The Secret of NIMH

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The Secret Of NIMH
Right before your eyes and beyond your wildest dreams.
Directed by	Don Bluth
Produced by	Aurora Pictures
Written by	Don Bluth, Robert O'Brien, Will Finn, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy
Starring	Elizabeth Hartman, Derek Jacobi, Dom DeLuise
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	July 2, 1982
Running time	82 min.
Language	English
Budget	N/A
IMDb profile

This article is about the film. For the type of battery, see NiMH.

The Secret of NIMH (alternatively spelled "The Secret of N.I.M.H.") is a 1982 animated film adaptation of the Newbery Medal-winning book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, written by American author Robert C. O'Brien. The title of the movie was later used for newer editions of the book. It was directed by Don Bluth, produced by Aurora Pictures, and released by United Artists.

1 Plot
2 Comments and criticisms on the film
3 Sequel
4 Cast
5 Other info
6 External links

[edit] Plot

A widowed field mouse, Mrs. Brisby, attempts to find help to save her son Timothy. Tim has pneumonia, and therefore cannot leave the Brisby home to avoid the spring plowing. At the advice of the Great Owl, she seeks the help of the rats who live in a nearby rosebush who are also highly intelligent because of experiments performed on them in a NIMH lab. Because Mrs. Brisby's husband, Jonathan, (who was one of the few mice to manage to escape from NIMH with the rats) was highly respected, the leader of the rats, Nicodemus, and a rat named Justin agree to help move the Brisby home, which essentially is a cinder block. Nicodemus also gives Mrs. Brisby a pendant with a ruby in it. Apparently full of magic power, he wants her to keep it safe. Justin tells Mrs. Brisby that the rats are planning to move far away so that they don't have to steal from the nearby farm family anymore. Secretly, however, two rats named Jenner and Sullivan, opposed to the idea of moving, plan on killing Nicodemus. In preparation for moving the Brisby home, the farm's cat, Dragon, must be drugged. Mrs. Brisby offers to do it. Everything goes well, however she is caught by the farmer's son who keeps her in a cage as a pet. Inside the house, Mrs. Brisby hears the farmer on the phone with NIMH. She realizes that NIMH is coming to capture the rats and escapes the cage to warn Justin. Meanwhile, the rats rig up a rope and pully system to lift and move the home. When the home (which is a huge stone block) is over Nicodemus, Jenner orders Sullivan to cut the ropes and drop the home on the rat's leader. Sullivan refuses to kill Nicodemus and Jenner stabs him, then cuts the ropes himself. Nicodemus is crushed and Justin is devastated. Jenner tells the rats that the Brisby home can't be moved and that they should stay at the rose bush. Mrs. Brisby shows up and tries to warn everyone about the arrival of NIMH. Jenner sees her pendant and tries to take it. Justin sword fights him and Sullivan manages to throw a dagger into Jenner's back before he dies. Shortly afterwards, the Brisby home starts to sink in mud, while Mrs. Brisby's four children are still inside. Mrs. Brisby runs to the house and the pendant sends out a light that lifts the house from the mud, to safety. Afterwards, Justin becomes the new leader of the rats. Mrs. Brisby gives him the pendant and the rats leave the farm. Timothy recovers and the Brisby life becomes happier.

[edit] Comments and criticisms on the film

The film garnered critical acclaim for being one of the most vibrantly animated films ever made. ^{[citation needed]} The film was Bluth's answer to the growing lack of quality in feature animation predominantly released by Disney. Bluth believed the old techniques were being abandoned in favor of cheaper ones, and the only way animation could survive was to continue traditional production methods. Bluth and a few other animators left Disney to prove this. Bluth subsequently deployed many techniques used by Disney in legendary feature animations such as Sleeping Beauty, and experimented with several new techniques. For instance, to make the glowing letters he used a technique called backlight animation, where the animation cels were laid over a light source to make it look like light was coming out from some areas of the cels. A modern version of the multiplane camera was also invented.

Despite good reviews, the film only did moderately well in the box office. The film was released around the same time as the Steven Spielberg blockbuster E.T.. A major dispute between Aurora Productions, the studio which financed NIMH, and United Artists which had bought Aurora prior to the film's release and added scheduling and marketing difficulties, may also have affected NIMH's commercial success. The film was also found to be surprisingly scary and violent for many young children despite its MPAA "G" rating, and the Walt Disney Company originally rejected this project because it was perceived to be "too dark" and complicated to be a financial hit.

Nevertheless, the movie garnered a passionate cult following that arose from its successful home video release and also made quite an impact to the animation world in general. Steven Spielberg loved the film so much that he insisted he work with Don Bluth to create An American Tail . Despite An American Tail's greater financial success, many consider The Secret of NIMH Bluth's best work.

[edit] Sequel

The film was followed up with The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy To The Rescue (in 1998), a straight-to-video release. This movie was made without Don Bluth's permission.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Elizabeth Hartman	Mrs. Brisby
John Carradine	The Great Owl
Dom DeLuise	Jeremy
Derek Jacobi	Nicodemus
Arthur Malet	Mr. Ages
Hermione Baddeley	Auntie Shrew
Peter Strauss	Justin
Paul Shenar	Jenner
Shannen Doherty	Teresa
Jodi Hicks	Cynthia
Wil Wheaton	Martin
Ian Fried	Timothy
Tom Hatten	Farmer Paul Fitzgibbons
Lucille Bliss	Mrs. Beth Fitzgibbons
Joshua Lawrence	Billy Fitzgibbons

[edit] Other info

This movie was called in Spanish "La ratoncita valiente"

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Secret of NIMH

Don Bluth
Video Games
Dragon's Lair (1983) • Space Ace (1984) • Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp (1991)
Animated films
The Small One (1978) • Banjo the Woodpile Cat (1982) • The Secret of NIMH (1982) • An American Tail (1986) • The Land Before Time (1988) • All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) • Rock-A-Doodle (1991) • Thumbelina (1994) • A Troll in Central Park (1994) • The Pebble and the Penguin (1995) • Anastasia (1997) • Bartok the Magnificent (1999) • Titan A.E. (2000)