An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island

I love the first American Tail, it is for me one of the better Don Bluth movies. The first sequel, Fieval Goes West was an example of a sequel worth watching, and one of the better direct-to-video sequels I've seen, even with the flaws it had. This one had some good moments, such as a decent story and a strong voice cast, but it doesn't work as well as it should. The animation wasn't as good as it could have been, I accept it was trying to be more traditional, but the flat colours and wonky character features let it down. I also didn't care for the songs, one is good and serves as the highlight of the film but the other two are eminently forgettable. The incidental music was okay, if lacking the haunting and poignant tone of the first film. While the idea of the story was great, it felt rushed due to the short duration of the film and could've been better thought out. There were parts that felt like an extended TV episode That said, the characters particularly Tiger are bearable, the film teaches some brave lessons on tolerance and decent citizenship and the voice cast is strong. Overall, decent, has its moments but doesn't quite work. It could be worse you could be watching the Secret of NIMH sequel, that was awful. 4/10 Bethany Cox

How do you explain the American Dream and the game of politics to 8 year olds (and others entertained by animation, in the style of classic 20th century cartoons)?

With a wonderful tour of late 19th century Manhattan (and Coney Island, too!), discover the hopefulness of the immigrants who made NYC their home.

Characters based on Boss Tweed, his minions, and the Lanape natives interact with the European immigrants. Fears common to humanity are named and relatable from today's current events.

Help children (and others in the room) make the connections--because history does repeat itself.

The greatest message of the film is the need to dream your better future and the necessity to work towards it.

I had this movie on VHS and seen it a bunch of times. From my point of view it was an terrific stand alone movie, I had no clue there was others. What I liked about the movie. Mostly. I liked the characters, especially the cheese factory scene and maffia. I was scared back then of those characters, but they were also so cool. I never got the deeper message I just purely enjoyed the ride of the story. Now when I am older and see the hidden messages I feel like this movie is a gem. In the year of 2023, the animation is getting too old and the storyline in modern days might be viewed to gloomy or forced. But that wasn't the case back then, remember it is a classic made during another time. I truly appreciate this movie.

The entire premise of this movie is completely ridiculous. This tribe of indians is living underground and they can survive without light, they can grow crops too. It does try to present a moral cause, but the unwillingness of Feivals father to do anything about their situation seems counter to the character he became in the original. And the animation is terrible.

First off, you never expect a direct to video movie to be as good as the first two movies that went theatrical. I was really looking forward to this film, ever since I bought the two classic masterpieces during their re-release on video. I saw the trailer, and it looked like fun. Tell you the truth, The Treasure of Manhattan Island plays out more like an animated TV show than a movie. It's not nearly as kind and gentle hearted as the first two...it's not as fun either. As for the music, it's not really top notch either. 2 of them are completely disposable and the other one, I dunno the name, works perfectly in a scene featuring Fievel and his new found friend and their ride in a water bucket supported by string. This is by far the best part of the film, and the only part in this 3rd film that really resembles true American Tail magic. All in all, it's a good film, just a huge step down from the first two. If they worked more on a better script and if it had more of a movie feel to it and not a TV animated show, it would've been better. Throw in more quality songs (there were only 3 songs in this film)and that also would've made it better. More magic was needed, and here for the most part it was lacking....though Dom Deluise is still great with his tiny role. Worth watching, just be aware of the flaws