Fievel

History

An American Tail

The Mousekewitz family and other mouses are forced from there home by antisemitic violence by the Cossacks in there native Russia and boards a ship setting sail for America, they believe America will be the land of opportunity and sing "There Are No Cats In America" to empathize this, as cats were traditional oppressors of mice in Fievel's setting.

However, on the way to their new land, a storm causes havoc and washes Fievel overboard, separating him from his family as he is washed out to sea, Fievel survives and manages to wash ashore on the outskirts of New York City: the rest of the movie concerns his brave quest to reunite with his family and faces the evil Warren T. Rat: a con man and cat in disguise who seeks to cause trouble for the immigrant mice as part of an extortion scheme.

Fievel meets up with a kindly French pidgeon named Henri who helps lift the mouse's spirit after he is washed ashore in America via the musical number "Never Say Never" - he then has his fellow pidgeons take Fievel to immigration, as Henri knows everyone goes through immigration - he says to Fievel that he would accompany him but then he would never finish "his" statue (referring to the as of then nearly complete Statue Of Liberty).

However Fievel was led astray by Warren T. Rat, who tricked him with false hope - stating he knew where to find his family - in reality Warren T. cruelly used Fievel's trust to sell him into slavery in the form of a sweatshop, however despite cruel treatment by the fellow orphans in the establishment he secretly never gives up hope of finding his family again, as expressed in the musical number "Somewhere Out There".

Eventually Fievel manages to escape the sweatshop with the help of Tony, a young mouse who Fievel managed to befriend. After once again becoming lost Fievel encounters Tiger for the first time, although frightened of the feline at first Fievel soon comes to realize that Tiger is harmless and the soft-heart cat frees him from the cage that Warren T. Rat had imprisoned him in after Fievel found out that the so-called "rat" was in reality a cat, although this cost Tiger his position as a minion of Warren T. Rat he seemed happy enough: stating that he never liked Warren T to begin with.

By the time Fievel does find his family again the mice have had enough of Warren T. Rat and his gang of thugs so come up with an ingenious plan to scare the cats away using a mechanic device based on an old story - this device succeeds in sending Warren T. Rat and his gang into the sea, where they are seen hitching a ride to Hong Kong: Warren T's last words are "I wonder how you say 'trust me' in Chinese.".

During the climatic battle however Fievel almost loses his family again and becomes deeply upset, yet his father had quick-thinking and played his violin - the music led Fievel back to his family, the story ends with Henri returning in order to show everyone "his" completed statue and Fievel begins his life in America.