The Secret of Nimh (1982) movie review - Sneak Previews with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel

This is the original review of The Secret of Nimh by Siskel & Ebert on "Sneak Previews" in 1982. All of the segments pertaining to the movie have been included.

[@natemiller448]

My mother read this to me several times...when the film arrived we were delighted. Now as an adult, I finally how incredible my mom was at reading/telling the story. Unreal.

[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

When this came out, traditional full animation had become practically non-existent, so it was like a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, too many people didn't appreciate Don Bluth's work here and it had to find its success as a cult film.

[@patrickshields5251]

kevin r. It also can't help that it was overshadowed by E. T. and it was marketed poorly. Now it has a cult following thanks to cable and home video.

[@CaminoAir]

Exactly. Bluth didn't have access to the production and marketing machinery of Disney and the film suffered a lack of momentum on release as a result. Maybe it was a little dark as well for immediate widespread appeal. I don't know what the realities of a family sizing up which movie(s) to see at that time were, but maybe a lack of 'brand recognition' as opposed to quality work was too much to overcome.

[@patrickshields5251]

@@CaminoAir I love Roger Ebert, but sometimes I think he can be reactionary about how kids can react to dark situations or complex stories.

[@RobertWF42]

Yea, I can't recall any good animated Disney films from the 1970s and 1980s (except for The Black Cauldron perhaps), perhaps because Don Bluth and other talent had left Disney. On the other hand, Disney did produce some of my favorite fantasy/sci-fi films during this era: The Black Hole, Tron, and Dragonslayer.

[@arcadegeek]

Also, if you recall the early 1980's arcades and the animated games called "Dragon's Lair", "Space Ace" and "Dragon's Lair II" those were all designed and animated by Don Bluth.

[@lisvender]

I like that Roger Ebert appreciates the full-body performance of the movie's characters. I've always believed that animated characters shouldn't stand around jawing at each other; they should PERFORM, and Bluth's unique animation style and direction has always appealed to me because of that.

[@jbrisby]

You know what really strikes me about these old episodes of Siskel and Ebert? The length of the clips they show from the film. Same with the Oscars. They really used to show a lot more of the film. Nowadays you'd be lucky to get clips longer than ten seconds. I miss that; it really let you get more of a sense of what the movie was like and whether you'd be interested in seeing it.

[@williamhowe1]

This was a great film.

[@kchishol1970]

Yes, this film should have been The Little Mermaid of its time to kickstart feature animation.

[@frankiehansen4667]

This movie is just awesome and I love Mrs brisby so much she is so cute and has a very sweetheart like voice that is nice the way it sounds.

[@filmfreak1994]

It's so strange how they both really liked this movie when the bulk of other Bluth films in the '80s they disliked for the dark tone that they thought was inappropriate for the kids they're aimed for. I mean, I love this movie with all my heart so I won't hear a bad thing about it, I'm just saying it's kinda funny to hear them hype it up compared to what they thought of An American Tail.

[@frankhansen190]

The secret of NIMH is great and that is why I love the movie so much.

[@deckofcards87]

Definitely more of a cult favourite. I knew a lot of kids who didn't like this movie much when it came out and I feel like I enjoyed it more seeing it as a teen having read the book series in junior high. It's very dark and moody and paced with an intruiging and clever concept which is always refreshing for Western animated stuff. Another movie I can closely compare is Ralph Bashi's WIZARDS.

[@Madbandit77]

Bakshi...but I agree that "Wizards" and "Nimh" are great animated films that don't shy away from dark, dramatic elements while remaining kid friendly, and this is coming from someone who likes adult animation. If you like "Nimh" and "Wizards", go watch "Legends Of The Guardians", Zack Snyder's only family film to date.

[@tims.2717]

The Secret of NIMH is Wizards with an actual animation budget.

[@zacharysiple783]

I read the book that this was based on. It's one of the best books I have ever read, I prefer it to the movie, actually.

[@marcussmith4913]

name of the book?

[@nickperkins8477]

@@marcussmith4913 the book is named “Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH.”

[@captainharris8980]

Good film with lots of thorough animation. Good stuff.

[@jaythebillz9543]

I'm guessing this was before the “two thumbs up” was invented by Siskel and Ebert.

[@acholl980]

This was a few months before they moved to At the Movies. They couldn't use the yes/no vote since that was Sneak Previews ownership so they took the thumb turn they use in their promos and patent it.

[@emtobed]

This movie made me cry when I was in the second grade; I don’t know why.

[@nonplayerzealot4]

I saw it at age 6 at the movies.

[@tobyb1018]

This movie seems pretty dark and kinda sad...I’m surprised they liked it like they did, they’ve criticised other animations for the same... I saw it when I was young, I have no recollection of it all ! 😝

[@marcussmith4913]

kick ass movie was really dark thats whY I loved it.

[@isaywhateveriwantandyougot7421]

Kind of sad that half of this review is replays of the film

[@User0000000000000004]

This is absolutely my favourite animated movie of all time. Well, maybe this and Akira tied for first, but for the same reason, you never EVER see animation or storied like either anymore. Nobody does cel animation anymore.

[@jamesmoss3424]

The secret of nimh is an fantastic animated movie. 😀👍🐭

[@Dim4323]

5:20 HOW DARE YOU INSULT MRS BRISBY SISKEL

[@michaelquinones-lx6ks]

The secret of nimh should have rated "PG" instead of "G" and, it would have a bigger following.

[@mikesilva3868]

😊

[@90bats]

What a contradiction. They appreciate and enjoy the Secret of Nimh, yet they highly criticize An American Tail for being dark and sad. And the Secret of Nimh did exactly that too. I can argue, that Secret of Nimh is a much darker film. This is completely unfair, why are they highly open for Secret of Nimh? Yet in An American Tail, they act like whiny soccer moms? Pure complete terrible biases.

[@patrickshields5251]

You didn't even point out that Roger said that the movie is too deep and complex for children.

[@patrickshields5251]

But let's give them credit though. At least they didn't make a shitty parody bashing the film and make a shitty parody soundtrack album and lie to their viewers by calling it a love letter to the film (I have to wait until Nostalgia Critic's infamous video on Pink Floyd The Wall to write witty posts like this).

[@aceshighdueceslow]

@@patrickshields5251 what? Nostalgia Critic and The Wall? That doesn't sound like a great combination

[@patrickshields5251]

@@aceshighdueceslowOh god no.

[@jbrisby]

"The rats get so advanced, they start to feel guilty about sponging off of human civilization." So basically, more advanced than Asians and Africans.

[@marcussmith4913]

lol

[@mainstreetsaint36]

I'm just going to pretend you're using racism to catch actual racists.

[@facthunt2facthunt245]

Because film critics aren't spongers at all.