why they took this angle with it, or why fate was so cruel to make it Jimmy Stewart's last role. But, here we are. Does it have any charm, brilliance or charisma on par with the original? Did John Cleese turn down the role of (A shot of Cogsworth appears in the corner) Cogsworth to play the villain in this instead?

(Cut to a clip of Fawlty Towers: Basil Fawlty jumping up and down, looking up and shaking his fist in frustration)

Basil: THANK YOU, GOD! THANK YOU SO BLOODY MUCH!

NC: (grudgingly) Let's take a look at Fievel Goes West.

(The movie starts, showing Fievel having a dream about embarking on an adventure with his hero, the dog Sheriff Wylie Burp)

NC (vo): It opens with a fantasy Fievel is having about his hero, Wylie Burp.

NC: (saddened) Jimmy Stewart's last character is named Wylie Burp?! Can't we just say...

(Cut to a commercial for Campbell's Home Cookin' Soup)

NC (vo): ...this voiceover was his last appearance?

Announcer (Jimmy Stewart): It's Home Cookin' Soup.

NC: It's not much, but it's a bit more dignity.

NC (vo): So, (sighs) Wylie Burp is surrounded by the Cactus Cat Gang until Fievel comes in to save the day.

Wylie Burp (Stewart): (to Fievel) It's too tough, kid. Get out while you still can.

NC: (as Wylie) You can still have a good sequel; leave this one to the direct-to-video market.

NC (vo): Despite the style being different, it is still very good animation. It just doesn't allow itself to capture the charm of the original. In fact, it openly stops it half the time, like when Tanya tries to sing "Somewhere Out There" from the last film.

(We cut back to the real world, showing the Mousekewitz family living in a barrel, while Tanya is singing "Somewhere Out There")

Tanya: (singing) ...and loving me– (Suddenly, a tomato is thrown at her, irritating her) ...and loving me–

(Suddenly, several more bits of produce are being thrown at the mouse hole from whence she is singing; the produce is being thrown by humans!)

Papa Mousekewitz: Maybe they will throw some fruit for dessert.

(As he says this, a tomato is thrown straight through their hole)

NC: (confused) How does that even work?

NC (vo): Are there actual human people in the city who are like...

NC: (shaking his fist in the air) "Lousy James Horner singing mice! I substitute questioning this with throwing produce!" (pretends to throw something)

NC (vo): It also looks like Tanya's gone through kind of a growth spurt, looking more like a teenager now, despite her looking close to the same age as her brother in the first.

NC: Maybe it's the same altering growth spurt the National Lampoon's Vacation kids go through. (An image of all the different actors portraying the Griswold kids in National Lampoon's Vacation series is shown)

Papa: I thought things would be better in America. In Russia, my violins were famous. At least we never went hungry.

NC: (as Papa) I mean, granted, we were on fire, but my violin, yo!

(A passing train riding on a track above the barrel house rises by, giving the house and the family a bit of a shake. Then we see Tiger the cat speaking with his girlfriend, Miss Kitty, who is leaving)

NC (vo): The train they're under messes up their house...you'd think they'd be more prepared for that, living under there...while Fievel's friend Tiger, voiced again by Dom DeLuise, says goodbye to his feline love named Miss Kitty, who's going West.

Miss Kitty (Amy Irving): How do I say this? I just want a cat...who's more like a dog.

(Tiger is stunned at that comment. NC is confused)

NC: Isn't that kind of like (image of...) a seal saying she wants someone like (image of...) a shark?

(A group of cats suddenly shows up and attacks the mice)

NC (vo): And because the first film opened with a cat attack, why not this one, too? Except where the first one had oppressive Russian commentary, this one has...

(The movie's antagonist, an aristocrat cat named Cat R. Waul, appears)

Cat R. Waul (John Cleese): Pay attention.

NC: ...John Cleese in a monocle commentary.

(Fievel rushes to grab his blue hat)

NC (vo): Fievel, like a dumbass, thinks he can fight them, transforming his blue hat into a white cowboy hat.

(Fievel turns the hat inside out to make the white cowboy hat, just as said)

NC: I don't know what's stranger: the fact that...

(The scene from the first film is briefly shown, with Fievel recieving the blue hat from Papa)

NC (vo): ...such a huge symbol from the last film is turned into a throwaway joke...

NC: ...or that Fievel's dad probably never realized it could do that!

(The scene of Fievel making a cowboy hat is shown again)

NC: (as Papa) Oh, my God! I could've turned that thing inside out and sold it for a fortune! How do the mechanics of that work?

(The Mousekewitzes fall into the sewers, where they find a crowd of mice listening to a rat in a cowboy clothes...or rather, a marionette controlled by Cat R. Waul from above)