History YMMV / AnAmericanTail

** Music/JamesHorner's orchestration sets the tone of the film (and the first sequel; see below) quite nicely. In some places, it's hard to believe it was written for an animated film.

* GenreTurningPoint: Before this movie (going as far back as the films of Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer,"WesternAnimation/GulliversTravels'' and ''WesternAnimation/MrBugGoesToTown''), non-Disney American studios making full-length animated features had been tantamount to burning money. The scant handful of exceptions were tied to MerchandiseDriven [[CashCowFranchise Cash Cow Franchises]] (e.g. ''WesternAnimation/TheCareBearsMovie'') or NoBudget affairs aimed at adults (e.g. Creator/RalphBakshi films like ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat''). This move shattered box office records and was the first to truly challenge Disney in both box office gross and aritstry, paving the way for future non-Disney animated films to find great success.

* GenreTurningPoint: Before this movie (going as far back as the films of Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer,'WesternAnimation/GulliversTravels'' and ''WesternAnimation/MrBugGoesToTown''), non-Disney American studios making full-length animated features had been tantamount to burning money. The scant handful of exceptions were tied to MerchandiseDriven [[CashCowFranchise Cash Cow Franchises]] (e.g. ''WesternAnimation/TheCareBearsMovie'') or NoBudget affairs aimed at adults (e.g. Creator/RalphBakshi films like ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat''). This move shattered box office records and was the first to truly challenge Disney's box office dominance, paving the way for non-Disney animated films to succeed.

* GenreTurningPoint: Before this movie (going as far back as Creatore/MaxAndDaveFleischer and their films ''WesternAnimation/GulliversTravels'' and ''WesternAnimation/MrBugGoesToTown''), non-Disney American studios making full-length animated features had been tantamount to burning money. The scant handful of exceptions were tied to MerchandiseDriven [[CashCowFranchise Cash Cow Franchises]] (e.g. ''WesternAnimation/TheCareBearsMovie'') or NoBudget affairs aimed at adults (e.g. Creator/RalphBakshi films like ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat''). This move shattered box office records and was the first to truly challenge Disney's box office dominance, paving the way for non-Disney animated films to succeed.

* JerkassWoobie: The three orphan bullies, if you stop and think about it. They were lost just like Fievel and [[DespairEventHorizon they had long accepted that they would never see their families again]]. At the same time, they push around any other kids like them and look out for themselves rather than help other orphans out.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: The three orphan bullies (If you don't count them as villains) are even nastier than [[BigBad Warren T. Rat]], who at least had his comical moments.

* InferredHolocaust: None of the villains in the movie are vanquished. The Cossack cats get away with ambushing the Russian mice, several child mice are still left in the abusive sweatshop, and while the New York cats are driven away, they quickly shrug off their defeat, noting they can just set up business in Hong Kong, making apparent the protagonists didn't stop the problem so much as moved it.

* InferedHolocaust: None of the villains in the movie are vanquished. The Cossack cats get away with ambushing the Russian mice, several child mice are still left in the abusive sweatshop, and while the New York cats are driven away, they quickly shrug off their defeat, noting they can just set up business in Hong Kong, making apparent the protagonists didn't stop the problem so much as moved it.

** Warren's Shakespeare quote just before he sells Fievel to a sweatshop, "O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of Earth, / That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!" comes from ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'', specifically Antony's lament over Caesar's dead body after he was betrayed by Brutus. Meaning it was a clue that Warren was about to betray Fievel.

** Warren's Shakespeare quote just before he sells Fievel to a sweatshop, "Oh pardon me thou bleeding piece of Earth, that I am meek and gentle with these butchers..." comes from ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'', specifically Antony's lament over Caesar's dead body after he was betrayed by Brutus. Meaning it was a clue that Warren was about to betray Fievel.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Universal Studios at least seems to be under this impression for the series as a whole, making a lot of merchandise and home video releases exclusively available in Europe and not America, in a weird inverted example of NoExportForYou. DVD releases of the short-lived spinoff series ''Fievel's American Tails'', as well as an odd Playstation 2 video game adaptation of the first film, were only released in Europe. The first film did do extremely well overseas, so perhaps there is reasoning behind this.

* ValuesResonance: Considering the film is about an immigrant family trying to make a life for themselves in America and facing discrimination, as these themes become more timely in TheNewTens where immigration is a hot button political issue.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: If you don't count the three orphan bullies as villains, then they are even nastier than [[BigBad Warren T. Rat]], who at least had his comical moments.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: If you don't the three orphan bullies as villains, they are even nastier than [[BigBad Warren T. Rat]], who at least had his comical moments.