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. This was during a brief pocket in time before PG-13 when you could get away with more family-unfriendly content in family movies and before every animated movie had a PG rating that was really just a "hard" G.

* AnimationAgeGhetto: On-screen violence, death, and other trauma, as well as a casual "damn" thrown in to AvoidTheDreadedGRating... which it still got. The film is ''darker'' in comparison to some of the tamer live-action PG-rated contemporaries, such as ''Film/Annie1982'' and ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial''.[[note]]This was before the creation of the PG-13 rating, so both were trying to not be rated G like The Secret of Nimh by having gratuitous inappropriate jokes and language.[[/note]]

* AnimationAgeGhetto: On-screen violence, death and other trauma, as well as a casual "damn" thrown in to AvoidTheDreadedGRating... which it still got. To be fair, this was made before the PG-13 rating had been introduced and ratings were still fairly lenient.

* FirstInstallmentWins: Although Don Bluth did plenty of [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail other]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime quality]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}} films]] after this one, many people still agree that this is his most consistently good film. Additionally, the sequel ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNimh2'' is seen as vastly inferior to the first film.

* {{Fanon}}: [[TheWikiRule The Wiki]] (found [[http://secret-of-nimh.wikia.com here]]) is one half actual film-based info, and one half WorldBuilding FanWank that explains all the plotholes in the film through an exploration of [[MagicAIsMagicA the rules of magic]] and the Rats of NIMH's society.

* 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. This was during a brief pocket in time before PG-13 when you could get away with more family-unfriendly content in family movies and before every animated movie had as PG rating that was really just a "hard" G.

* FanNickname: Elizabeth, as Mrs. Brisby's never-revealed first name, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoment in tribute]] to her voice actress Creator/ElizabethHartman (who committed suicide). Some even go so far as to call her "Elizabeth Hartman Brisby".

* FanNickname: Elizabeth, as Mrs. Brisby's never-revealed first name, in tribute to her voice actress Creator/ElizabethHartman (who committed suicide). Some even go so far as to call her "Elizabeth Hartman Brisby".

* SpecialEffectFailure: 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. Even Don Bluth admitted he was dissatisfied with the effect in his book "The Art of Storyboard". [[note]]Bluth did however use this technique here and on [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail The Giant Mouse of Minsk]] to make the thing look completely alien against the more cartoonish characters.[[/note]]

** On the Italian version flirts with AlternativeForeignThemeSong by using [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obu8LXv5A5Q&t=10sSally Stevens' version]]over the closing credits instead of Williams'.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Viewers either find Jeremy one of Creator/DomDeLuise's most charming and entertaining roles, or they think his comedic antics ruin the film's dark tone.

** Disney were first approached about adapting the book. They turned it down saying they already had Mickey Mouse as a mascot, and likewise had already done a "mouse movie" in ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers''. Since ''The Secret of NIMH'''s release, Disney would end up doing both ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder''.

** Mrs. Brisby definitely goes through a lot in the movie, especially since she deals with the fact that her son is critically ill and she's a coward.

** Jeremy is a helpless ButtMonkey throughout the film, as he is a compassionate and friendly crow and does have good intentions, but makes things worse for everyone which makes everyone think low of him.

** Mrs. Brisby definitely goes through a lot in the movie, especially the fact that her son is critically ill.

** Jeremy has little prominence and very limited screen time, but nevertheless, he has a large following and fans of him, due to his clumsy and funny personality, thanks to Dom DeLuise's performance in him.

* BellisariosMaxim: Don Bluth's {{handwave|d}} 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.
-->"With regard to the amulet, it is a metaphor for believing in one's self. Remember the quote, "Courage of the heart is very rare, the stone has a power when it's there." It helps symbolize her courage and the power of the stone to help rescue her children...a miracle, if you will. God stuff. Granted, it isn't in the original novel, but we felt that it was much more powerful. Nicodemus says it was Jonathan's, but really just to get her to accept it. We didn't really think it was necessary to explain it further. Seems like we would eat up too much screen time to tell the history of the amulet, when the story was about an innocent widow mouse, who, thru her journey would find out that she has the courage to rescue her own family. Regarding magic, we really believe that animation calls for some magic, to give it a special "fantastic" quality. The stone or amulet is just a method of letting the audience know that Mrs. Brisby has found 'Courage of the Heart'. Magic? Maybe. Spiritual? Yes."

** Disney were first approached about adapting the book. They turned it down saying they already had Mickie Mouse as a mascot, and likewise had already done a "mouse movie" in ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers''. Since ''The Secret of NIMH'''s release, Disney would end up doing both ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder''.