Secret of Nimh [VHS]

I loved this movie as a kid and wanted to watch it again to see if it had the same impact on me as an adult. It was still extremely poignant and thought-provoking, but surprisingly short with a somewhat abrupt and slightly convenient ending. I am surprised at the depth of the subject matter, being that it is a children's movie. I guess I was a sullen little girl who grew up to be a bit of a weird woman, LOL. Regardless, this movie and book present some profound topics around the impacts of intelligence and self-awareness on morality and community.The book upon which the movie was based (The 1971 children's novel "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien) was actually inspired by real experiments performed at the National Institute of Mental Health in the 1960's where rats were presented with a "utopia" free of predators and supplied with unlimited resources, but at the cost of extremely high population densities. The end result was that violence and anti-social behaviors were rampant and the population became all but extinct. Those few who survived were severely psychologically impaired and nearly catatonic. These effects endured even after the survivors were relocated into healthy populations with normally-behaving rats. It was probably meant to be a study into the possible effects of urbanization on human behavior. While the findings may not have been exactly transferable to the human experience of living in cities, they raised interesting concerns nonetheless, not least of which to me is the emotional health of animals (e.g. that even "lowly" rodents are sentient enough to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).But I digress. In the end, the work sparked an interesting book and very moving animated film. This one still brought tears to my eyes after all these years. From my adult perspective, it is oversimplified but aren't all kids' movies? Watch this one. It will stick with you.

I haven't watched this movie since I was a little kid even though it left a big impact on me then. I just decided to watch it again as an adult and it's honestly even better than I remember! Don Bluth's animation is absolutely gorgeous and I feel like if you were to take any still shot of this movie and make it a museum exhibit, it would be a work of art. There's a great sense of detail in the backgrounds and just the colorful expressions of the characters alone are worth the price of admission. The story is simple enough for kids to follow, yet layered with complex, dark themes and elements that will draw adults toward it and possibly appreciate it even more as a film. Jerry Goldsmith's score is wonderful and reminds me a lot of Igor Stravinsky in parts, and perhaps a little of John Williams as well. The voice acting from the whole cast is phenomenal with Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius) in particular seamlessly switching into a pitch-perfect role of the mystical Nicodemus. I believe this movie is a masterpiece and should be watched by families everywhere if they can handle a little violent imagery here and there.

This was my son's favorite movie as a child. Now, watching my grandchildren, I decided to show them this movie because I knew it was one they had not seen. MOANA and others they had seen hundreds of times, but this was a first and they were fascinated with it. Wonderful story. Even today, 30 years after my baby watched this movie over and over, whenever I am in the field and little mice start to scurry, I repeat the words, "The plows came early this year."

Huge improvement over a VHS tape with a thick band of static running along the bottom! I can tell what I'm looking at and the colors are gorgeous. The HD quality really brings out the "snow" that gets hidden by the low resolution of the original film though. By "snow" I mean random white dots that appear and disappear suddenly, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with the movie; cinematography has just come a long way since the 1980's.To note: This isn't a movie for young kids. There are a number of scenes a small child might find too scary (e.g. I saw the movie for the first time when I was 3, and the part where the lab rats are in excrutiating pain upset me to the point of having nightmares).

Stands for the National Institute for Mental Health, where in this fantasy tale scientific experiments yielded a result both unexpected and kept secret by the subjects of those experiments. This is something a mouse Mrs. Brisby soon learns as she seeks a way to save one of her children and to move her home to a safer place from the farmer's plow. On her way back from seeing Mr. Ages, a rather cantankerous elderly mouse to gain medicine from him, she helps a crow to escape the farmer's cat and the next morning, realizes her problems are compounded not only by her child's Pneumonia, but that Moving Day has arrived. With the help of Auntie Shrew she manages to stop the tractor, but realizes it's only temporary. She then enlists the help of the crow, Jeremy, to take her to see the Great Owl, a being of both great wisdom, but of great terror, to mice. To her shock, the Owl knows of her late husband, and tells her that the rats in the rosebush as the best ones to help her move her home. She finds the rats and they do agree to help her, but feeling that there is something she can do to contribute, she agrees to drug the farmer's cat, and gets captured when she tries. While trapped, she overhears the farmer on the phone to a place called NIMH, and learned that they are coming to kill the rats. She escapes and learns that there is also a terrible political intrigue among the rats and their leader is killed in trying to move the house. How the move is made, is to be seen.

The movie has a simple premise: a family of mice are in danger of losing their home to the farmer's plow, and the mother of the family, Mrs. Brisby, seeks a way to save her family. In doing so, she contacts the rats to gain their help. It's a simple enough story, but in the world of the mice it becomes a huge epic. A problem that might seem small for most is a potential apocalypse for them, and the story is kept on a straight path without becoming too convoluted.The animations are excellent, even making the mice move realistically. The lighting gives a nice mood effect, and the music is very good. The voiceacting is also stellar.The film has a completely different feel from anything Disney ever produced, and should be watched by anyone interested in animated films.

This is a good little animated cartoon film from the early 80's from ex-Disney animator Don Bluth. I have the DVD too (bought from Woolworth several years ago), but when I tried playing it late last year I found the picture wasn't anamorphic, so my widescreen TV made the 4:3 letterbox version a thin strip in the middle of the screen with short fat characters. So I risked buying the Bluray US Import as it doesn't appear to be available in the UK. Firstly, the US Import works fine, so don't worry about region code nonsense. Secondly, the picture is beautiful! The film has been digitally restored and now looks bright and vibrant. Even faults in the original negative have been cleaned up and replaced. And the film is now in Anamorphic 1.85:1 ratio. The sound is clear (2.0 Surround), with a delightful Jerry Goldsmith score helping an enchanting little story with interesting characters. There is an enlightening Director and Producer commentary for the animation enthusiast, with a Behind the scenes documentary and the original trailer. My kids didn't fancy the film before, but when they found me watching and listening to the commentary they decided they wanted to watch it themselves. The film as a bit slow moving for kids these days, but if you stick with it it's a lovely little film at 83 minutes. A recommended film for a pleasant Sunday afternoon with the kids.

Excellent artwork and production.Brought back memories of the late 80s when my kids were small - they loved it. And they loved it all over again now!!Only downside is the picture quality on the current HD large screen TVs tends to suffer.

The Secret Of Nimh is a masterpiece. A return to the cell Animation techniques and draftsmanship of classic Disney, it also pioneered some other radical new innovations in the medium. It also has an unusually dark story for a so called kids animation, embellished by Jerry Goldsmiths incredible orchestral score which is as much a part of Nimh as the drawings themselves. This Blu-Ray preserves the integrity of the original film negative perfectly with the grain structure fully intact and exceptional colour. Essential viewing for animation Buffs.

mit diesem Film schuf Don Bluth einen Zeichentrickfilm, der Sorgen, Mut und Tapferkeit vereint und ist zweifelsohne ein Klassiker. 2011 wurde der Film auf Blu-ray durch 20th Century Fox erstmals veröffentlicht leider nur in bescheidender Bild.-Tonqualität. Stellt sich nun die Frage: Lohnt sich diese Neuauflage? Meiner Meinung nach schon. Gegenüber der Erstauflage liegt das leicht körnige Bild (störend wirkt dieses jedoch nicht) im Originalformat 1,85:1 vor. Desweiteren wurden altersbedingte Mängel, Filmschmutz und Beschädigungen beseitigt. Die Farben wirken frischer, Schwarzwert sowie Bildruhe sind gut, die Schärfe ist in Ordnung wobei hier noch ein wenig Luft nach oben gewesen wäre, da manche Szenen etwas zu weichgezeichnet wirken. Der Gesamteindruck wird hierdurch nicht geschmälert.Was die Tonqualität bei der Erstauflage angeht, so war diese eine Zumutung. Die Neuauflage punktet auch hier. Dynamik und Abmischung sind sehr gut, der Ton klingt frischer und die Aussprache ist gut verständlich.Die Extras: Audiokommentar (kein deutscher Untertitel), deutscher u. Englischer Trailer, Bildergalerie, Skizzen u.a.Fazit: Gegenüber der Erstauflage ist diese Blu-ray Neuauflage durch Koch Media durchaus zu empfehlen.