I rewatched this film to see if it would be suitable to show to my 4 year old daughter. And while the answer is a resounding 'no' I did rediscover this rare, beautiful and surprisingly moving animated marvel.

Don Bluth is a genius. He is one of the best animators ever and I'm glad he had enough of Disney, left there fighting and made this. There's a good chance this film would not have existed otherwise.
With Bluth's characteristic animation style, we are given the story of a mouse seeking help from a group of intelligent rats as her son is sick and she has to leave her house. Throw in a wise owl and a host of other talking…

I have only the vaguest memories of watching this when I was a kid, which always seemed odd to me because it's beloved by so many people who saw it when they were young. Watching it again last night, I think I understand why. There's something about The Secret of NIMH I can't put my finger on where, while I understood the basic plot as I was watching (genetically engineered superintelligent mice need to find a new home with the help of genetically engineered superintelligent rats), it was like I was functionally unable to engage with anything that was going on. I can't really explain my reaction in rational terms; Don Bluth's first movie after his split with Disney is…

Having recently reread Robert C. O'Brien's book, I couldn't help but be a little annoyed at some of the major changes to the NIMH story. I don't mind the typical movie alterations of characters, the amplification of action scenes, the addition of silly humor, the inclusion of a rat sword fight, etc. I actually love that stuff. What bothered me was Bluth replacing the more interesting and nuanced science-fiction aspect of O'Brien's NIMH with dumbed-down numinous amulets and magical powers.

Structurally, one scene in particular makes no sense in light of the supernatural shift: the magical Nicodemus is shown conjuring some sort of mystical inception spell to convince Mrs. Brisby to go seek help from the Great Owl, which she…

Saw this as a kid, but it wasn't one of my childhood movies and I had forgotten details of it. There were moments etched in my brain when re-watching this the other day, but the story felt brand new.

Let's start with the animation. I love what Pixar is doing, but there really is something so heartfelt about hand drawn animation. Like miniatures, the fact that human hands touched and brought them to life is something the eye sees and senses. All the imperfections are what we love, like clay-mation, stop-motion, hell even the argument of film versus digital projection, they all fall into us NOT wanting what we see on the screen to be "perfect" because life, nature is…

In the time I'd seen this movie as a child on VHS and in the time it came to theaters, The Secret of NIMH was pretty extraordinary for animation in crafting a serious story with spellbinding animation that could appeal to all ages. For a kid's film, it's very unusual and serious to behold because it's not just about a bunch of mice being cute and falling into humorous situations like you would see in An American Tail or The Rescuers, but it's delving into a serious exploration of a world that is full of secrets that is both intriguing and frightening.

Our hero Mrs. Brisby is a very serious character who makes you believe she's a woman in a…

As a child I quite liked this film, and there are certainly still parts of it to appreciate as an adult. I'm not normally a fan of the animated style of Don Bluth, but this movie is absolutely gorgeous. The character models, the movement, the backgrounds, everything works together to create a beautiful movie, and one well worth watching for fans of animation on that score alone.

I remembered the movie as being more mature than many of the cartoons of that era, including my beloved Disney cartoons, and I think it is. The themes are a little darker, and there's not as much humor and broad characters as one often found in cartoons in the 1980s (not exactly a…