History Awesome / TheSecretOfNIMH

* After alerting the field that Farmer Fitzgibbon's plow was coming (i.e. "Moving Day"), Auntie Shrew is horrified to see Brisby rush ''towards'' the thing and shouts for her to come back. But when Brisby looks down and sees the blades, she becomes paralyzed with fear. So the Shrew [[BigDamnHeroes saves her]] [[BigBrotherInstinct by stopping the tractor, herself.]]

* On a meta level? The whole movie was a StealthInsult to Creator/{{Disney}}. Bluth was their best and brightest, and became angry over the studio's [[DorkAge complacency and increasingly cut-rate animation techniques]], only to be told that the studio for all of its clout just couldn't pony up a big enough budget. Bluth threw this on the table for ''far'' less than a Disney movie budget, proving it could be done and that his former bosses were just lazy. He then spent the better part of TheEighties eating Disney's lunch until they learned their lesson and stepped up, creating the Renaissance period.
** Assistant animator on the movie, Philo Barnhart, made a guest appearance in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld2KnT_s-Qs review of the film]], sprinkling trivia throughout the review regarding some of the background details, including how so many animators abandoned Disney due to their cost-cutting measures, and the techniques they had to "relearn" that had been pioneered in films like ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty''. And according to him, it wasn't just the animators - when Mrs. Brisby's name required changing to avoid a lawsuit by the [[NamesTheSame toy of the same name]], John Carradine wasn't able to come back and redub his lines. As a result, the sound technician, Dave Horton, physically scraped the magnetic tape to distort Carradine's audio to make more of a "B" sound than F while splicing in ''other'' audio to help, to almost seamless effect.

** Assistant animator on the movie, Philo Barnhart, made a guest appearance in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld2KnT_s-Qs review of the film]], sprinkling trivia throughout the review regarding some of the background details, including how so many animators abandoned Disney due to their cost-cutting measures, and the techniques they had to "relearn" that had been pioneered in films like ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty''.

** Assistant animator on the movie, Philo Barnhart, made a guest appearance in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld2KnT_s-Qs review of the film]], sprinkling trivia throughout the review regarding some of the background details, including how so many animators abandoned Disney due to their cost-cutting measures, and the techniques they had to "relearn" that had been pioneered in films like ''Disney/SleepingBeauty''.

* ANY scene where Mrs. Brisby, who's primary state of mind throughout 90% of the film is ''terrified'' (which makes sense, really, given that [[EverythingTryingToKillYou she's a mouse]]), pulls herself together. She isn't a MamaBear in the sense of 'hurt my kids and I will beat you down,' but the lengths she can and will go through for them is astonishing. In particular there's:

* After alerting the field that Farmer Fitzgibbon's plow was coming (i.e. "Moving Day"), the Shrew is horrified to see Brisby rush ''towards'' the thing and shouts for her to come back. But when Brisby looks down and sees the blades, she becomes paralyzed with fear. So the Shrew [[BigDamnHeroes saves her]] [[BigBrotherInstinct by disabling the plow, herself.]]

----->'''Mr. Ages:''' ''No one'' has ever ''seen the Owl''… and lived to tell about it!

----->'''Mr. Ages:''' ''No one'' has ever ''seen'' the Owl… and lived to tell about it!

-->'''Jenner:''' I've learned this much; [[HannibalLecture "take what you can, when you can"]]...
-->'''Justin:''' [[ShutUpHannibal Then you've learned]] ''[[ShutUpHannibal nothing!]]''