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An American Tail: The Treasure Of Manhattan Island: Review

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Times are tough in the ghetto. Sadly, greedy business rats have conspired to underpay their rodent laborers, and Fievel's papa works night and day to put cheese on the table. In league with corrupt police, the factory owners keep a watchful eye on Mr. Mousekewitz, who's a spokesperson for the working mice. Meanwhile, Fievel and his pals, Tony Mouse and Tiger Cat, explore an abandoned subway and stumble upon a treasure map from a subterranean city inhabited by Native American mice. Unfortunately, ingenuous Fievel takes the map to Dr. Dithering, whose assistant Scuttlebutt is a paid informant for the business rats. Accompanied by Scuttlebutt, Fievel's exploratory party locates the indigenous mice who've shunned ground-level civilization. Fievel immediately develops a crush on the Chieftain'sdaughter and — hoping to bridge the gap between their two worlds — invites her to visit "Upper" Manhattan, little realizing that the factory owners are already scheming to exploit the noble Injun mice. Is this a cartoon or another Studs Terkel musical? This turn-of-the-century, animated musical celebrates the immigrant spirit as well as the producers' ability to squeeze another movie out of its faded franchise about the Mousekewitz clan. Lacking the charisma of Mickey or the oomph of Mighty, the diminutive hero, Fievel, is a goody-two-shoes with a Broadway-size voice. Musically, you can dub this "Rat-time," because the songs resemble the Ahrens-Flaherty hit Ragtime in terms of melodic copy-catting, if not lyrical inventiveness. And this being the era of pop bombast, every tune soars heavenward as if it were intended for the larynx of Celine Dion. Although the bright and bubbly animation lacks depth, these cute little vermin have just enough personality to make tykes unaware they're being spoonfed ethnic-harmony aphorisms. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
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