It is an oddity of our times, and a rather astonishing one, to realize that the creation of a G-rated "family style" motion picture is somehow an act of courage. The plain fact is that almost nobody makes G-rated things anymore, and I would include in this everything from automobiles to baseball players to blue jeans to bicycles.
Today, however, a masterful piece of G work is showing up at our neighborhood movie theaters, presumably to strive against all the "Things" and "Poltergeists" that mark our age as one of skewed sensibilities and, not a little, hideous junk.
The movie is entitled "The Secret of NIMH." It is a full-length animated feature starring a mouse, a crow, an owl and some rats, and it stands right up there with "Bambi" or "Pinocchio" as an example of "classic" animation films. It is also a remembrance of things past, when Walt Disney was the emperor of our cinematic ice cream.
"The Secret of NIMH," based on the popular Newbery Award-winning book, "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien, is easily the best animated affair since Disney Studios lost track of such things. Its characters are strongly developed, beautifully realized, and they hop about in an environment of gorgeous colors and, now and then, alarming shadows. The story even has a good script.
The Disney style here is unabashedly evident. That's attributable to the simple fact that "NIMH" was created by Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, each of whom "defected" from Disney Studios several years ago.
At the time, they said they were displeased that Disney seemed to be awash with departmentalized lethargy, and that its creative drive had waned under the awkward embrace of corporate committees and bureaucracy. These factors seemed the fallout of success, to say nothing of the lower regard in which animators were held when the company set up its big world-famous subsidiary in Anaheim.
Bluth and his cronies departed with a singular belief that the so-called "classic" animation style that had nurtured audiences in the '40s, could be made vital and captivating in this the age of Saturday morning cartoons and "Star Wars."
Whether it will be considered vital by kids, parent, near or distant cousins of all stripes remains to be seen. But the film has masterfully wrought snap, an enthralling artistic beauty, an innocence that, like a song, virtually inspires indulgence.
"The Secret of NIMH" is the story of a widowed mouse who finds herself in desperate circumstances. She must move her little house and her family before it and they are destroyed by a farmer's plow in spring. Her situation is complicated by the fact that one of her sons is suffering from pneumonia and cannot be exposed to the cold and wet of early April. In her valiant attempts to move, she must solicit the help of some neighboring rats, all of whom escaped from the National Institute of Mental Health, and are themselves the objects of man's destructive urges.
The sweet story is not without its harrowing moments. "NIMH" is rich in fearsome shadows, rude awakenings, the dog-eat-dog constituency that is mother nature's animal world. But throughout a warmth and finer sense of humanity offer both poignance and humor -- not in the rat-a-tat cacaphony that characterizes the TV cartoon scene with its bash 'em style, but with genuine fluidity and graphic beauty. Even the drops of water are small fantasias of loveliness.
The voices of the creatures will be instantly recognizable to many: Elizabeth Hartman as the mouse, Mrs. Brisby; Dom DeLuise as the comic crow, Jeremy; John Carradine as the Great Owl; Peter Strauss as the young rat hero Justin.
You may ask yourself, upon seeing the film, why the name of the attractive heroine has been changed from Mrs. Frisby to Mrs. Brisby. This, in itself, is a little story of contemporary ignominy.
The facts are these: A large company called Wham-O manufactures and sells a product called Frisbee. A little company called Don Bluth Productions asked Wham-O if their widowed mouse could be called Frisby, since that was her name in the much-loved children's book. The big company called Wham-O said sure, no problem, except that no guarantees would be given that Wham-O wouldn't sue for copyright infringement.
...So much for G-rated innocence in this hard, crazy world!
Capsule Review: July 4 1982
THE SECRET OF NIMH--(At the Stonestown and Spruce Drive-in) The first full-length feature by Don Bluth and his cohorts, who left Disney Studios hoping to revitalize the classic animation style made famous by Walt Disney in "Bambi," "Pinocchio" and other films. The result is a first-class production, an excellent old-fashioned entertainment. Loosely based on Robert C. O'Brien's book "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH," it's the story of a widowed mouse's struggle to save her children from destruction. The film carries us to a wonderful, sometimes scary, underworld of colorful animal characters. Grating cynics need not apply. --P. Stack