History WesternAnimation / TheSecretOfNIMH

* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Another reason why The Great Owl is certifiably RuleOfCool incarnate. He's even voiced by John Carradine!

** Let's not forget TheKarateKid (the ''first'' one), [[{{ER}} Dr. David Morgenstern]], the announcer for {{Digimon}}, [[AnAmericanTail Fievel]] (yes, really), [[TheCarolBurnettShow Harvey Korman]], [[TheSpectacularSpiderMan Dr. Otto Octavius]] and oh yeah, [[TheRutles Eric]] '''''[[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]]''''' [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Idle]]!

''The Secret Of NIMH'' was Don Bluth's first feature film after leaving Disney; it was even produced a decade after Disney itself had turned down adapting the original story. Bluth used traditional tools and methods as a way of fighting back against the movement towards lower production costs (and lower quality animation). While the film did poorly at the box office -- thanks in part to [[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial its competition]] -- [[VindicatedByHistory it has come to be regarded as a masterpiece of animation in the years since its release]], with many animation enthusiasts and film critics regarding it as Bluth's best work. The film was released on DVD twice -- once as a single-disc set with no special features, and once as a two-disc "Family Fun Edition" that included a feature-length commentary from Bluth himself -- and 2011 saw a Blu-Ray release for the film.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Jenner's plan is clever in theory: destroy the Brisby House and kill Nicodemus so that the rats are stuck on the farm and he can become their ruler. The flaw in the plan is that he won't be able to rule them for very long because soon the rosebush will be destroyed and they'll all die. Not such a MagnificentBastard after all?

* GoryDiscretionShot: Both played straight and averted. While Nicodemus' death occurs off-camera, we see the owl causally devour a still-living insect, Mrs. Brisby's cut (hey, it's a G-rated movie, any blood is gore), two characters stabbed, and some rather graphic depictions of animal experimentation, even if only for a few seconds.

* TheJimmyHartVersion: Some sections of "Flying Dreams" have some notes taken from "A Friendly Face", a song from ''TheSmallOne'', another Creator/DonBluth production.

* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation

* ActionMom: Ms. Brisby is an interesting example, as she's doing what she does to save her children, not because she has a love of adventure or thrill--in fact, she gets the crap scared out of her by most of the things she encounters throughout the film. But her bravery is what pulls her--and the audience--through.

* OneSceneWonder: John Carradine as the Owl. The whole scene on both a technical and emotional level could be considered Bluth's CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

!!Tropes:

* ActorAllusion: [[spoiler: Jenner's death is similar to [[Film/{{Scarface}} Tony Montana]]'s]]:[[spoiler: hitten in the back and then falled face down into a pool. Paul Shenar, who voices Jenner, played Alejandro Sosa in the same movie.]]

* ActorAllusion: [[spoiler: Jenner's death is similar to [[Film/{{Scarface}} Tony Montana's]]]]:[[spoiler: hitten in the back and then falled face down into a pool. Paul Shenar, who voices Jenner, played Alejandro Sosa in the same movie.]]

** WordofGod: Don Bluth has mentioned in an interview that the The Great Owl and Nicodemus are the same character. Their similarly styled features show this relationship, particularly their glowing eyes, denoting their divine nature. [[http://www.adammcdaniel.com/Don_Bluth_Interview3.htm ]]

** Let's not forget TheKarateKid (the ''first'' one), [[{{ER}} Dr. David Morgenstern]], the announcer for {{Digimon}}, [[AnAmericanTail Fievel]] (yes, really), [[TheCarolBurnettShow Harvey Korman]], [[TheSpectacularSpiderMan Dr. Otto Octavius]] and oh yeah, [[TheRutles Eric]] '''''[[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]]''''' [[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Idle]]!

* JerryGoldsmith

* BeardOfEvil: Jenner has one.

** What is very interesting about this is that, in the scene where Mrs. Fitzgibbon is hanging out the laundry and Dragon is sleeping near the back step (a scene which takes more of an omniscient camera view than the first-person view of the mice), he doesn't come across nearly so horrifying. Part of this may be due to him being drugged at the time, but it also comes across as him seeming a normal cat here but a monster in all his other scenes [[FridgeBrilliance because that is how a cat would look and sound to a mouse]]. (See TranslationConvention.)

* ConspicuouslyLightPatch: While the characters' fairly straightforward animation is understandable in contrast to the sumptuously painted backgrounds, when something in the background needs animating, it can be rather jarring. The mud sloshing around the Brisby's house as they're trying to move it is particularly obvious.

* FurryConfusion: The Rats angst over this quite a bit. Though, looking at the farm animals, all of them show intelligence and act somewhat like humans -- to a point. Only the insects play fully realistic parts.

** Cecil the Caterpillar; despite being a con-man and a bit on the cowardly side, he goes out of his way to help out the protagnists with little motive. [[spoiler:He is introduced saving Timmy and Jenny from an eagle]].

* ActorAllusion: [[spoiler: Jenner's death is similar to [[Film/{{Scarface}} Tony Montana's]]]]:[[spoiler: hitten in the back and then falled face down into a pool. Paul Shenar, who voices Jenner, played Alejandro Sosa in the same movie.]]

* CarnivoreConfusion:

* CobwebJungle: The Great Owl's lair. The Great Owl ''himself'', come to mention it. Hey, it [[RuleOfCool looks awesome]]!

* PowerStrainBlackout: Mrs. Brisby, immediately following the film's climax, wherein she uses The Stone for the first and only time to move her home. She collapses as its power subsides, then passes out.

* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation: One of the (if not ''the'') real instigators of it; animated films hadn't been made as seriously as this for quite a while when it came out and it would still be a few good years before ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' was made.

* {{Schizotech}} - crosses over with HammerSpace when Justin and Jenner pull out their '''swords'''. Considering that the rats adapt human technology based on their functioning understanding of it (well, at least in the novel), one might wonder where the hell they managed to come up with the idea that full-on medieval swords in tiny miniature version would be a good idea. Especially considering the kinds of heat needed to shape metal when they live in a flammable environment (it's a rose bush). In any case, for some this might lean into FridgeLogic country, and for others it leans in the opposite direction, however you can't deny that the combination of electricity, elevators, lighting... and magic and swords is a little schizoid.

* ChekhovsSkill: Timmy's ability to use a slingshot.

* LargeHam:

* OffModel: Most of the film has standard but relatively consistent animation throughout most of the movie, but then the animation gets kind of sloppy when it comes to [[spoiler: Evil!Martin]], with his facial structure (especially his nose, going from mouse-shaped to a more elongated rat-like shape in some expressions) changing a lot during his scenes.
** Although the film makes the poor decision to include some footage from the first film as an introduction; the reason this is a poor decision is both because the sequel has very little to do with the original, [[InNameOnly save the names of the characters]], but mainly because the first film was animated by Creator/DonBluth's studios. The sequel was not.

* SaveTheVillain: Well, the villain [[spoiler: ''is'' Timmy's brother, Martin]], so he had a good excuse to save him.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Jenner's plan is clever in theory: destroy the Brisby House and kill Nicodemus so that the rats are stuck on the farm and he can become their ruler. The flaw in the plan is that he won't be able to rule them for very long because soon the farm will be destroyed and they'll all die. Not such a MagnificentBastard after all?

* TheJimmyHartVersion: Some sections of ''Flying Dreams'' have some notes taken from "A Freindly Face", a song from ''TheSmallOne'', another Creator/DonBluth production.

''The Secret of NIMH'' is DonBluth's first feature-length film; it is based ''[[AdaptationDistillation very]]'' [[AdaptationDistillation loosely]] on Robert C. O'Brien's Newbery Medal Award-winning novel ''Literature/MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH''.

* TheJimmyHartVersion: Some sections of ''Flying Dreams'' have some notes taken from the A Freindly Face of ''TheSmallOne'', another DonBluth production.

** Although the film makes the poor decision to include some footage from the first film as an introduction; the reason this is a poor decision is both because the sequel has very little to do with the original, [[InNameOnly save the names of the characters]], but mainly because the first film was animated by DonBluth's studios. The sequel was not.

''This page is about the animated film'' Film/TheSecretOfNIMH. ''If you are looking for the article about the book or its literary sequels, see'' Literature/MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH.

* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Had Timmy not been sent away to Thorn Valley, a large part of the film would never have happened. In fact, any of the Brisby children could have gone instead of Timmy and the film's plot would have been exactly the same. You can even go so far to say that if Timmy hadn't prophesised to be a great hero, then [[spoiler:Martin wouldn't have run off to prove that he could have been the hero, getting himself kidnapped & BrainwashedAndCrazy]].

* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Had Timmy not been sent away to Thorn Valley, a large part of the film would never have happened. In fact, any of the Brisby children could have gone instead of Timmy and the film's plot would have been exactly the same.

* HeGotBetter: Martin, somehow.