Relaxed screening

An American Tail

Immigrant Fievel Mousekewitz searches for family and freedom on the scuzzy streets of 1880s New York, in Don Bluth’s Amblin-produced animated gem.

  • Director

    Don Bluth

  • With

    Phillip Glasser, Dom DeLuise, Christopher Plummer, Erica Yohn

  • USA 1986. 80min

  • 35mm

  • Certificate

    U

In 1986, Disney was knocked off its perch by this heartwarming animation from executive producer Steven Spielberg and director Don Bluth. A veteran of the Disney machine, Bluth was able to recapture the magic that his former employers seemed, at the time, to have lost, populating his film with delightful animal characters, dazzling set pieces and pint-sized peril. An American Tail foregoes Disney’s fondness for European folklore, instead offering an immigrant’s fairytale of New York: an idyllic dreamland of peace and prosperity. As Fievel’s father sums up in song, ‘There are no cats in America and the streets are paved with cheese’. Screening from an original release print that has retained its rich, warm colours through the use of Fuji film stock.

Michael Leader

Access information

Relaxed screenings are presented for neurodivergent audiences, with their companions and assistants. More detailed information can be found at bfi.org.uk/relaxed.