Old School Lane Casual Chats: An American Tail

In this episode of Casual Chats, Arun and Patricia look back on the American Tail franchise starting with the first film released in 1986. A Russian-Jewish family called the Mousekewitzes consisting of Mama, Papa, their daughter Tanya, their son Fievel, and baby Yasha, decide to move to America to have a prosperous life with no cats attacking them. Fievel gets lost while a giant wave crashes on the ship the immigrants were in going to America and now has to find them when arriving in New York City. Fievel goes through many obstacles, meets up with other mice like Tony Toponi, Bridget, Honest John, and Gussy, and the evil corrupted leader of a cat gang named Warren T. Rat. Will Fievel reunite with his family?When the film premiered in theaters, it made $84.5 million dollars out of a $9 million dollar budget beating the Disney animated film The Great Mouse Detective which came out a few months prior. It received positive reviews from critics and viewers and made Don Bluth a household name. The song "Somewhere Out There" became a huge hit in the radio charts and was the first non-Disney song to be nominated for Best Original Song in the Academy Awards. It's still regarded as an animated classic. What did Arun and Patricia think of the film?