The Secret of NIMH

The last time I reviewed a movie by this director it was Rock-A-Doodle. Hopefully this movie will be better. The movie is based on the book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien. So let's start my review of The Secret of NIMH.








The movie opens with a mouse named Mrs. Brisby (Elizabeth Harman) going to another mouse named Mr. Ages (Arthur Malet) to get help for her son Timothy (Ian Fired) who is extremely sick. Mr. Ages seems to be Smarter than the average mouse (Yogi Bear joke not intended) because he seems to be good at building machines and making medicine. Mr. Ages gives her some medicine and she leaves. On the way back, she meets a clumsy crow named Jeremy (Dom DeLuise). Jeremy is so clumsy, he draws the attention of a local farmer's cat named Dragon. Fortunately, they escape from Dragon and Mrs. Brsiby makes it home. She gives Timmy the medicine but he won't get better in time because the next day the farmer is plowing the area and the chill in the air could kill Timmy. Luckily, Mrs. Brisby manges to temporarily sabotage the farmer's plow and that will keep Timmy safe for a while.



Mrs. Brisby doesn't know what to do now. So she decides to go see the great owl (John Carradine); the only problem is that owls eat mice. Jeremy flies her there and she goes into the great owl's tree. When she gets there the great owl says in order to move her house out of the way she must find The Rats of NIMH and a rat named Nicodemus (Derek Jacobi). She knows that there is a colony of rats in the rose bush so she goes down there. While there, she meets Mr. Ages who says that he can take her to Nicodemus. Mr. Ages introduces Mrs. Brisby to his friend Justin (Peter Strasuss) and his enemy Jenner (Paul Shenar). Jenner believes that Nicodemus is a fool and that they should always stay in the rose bush. Mr. Ages shows Mrs. Brisby to Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a very old rat but he is very wise and tells Mrs. Brisby that he will help move the house and he also tells her the back story of the rats of NIMH. At first they where just sewer rats but some scientists that work for the National Institute of Mental Health or NIMH captured them and ran experiments on them. The experiments caused the rats and mice to be able to read, figure out plans, and generally become more smart. The rats manage to escape, but only two mice survived: Mr. Ages and Mrs. Brisby's late husband Jonathan. Nicodemus also gives Mrs. Brisby a strange amulet. So the rats plan to move Mrs. Brisby's house. But to avoid complications, Mrs. Brisby needs to sneak a sleeping pill into Dragon's food.

***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

So Mrs. Brisby is successful in slipping Dragon the sleeping pill, but the farmer's son catches her and puts her in a cage as his pet. While in the cage she over hears the farmer talking to NIMH on the phone and they say that they want to bull doze the rose bush; the farmer is okay with this. Meanwhile, Jenner plans to kill Nicodemus and sabotage the house moving at the same time. The house is actually a cinder block so when the rats use a machine to lift it in the air, Jenner breaks it, dropping it on Nicodemus. Mrs. Brisby makes it to where the rats are moving the house only to find Nicodemus dead. Justin fights Jenner and Jenner is defeated. But Mrs. Brisby's house is sinking into the mud. But the magical amulet that Nicodemus gave Mrs. Brisby saves the day and moves the house to a safe place. So the rats move before NIMH comes and Timothy is starting to get better. The End.

***SPOILER OVER KEEP READING***

The Secret of NIMH is one of those movies that both kids and adults will enjoy. It's half happy talking animal movie (Bambi) and half family fantasy movie (The Princess Bride). I also like how Mrs. Brisby is just a regular person and not some fantastic hero or even an underdog hero. The animation is amazing; it comes off as very realistic and never too cartoonish. But now that I have rewatched it, Jenner seems like more of your typical power hungry villain than I remember. Besides that, this is a very fun movie for the whole family. See you next time.

 SIR SQUARE