The Secret of NIMH RevisitedWelcome to Nostalgia Bomb, a series where we take a look back on beloved childhood favorites and discern whether or not theyre actually any good. In this edition, we revisit Don Bluths The Secret of NIMH. I got the worst sunburn of my life the summer before first grade. Growing up fair skinned on the beach gave me a lot of opportunities to come home lobster red and wincing, but this particular time stands out both for the pain and for the remedy. My skin crackled and hummed. Standing hurt. Sitting hurt. Lying down hurt. I could feel the heat radiating off me and the allover itchy sting, but I was finally able to fall asleep on a soft towel laid out on our living room floor thanks to a portable fan and a VHS tape of The Secret of NIMH. It was a literal comfort movie. I have no idea when I first saw the story of Mrs. Brisby attempting to get her house out of dodge before plowing time. It was part of that foggy age of half forming memories, which means NIMH feels like its always existed. I also have no idea how many times Ive seen it, because Letterboxd wasnt around in 1. At any rate, it was enough to burn out the VHS tape. This movie mesmerized me as a child. It was dense and dangerous, carrying with it a heft that most other kids movies didnt even attempt. Other than falling totally silent whenever The Snuggle Bear commercials popped up, I gravitated toward weird work like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. It took me rewatching NIMH for this article to understand why it was at the top of the list. Mrs. Brisby Goes on an Adventure. Ive been trying to puzzle out why The Secret of NIMH held such sway over me as a kid, and I think it comes down to the scope of its adventure, the vibrancy of its animation, and the awe that the fearful scenes instilled. Like many of its Disney rivals, it lays out the broken family stakes in the first sequence, introducing us to the four Brisby children including the bed ridden Timothy, the familys need to heave their cinder block house out of the path of the tractors, and Mrs. Brisbys status as a widow who is clumsy but steadfast in her dual roles as father and mother. The film is solely about the mounting demands life places on her as a protector, but seeing all the children gives us a peek at the beating hearts that would be lost without her. It borrows a bit from the animated Robin Hood in that endeavor, with snotty, scared, sweet kiddos and the pneumonia slammed one whose name causes everyone in the household to start whispering. The Phantom came out in 1996, making it a late entry in the decades retrosuperhero movie trend. It suffered from being too similar to the movies thatd come. The Rats of NIMH Movie Gets a Director Exclusive The Secret of Nimh Poster By Mark Lone and Odd City Alamo Drafthouse Summer of 82. The Secret of NIMH features gorgeous, detailed animation and a delightfully dark nature. It is well constructed, occasionally thrilling, visually dazzlingand also. Directed by Don Bluth. With Elizabeth Hartman, Derek Jacobi, Dom DeLuise, Arthur Malet. To save her ill son, a field mouse must seek the aid of a colony of rats, with. Winston is named for the narrator of Aram Sarkisians short, a desperate man dashing off a fevered letter that reads like a crazed diary entry. Im not losing. Timmys need to stay indoors for weeks or risk death anchors them to the physical home itself, denying them an easy escape across the field. Yet, rather beautifully, Mrs. Brisby responds to the massive task of transporting her entire home with the motherly matter of factness of her grocery list. It must get done, so shes going to get it done. What other choice does she have So we launch into the dangerous world of the farm the vicious house cat Dragon whos either a Maine Coon or life threateningly overweight, the ghostly Great Owl, and the rose bush where the rats and the secret of NIMH reside. The initial scrap with Dragon is thrilling, intensified by a violin slamming score which subsides to make room for the films sole comic relief character, Jeremy the Crow Dom De. Luise, to carry Mrs. Brisby to a tree hovel filled with bones and a gigantic owl who should, by all measure, eat Brisby and take a nice nap. This is all before her main mission begins. What sticks with you is the sense of sacrifice inherent in every desperate step. Mrs. Brisby is told shes crazy to attempt what shes doing, and even as more dangers stack on top of her burdened body, she takes the fierce protection of her family as a matter of course. That means chasing down a murderous tractor, fighting that damned cat, risking her life to get help from The Great Owl, and throwing herself headlong into the internal politics of the NIMH rat faction. A Sense of Danger. Throughout all of this, the artwork is stunning. Detailed in its depiction of the whooshing instruments of Mr. Ages, the local doctor, as well as the sprawling fields, the cobwebbed Great Owl sanctum, and the buzzing electric world of the rose bush, NIMH gorgeously combined American Gothic with psychedelic freak outs. The color palette was set several shades darker than the wistful primaries of Disney, reflecting the dark torment in the story. That may be unfair. Disney has done some unbelievably frightening things hello, Pinocchio donkey nightmares, but theres something dangerous about NIMH. Something beyond childhood. Maybe thats because it invades our world and injects a story about talking animals so cute with an angry science fiction message of death and destruction. Yes, the most brilliant element of the movie and the book, of course is what the secret is. In the middle of this harrowing tale of a mothers sacrifice, a vast conspiracy with a Tolkien esque name lies hidden in the thorny darkness of a rose bush where rats with supernatural powers even beyond talking and wearing clothes reside. The twist is that its not magic its human. Its us. Theyre lab rats, and that fantasy evoking name is actually the very real National Institute for Mental Health. In a world of mystic amulets and herbal home remedies, its jaw dropping to witness an invasion of real world science. Its like if Frodo reached Mount Doom only to find a gray haired woman in a lab coat explaining how she programmed the ring hes carrying after coding the Apple Watch. The reveal was probably the first time a movie meant for me had a genuine twist to it, and it blew my tiny little mind. Pages 1 2. Next page. Cool Posts From Around the Web. Frustrated with the Walt Disney studios reluctance to produce full length animated films, Don Bluth and a number of animators left the studio in the early 8. My Beautiful Girl, Mari Review. Disneys classics. The Secret of NIMH is the first film Bluth produced after leaving the studio. Adapted from Robert C. OBriens acclaimed childrens book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N. I. M. H., the film is about a widowed mouse whose home is threatened also, one of her children is gravely ill. On her way to find help, she discovers NIMH, a secret society of highly intelligent rats who have escaped from a nearby science lab. The rats help the widow to protect her family and home. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi.