An American Tail

Cartoons with ambitions even this noble are as rare as Steven Spielberg films that lose money, but every character and every situation presented herein have been seen a thousand times before.

The overall quality of the animation -- baroquely executed if rather conventionally conceived -- makes it worth a look

For all its state-of-the-art animation techniques, Spielberg's production remains resolutely conservative: visually it's virtually indistinguishable from Walt at his wimpiest.

Witless if well-meaning.

A bright-eyed tale of Jewish triumphs that will find a place in many young hearts.

he movie has such vague ethnic grounds, however, that only a few children will understand or care that the Mousekewitzes are Jewish. And few of those are likely to be entertained by such a tragic, gloomy story.

An intimate and entertaining animated epic...

Adorable, heartwarming tale of immigrant mouse.

Its sappiness is unmissably sincere, and such aching, embarrassing sincerity is never an evil thing in a movie.

There's nothing particularly special about An American Tail, save for Bluth's slick animation.

The story is moving, and the animation includes some powerful images, although some of the early scenes depicting the suffering of the mice in Russia may be too frightening for younger viewers.

Like other Spielberg-produced features, this one pays homage to old movie traditions (live-action Westerns) and icons, but the film has been made mechanically.