History YMMV / TheSecretOfNimh

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Subverted. It's for ''families'', and not necessarily ones with very young children. Bluth wanted it to appeal to a broad audience, which explains a lot of the scary imagery and the one casual "damn!" thrown in. Keep in mind, this was during a brief pocket in time between the creation of the PG and the PG-13 rating when such things were too intense for a G rating, but not intense enough for an R.

* BellisariosMaxim: Don Bluth's [[HandWaved handwave]] regarding the addition of magic and the amulet to the film without explanation; he simply felt it was unnecessary to explain the Amulet's origins and that its purpose in the film was more important to focus on.

** Arguably, [[TropesAreNotBad it makes the whole thing]] [[NightmareFuel even scarier]]. Bluth used this technique here and on [[AnAmericanTail The Giant Mouse of Minsk]] to make the thing look completely alien against the more cartoonish characters.

* EnsembleDarkHorse:
** Jeremy may count, due to his comic relief role, being voiced by Dom De Luise.

* HilariousInHindsight: Don Bluth once said in an interview that if he came back for a sequel he would make Timmy the villain and Martin the hero out to stop him. When the sequel came out, the ''exact opposite'' happened.

* FirstInstallmentWins[=/=]ToughActToFollow: Though he did plenty of [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail other]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime good]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}} films]] after this one, most people still agree that this is Don Bluth's most consistently good film.

** Jenner has very limited screen time and yet is still a memorable villain.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: It's hard to tell whether this is really a family movie. Graphic on-screen character death, horrifying creatures, a completely superfluous "damn", several psychologically disturbing scenes.
** Probably wasn't necessarily meant for ''young'' kids, considering that Bluth wanted the film to appeal to a more larger audience.

* AllAnimationIsDisney: Like most of Bluth's work, this mistake has been made, but those who make it are generally a minority. If anything, it's most famous for being one of the best non-Disney animated features ever.

* AnticlimaxBoss: Evil!Martin, who's defeated in one blow when Jenny, quite literally ''throws the book at him''; or rather quashes him under a large stack of them, either way.
** Dr. Valentine is nothing more than a truly mindless pet of Evil!Martin when he's finally revealed after all of Jenny's ravings about him through the movie; It's nothing short of facepalming.
* BellisariosMaxim: Don Bluth's [[HandWaved handwave]] regarding the addition of magic and the amulet to the film without explanation; he simply felt it was unnecessary to explain the Amulets origins and that its purpose in the film was more important to focus on.

** It really says something about how amazing the musical score when Music/JerryGoldsmith himself stated this was one of his personal favorite's.

* HypeBacklash: An example of an otherwise underground work being pushed on the general public by it's small audience. A great deal of [[BigNameFan big name fans]], most notably WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, have frequently gone on about how it's one of the greatest animated films ever, the result being newcomers who were significantly disappointed when it didn't meet the incredibly high expectations it's fans had given them.

* HypeBacklash: After several [[BigNameFan Big Name Fans]] such as WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic lavished it with praise and inspired a new generation to check it out, it was inevitable that a number of them would just find it more SoOkayItsAverage. Which might have been ''because'' it was talked up so much in the first place and then just couldn't live up to the hype.

* ToughActToFollow: Thought he did plenty of [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail other]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime good]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}} films]] after this one, most people still agree that this is Don Bluth's most consistently good film.

* AnimationAgeGhetto: On-screen violence, death and other trauma, as well as a casual "damn" thrown in to AvoidTheDreadedGRating... which [[TheyJustDidntCare it still got]].

* OneSceneWonder: Creator/JohnCarradine as the Owl. The whole scene on both a technical and emotional level could be considered Bluth's CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
* RetroactiveRecognition[=/=]HeyItsThatVoice: Creator/WilWheaton and Shannon Doherty both got very early roles as child actors in this movie, and this would mark the first of a long line of roles Creator/DomDeLuise would play for Creator/DonBluth.

!!''The Secret of NIMH''

!!''The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue''

* AssPull: Two examples:
** First is Nicodemus' prophecy. It was never mentioned in the first film and was just thrown in for the purpose of giving the film a plot. What's even more jarring is that Nicodemus may have had telekinetic abilities, was wise and had a magical viewing globe but it was never made explicit that he could tell the future. And if he could see the future, shouldn't he have seen that brick coming?
** Second is Mrs. Brisby's letter to Timmy that Martin is missing. You would think that because Martin is an important character in the story that this letter should be an important plot point, but it is thrown in quite far into the movie just to explain that Martin went missing. It even ''looks'' like Timmy pulled the thing out of his ass.
* {{Base Breaker}}: Evil Martin. Either he is one of the very few redeeming qualities of the movie or just adds to the stupidity of the whole film
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The "Magic Mystery Show", sung by Jeremy and Cecil, accompanied by a bunch of dancing forest animals. It gets really ridiculous at points (Cecil's 'Optimouse' credit card is every bit as nonsensical as [[Film/BatmanAndRobin a Bat Credit Card]],) and after the animals realize it's a scam and chase Jeremy and Cecil away, no one talks about it again.
* EarWorm: "Magic Mystery Show"
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Martin, who is much more likable, funny, and interesting than [[MartyStu Timmy]]. Even moreso after he becomes the bad guy, at which point he's voiced by '''[[Creator/MontyPython Eric Idle]]'''.
* FanonDiscontinuity: Most persons refuse to acknowledge it as canon.
* MartyStu/SympatheticSue: Timmy. He is praised as a hero, before he even hits puberty or does ''anything'' worthwhile. He spends much of the movie angsting over his dead father and his supposed destiny to follow in his footsteps. He is generally reckless and inattentive, and yet he still manages to save several other characters, largely by accident. Anyone who disagrees with him is portrayed as in the wrong, and to top it off, he gets the girl after a single line of dialogue.
* Narm: Practically the whole movie.
** Magic Mystery Show
** Timmy's weird underwear joke.
** "If you just say YEEEEEEEESSSS!!!"
** "And that's for being so evil!"
** "Dad wasn't crazy!"
** Dr. Valentine himself
* TheScrappy: Most of the new characters probably count, but Timmy himself takes the cake for his FailureHero status, the praise he gets for doing virtually nothing and for his overall recklessness in confronting the obstacles before him.
* {{Sequelitis}}: The [[OffModel incredibly bad animation quality]] and [[strike: general]] [[InNameOnly TOTAL lack of faithfullness to the original film's art direction, completely going against the serious, competent story, mood and characterization of the original film]] in favor of {{Flanderization}}, [[{{Narm}} narmy]] writing combined with phoned in voice acting, and horribly written '''MUSICAL NUMBERS'''. The plot is a total ClicheStorm.
** To give an idea, Mrs. Brisby is in the film for about a grand total of 25 seconds. No recognition is made of the amazing stuff she did towards the end of the first film, not even a "Hey, that was some cool stuff you did." The entire conflict of the movie is an extremely obvious SelfFulfillingProphecy that can be seen a mile away, the songs absolutely '''suck''', and almost as if to call attention to the horrible animation, there are a few clips from the first film at the beginning, which actually serve to remind the viewer that "Hey, remember this movie? You should be watching that one again, not this one. See how much better it looks?"
*** For many, the ''ONLY'' bright spot is [[HamAndCheese Eric Idle as Evil Martin]]. When he's on screen, it's ''somewhat'' less painful.
*** As with many of the unofficial Bluth sequels, Timmy To The Rescue is popular with some younger audiences due to the LighterAndSofter setup (which was likely what was intended).
* TheyJustDidntCare: The original was filled with deep philosophical messages and filled with superb animation...the sequel is a glorified ripoff of almost all of the {{Disneyfication}} ClicheStorm that happened with the late 90s to early 2000s animated sequels with little resemblance to the original film.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Remember all those scientists brainwashed into acting like animals and forced into cages? They were never shown freed, implying they burned alive inside the Nimh Facility.
** Thankfully no. Near the end while the building was in flames, a group of firefighters barged in and released them from their cages before the fire consumed the building completely. The cats, on the other hand....

!!Both Films:

* EnsembleDarkHorse:
** Jeremy may count, due to his comic relief role, being voiced by Dom De Luise.
** "Everyone is Furry for Justin!"
** Evil Martin seems to have more fans than the sequel as a whole does.
** The Great Owl is in one scene, and its very memorable.
* {{Fanon}}:
** The fanfic "Rats of Thorn Valley" spawned a Muck (NIMH Muck), which has its own continuity spanning from the end of the fic to around ten years after the movie and is still going strong.
** Some fanon states that Jonathan is alive; the fic listed above explains how he ''could'' be, and it actually makes sense.
** General fanon stated that the mice survived their drop in the shaft, mostly because because it was [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot a cool plot point]] and was a ''little'' open to interpretation. Funnily enough, this idea was actually picked up by the sequel.

** "Magic Mystery Show"

* {{Unfortunate Implication}} : The movie can seem sexist at times with the two key evidence being:
** 1. The movie seems to have the characters praise a male protagonist who did almost nothing to save Thorn Valley (Timmy) over a female protagonist who actually helped the rats (Mrs. Brisby) who isn't even thanked. In addition Jenny is never given any credit for helping defeating Evil Martin.
** 2. All of the female characters of the Brisby Residence (Mrs. Brisby, Teresa, Auntie Shrew, and Cynthia) are all {{Demoted to Extras}} while Timmy and Martin have big roles.

** 1. The movie seems to have the characters praise a male protagonist who did almost nothing to save Thorn Valley (Timmy) over a female protagonist who actually helped the rats (Mrs. Brisby) who isn't even thanked.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The bulk of the film has impressive animation and special effects work, but some of the scenes of the Tractor and its plow during the Moving Day sequence are obvious live action footage tinted in brown, which sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the films art.

* [[Unfortunate Implications]]: The movie can seem sexist at times with the two key evidence being:
1. The movie seems to have the characters praise a male protagonist who did almost nothing to save Thorn Valley (Timmy) over a female protagonist who actually helped the rats (Mrs. Brisby) who isn't even thanked.
2. All of the female characters of the Brisby Residence (Mrs. Brisby, Teresa, Auntie Shrew, and Cynthia) are [[Demoted to Extras]] while Timmy and Martin have big roles.

* BellisariosMaxim: Don Bluth's handwave regarding the addition of magic and the amulet to the film without explanation; he simply felt it was unnecessary to explain the Amulets origins and that its purpose in the film was more important to focus on.