An American Tail: Fievel Goes West - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[ray]

This film marks the voice acting debut of John Cleese. From this movie onwards, he would later go on voice act in other films, of which are The Swan Princess (1994) as Jean-Bob, Disney's George of the Jungle (1997) as Ape, the Shrek sequels as King Harold, Valiant (2005) as Mercury, Charlotte's Web (2006) as one of the Sheep, Planet 51 (2009) as Professor Kipple, Winnie the Pooh (2011) as the Narrator, Planes (2013) as Bulldog, Trolls (2016) as the Bergen King at the start of the film, Charming (2018) as the Fairy Godfather and the Executioner, and Arctic Dogs (2019) as Otto von Walrus.

[nina]

In addition to a new voice actress, the character of Tanya was heavily redesigned as well. Tiger had minor changes, as does Yasha (the baby), and Fievel looks slightly different.

[aaron]

It is the sole theatrical sequel to An American Tail (1986), and was followed at the end of the 1990 and the beginning of the 2000s by another two direct-to-video sequels, both of which took place chronologically before this film.

[maureen]

This was James Stewart's final film before his death on July 2, 1997 at the age of 89.

[kenzi]

One view of the cats' mousetrap (visible right before Fievel dispatches them at the end) displays a nameplate, facing upside-down, which reads "Made in Acton, London"; this was the location of the Amblimation studio where the film was produced.

[russell]

In an interview with the RubberOnion Animation Podcast in January 2016, Don Bluth claimed that following the release of An American Tail (1986), Steven Spielberg sent Kathleen Kennedy to their studio in Ireland to propose making a sequel but to do it for less than the original's $9million. Studio advisor Morris Sullivan told Bluth that they could not do it for less than the original's budget. According to Bluth, Kennedy asked him "Are you sure you want to say no?" and Bluth replied "I think we have to say no." Bluth states that Spielberg then animating the film at his Amblimation studio in London ultimately cost "a heck of a lot more" than if the Sullivan Bluth studio had done it.

[ivan]

The song "Dreams to Dream" is based on a theme used in An American Tail (1986). It is heard during Bridget's speech in the market, as well as at the end of the Orphan Alley sequence, as the camera pans out on the orphaned mice sleeping in the rain.

[addison]

"Dreams To Dream" was originally recorded by Céline Dion, but the producers favored Linda Ronstadt, who sang the theme song, "Somewhere Out There", in An American Tail (1986).

[claude]

John Cleese turned down the role of Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (1991) to play Cat R. Waul in this film.