The Secret Of Nimh

The Secret Of Nimh. What can you say about this masterpiece of a movie? 

It has great characters, great animation, great story telling and most importantly 

of all; great balancing of all those elements for kids and adults. It is based on the book Mrs Frisby and the rats of Nimh by Richard C, O'Brien and directed by one of the great animation masters Don Bluth. The film has many themes such as the unknown, the evolution of science and of course, science vs nature 

The Story - 10/10

The story is (on the surface) a science vs nature film. But if you watch the movie, you'll see that it is in a way. But there is way more to it than that. The story follows a small widowed field mouse named Mrs Brisby (they changed the name so they couldn't be sued by a frisby company). Who needs to move her family away to a safer place before the farmer's plow destroys their home. The only problem is that one of her 4 children: Martin, Teresa, Cynthia and Timothy has pneumonia and can not get out of bed for three weeks. So she goes to see the Great Owl (which is the owl on the cover) to ask him what to do. He then tells her to go and see a group of highly intelligent rats to go and get help. These rats are clever because of experiments that have made them able to harness electricity from the farmer's house and read.

The Characters - 9/10

The main characters are all either rats or mice, but they are all very strong characters - 

Mrs Brisby was voiced by Elizabeth Hartman (this was the last film she would ever work on before dying). She played this very scared but likeable character. She was the type of mother who would go to great lengths to ensure the safety of her children and whenever she was in fear, I was in fear.

Nicodemus (the old rat on the cover) was voiced Derek Jacobi who also was in Gladiator (2000), Hamlet (1996) and recently in the new Cinderella movie. He played a sort of mouse Yoda or a mouse Mr Miyagi. He seems like the nice old guy that seems old and feeble but is actually a very helpful mentor.

The film also has the voice talents of Dom DeLuise, John Carradine, Hermione Baddeley and Whil Wheaton (which was the first film he ever worked on) and many others.

The Animation - 9/10

The animation is unbelievably nice to look at. It feels like a Disney movie from the 50's, Don Bluth apparently did this to try and remind people of those movies to save the animation media. This was a bit of a problem for the animators though, because it was harder to do and was time consuming. So it went up with the plan and down with the plan.

But the way it animates the creatures and the environments is so majestic and depth-carrying, I don't think Disney would go this far! Another thing to mention is when the lighting of a mystical beam or energy surge feels blinding. This film has some of the best animation you will ever see in a 2D animated film and I imagine will still hold up in the future.

Conclusion

Overall this film is truly a masterpiece of animation and also the best Don Bluth movie he has ever made. The Secret of Nimh is such an underrated movie and deserve way more attention than it gets. It may seem like a dark Disney film but trust me, it is not. This is a milestone for animation and hands down one my favourite movies. I only regret that i didn't see it when I was a little kid, I saw this when I was a teenager with a lot more sense for films nowadays.

But overall this film is deserving of it's rating of 

9.5/10

I do not own any of the following pictures. The Secret of Nimh is owned by Aurora and Don Bluth Productions