An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster
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| An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster | |
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 An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster |
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| Directed by | Larry Latham |
| Produced by | Larry Latham |
| Written by | Len Uhley |
| Starring | Thomas Dekker Robert Hays Susan Boyd Candi Milo Lacey Chabert |
| Music by | Michael Tavera |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios Home Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | December 9, 1999 (Germany) July 25, 2000 (USA) |
| Running time | 78 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island |
| IMDb profile | |
An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster was the second and last direct-to-video sequel to An American Tail, starring Thomas Alexander Dekker as the main character, the young Fievel Mousekewitz. This film was first released on December 9, 1999, in Germany. In the United States, it was released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment in 2000. The ending of this film shows Fievel falling asleep which may mark that there wouldn't be another American Tail film.
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[edit] Plot
Fievel, his friend Tony (the two male mice pictured above) and his sister Tanya, all get a job at the local newspaper, where the audience is introduced to Nellie (the female mouse pictured above), who wants to be an imporant reporter, but only gets small assignments, as if she were a secretary to Reed, the newspaper's editor. Throughout the film, both Nellie and Tanya try to win Reed's heart, while Tony tries to win Nellie's heart. Like in the previous movies where a mouse installation is directly below its human installation counterpart, the newspaper offices the mice work in is directly underneath the newspaper offices the humans work in.
Nellie gets a chance when she is assigned to report mice who dissapear overnight into holes that open up on their floor all over New York. Reed makes up a, as Nellie calls it, "so-called monster" that lives under Manhattan and takes mice away during the night to add more excitement to the otherwise unimportant story, intending to sell more papers. The night monster creates fears among the readers, as could be expected.
A particularly suspicious miniature french poodle who has started living among the mice about this time appears at every crime scene. The heroes finally decide to investigate her by means of the "dog council" that meets at Central Park. They also search down one of the holes, which leads directly to a group of cats hiding in the sewers. Also, all the mice that had dissapeared are being held in wood cages there.
The night monster itself, a mechanic device with ghastly flashing pictures and a circular saw, is revealed in full when it attacks the mice newspaper office and printing press to prevent them from printing the truth, which they had just discovered. A great chase scene takes place throughout both the mice and the human newspaper offices. Reed reveals that he was in love with Nellie all along. When all the cats seem to be under control, the "dog council" appears just as they're regaining consciousness and chase them all away.
The last scene takes place at the beach, where the audience is told that the "dog council" had chosen for the french poodle (the mastermind behind the night monster) a punishment worse than prison: returning her to her owner. Mrs. Mousekewitz, Fievel's mother, surmises saying that now that the mystery has been cleared up, Fievel may finally go to sleep, only to turn around and find him already asleep on the beach towel.
[edit] Animation style
Of note is the greatly diminished use of the rotoscope, in comparison with all the previous films in the American Tail series, and the more realistic coloring of the characters. This was possibly intended on bringing the characters up to date with new drawing styles that had evolved in the 14 years that had passed since the first American Tail film back in 1986.
[edit] Characters
- Fievel Mousekewitz (voiced by Thomas Dekker): A little mouse.
- Tanya Mousekewitz (voiced by Lacey Chabert): Fievel's sister.
- Mama & Papa Mousekewitz (voiced by Susan Silo and Nehemiah Persoff): Fievel's parents
- Yasha Mousekewitz (not voiced): Fievel's baby sister.
- Tiger (voiced by Dom DeLuise): The only cat friend of the Jewish-Russian mouse family.
- Tony Toponi (voiced by Pat Musick): Fievel's friend.
Other Voices:
- Susan Boyd (Nellie Brie)
- Robert Hays (Reed Dailey)
- Candi Milo (Madame Mousey, the meanest, witchiest miniature French poodle)
