An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
The Mousekewitz family of the hit An American Tail returned to the big screen in 1991, this time heading west to chase the dream of a land without fear of cats.
As the feature opens, Fievel and family still live in gloomy New
York City in the late 1800’s, and the cats are back on the prowl.
Feline huckster Cat R. Waul promises the Mousekewitzes that out in the
West, cats and mice get along just fine, and so the family heads west
on a wagon train. Curious young Fievel overhears Cat R. Waul’s real
plan: to make a nice mice meat pie out of his recruits.
When Fievel is discovered, he’s chased off the train in the middle
of the desert. Luckily, fraidy cat pal Tiger is on the same trip
(tailing the sultry Miss Kitty) and comes his little buddy’s aid.
Things come to a showdown in the Old West town, complete with lawdog
Wylie Burp, master of the menacing stare.
This second American Tail installment was lighter and more
comedic than the first, zipping along at only seventy-five minutes.
Screen legend James Stewart gave Wylie his slow Western drawl,
toplining a voice cast that included Dom DeLuise, Phillip Glasser, Amy
Irving, John Cleese, and Jon Lovitz as Cat R. Waul’s spider henchman,
T.R. Chula. The film opened the same day as Disney’s powerhouse Fievel’s American Tails series a year later.
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