The Secret of NIMH Review

So, if you have a twisted sense of humor today, chances are that you watched some stuff as a child that you maybe shouldn't have.

And one of those movies was probably the Secret of NIMH.

Yes, it is an actual kids movie. But only technically.

It's dark and twisted and maniacal and it gave me nightmares as a child of a glowing red jewel being wielded by an evil, super intelligent rat.

If you haven't seen it, I do recommend you watch it.

It is a great movie with an amazing plot line, it's just super twisted. Like Fern Gully but without Tim Curry.

Secret of NIMH is about a mouse named Mrs. Brisby who has an ill child. They live on a farm but harvest day is coming and their house sits right in the middle of the crop area, but her son is too sick to move and its in the middle of winter. She has to seek help from a colony of rats who are super intelligent and harbor terrible secrets of their own.

First off, this is NOT a Disney movie. It's created by the guys that left Disney Animation Studios, they also created An American Tail, Fern Gully, Thumbelina, and the Pebble and the Penguin. Headed by Don Bluth, this group became affectionately known as the Disney Defectors.

F*cking fabulous name, if you ask me.

Like Tim Burton, these people couldn't work on cheerful animation for their entire lives and wanted to do darker and more graphic projects. And they most definitely succeeded. These movies may be too dark for most kids but they are phenomenally made and super creative.

Second, they didn't need a sequel to this movie but they did it.

I watched this movie again as an adult and I gotta say it does hold up after all these years.

Yeah, there are some continuity errors and if you think too hard about the story it does tend to fall apart. But overall, it's still better than most animated films that came out around the same time.

The amount of hand drawn detail that is in this movie that is so seamless and flawless almost makes me cry. It reminds me of the greatest Disney films that are all hand drawn animation, or Spirited Away and other Miyazaki films. Hand drawn animated movies are in a completely different league than ones that use computer generated effects or a mixture of the two techniques.

Have you seen the clips that some people have posted on social media of Disney animation scenes that are copied from other actors or other films? For example, the scene of Snow White dancing with the dwarves in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was copied for Robin Hood when Maid Marian is dancing at the party in the forest. Or how about Baloo dancing in the Jungle Book? That exact dance is copied to Little John in Robin Hood. The smoke effects from the original Sleeping Beauty were not animated but real smoke filmed at a slower speed and that clip was used again in Beauty and the Beast when the Beast is transforming back into a Prince in the end.

There is a scene at the end where the good rat Justin and the evil rat Jenner get into a sword fight (because why not) that was actually copied from an Errol Flynn movie. And it looks absolutely fantastic.

And no, it's not a spoiler to name the good and bad rat, you know the second the Jenner rat comes on the scene that he is evil. Down to the evil cape swirl and the general ‘f*ck the system’ vibe he exudes throughout the film. And to be quite honest with you, I was in love with the voice of Justin.

Don’t judge, we’ve all had a crush on an animated character.

Kovu from the Lion King Two.

Max from A Goofy Movie.

Dimitri from Anastasia.

The Hex Girls from Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost.

And there is something about Justin's voice and his character where you just go “yes”. But then you remember he’s a rat and the fantasy pretty much dies there.

Overall, a weird movie but worth a re-watch if your in the mood to relive your childhood horrors again.