The short version: 'The Secret of NIMH' isn't just a masterpiece: it's the best clasically animated film since the early 40's. It's up there with 'Bambi', which is to say, this is about as good as it gets.

The longer version:

I remember walking down the street when I was about 19, and seeing the poster for 'The Secret of NIMH' up in a theatre, and immediately thinking "This film is going to blow my mind." A week later, I was sitting in an empty theatre, watching the last credits rolling down the screen after everybody else had left, and the house lights were up, thinking "yep."

A bit of history is probably in order for a film of this importance. Flashback to about 1980. Disney animator Don Bluth walks out, halfway through production on 'The Fox and the Hound', taking several other key animators with him, and declaring that he was going to recapture the spirit of classical animation, which Disney had forgotten about.

Nearly three years later, NIMH debuts. Critically it is well recieved, but lack of distribution and advertising means it's swamped by such an historical non-entity as Disney's 'Tron'. Accepting an animation award for best film, Bluth remarked "Thanks. We didn't think anyone had noticed."

NIMH is a glorious achievement. It puts to shame anything which Disney had done for a quarter century, and singlehandedly did exactly what Bluth set out to do. It revived the spirit of classical animation, and at the same time it proved that there was room on the block for another player than Disney - not an unimportant fact when you consider that at the time there was no Dreamworks or Pixar, and no feature animation section in Universal or MGM.

As to the film itself: from the first moment you are treated to a gloriously rich, sumptuous, seamless animation and background art, the likes of which hadn't been seen since Disney's war years. Particularly stunning is the movie's use of colour to enhance moods. The dark blues and blacks of the stunning 'lantern elevator' descent into the rats' city and the tractor scene. The background starts out in subdued tones and ends up flaming red as the action peaks. One reviewer at the time wrote "I felt as if I was watching the invention of color, as if I was being drawn into the depths of the screen."

The characters are beautifully concieved and drawn, and the voice characterisations are spot-on (including the animation debut of Dom de Luise as Jeremy). And, significantly, there is only one song, and it's not sung by a character. Jerry Goldsmith's score supplies the emotional power for the rest of the soundtrack.

Even more importantly though, the film is incredibly emotionally potent, and not in a sentimental, kiddy way. It has genuine choke-you-up power which will appeal to adults.

Bluth ditched the double storyline of the book, relegating Jonathan Brisby's more substantial role in the novel to a short piece of background information revealed in a n explanatory flashback. Personally I think this was the right decision. To do otherwise would have been to take the spotlight off Mrs Brisby, and probably diminish the film's coherence and power.

So, Don Bluth achieved his goal: his debut feature film was the greatest animated achievement in 40 years. Sadly, it was also his only masterpiece. He peaked on his first outing, and afterwards declined into mediocrity, while Disney picked itself up and overtook him. In fact, ironically, there were signs of this in 'The Fox and the Hound', which despite being plagued by Bluth's departure amongst other catastrophies, turned out to be Disney's best movie since the 60's, even if it would still be the better part of another decade before they started hitting their marks consistently.

Today NIMH enjoys the sort of cult following it deserves. It's just a damn shame that its greatness isn't more widely acknowledged.

It's an important film, and it's a great film. In the two decades since, only a small handful of films have approached its stature.

Strong scripting was never one of Don Bluth's strengths. However, he has always had a passion for doing things differently from the "Disney way". And in The Secret of Nimh, compelling characters, beautiful animation, and dark atmosphere hold sway. Right from the opening scene, with its mere spark of flame and Nicodemus' bony, shaky hands lighting a candle and his raspy yet majestic voice breaking the silence, you could tell that you were watching a magical and beautifully rendered movie. No songs or blockbuster openers. Just a subdued but atmospheric character moment.

The magic doesn't stop there. The film has its fair share of breathtaking moments, and a very dark, almost eerie atmosphere pervades many scenes, particularly towards the end. But it's the characters that draw you in. The kids' wide-eyed looks threaten to swallow you in emotion. Mrs. Brisby is easily one of the strongest animated female leads I've ever seen. She is timid and emotional yet willing to do anything to save her family, and her simple story of her struggles will move your heart. The climax of her final act of courage is so astonishing and beautiful as to rival many of Disney's blockbuster scenes. The other characters, too, have colorful personalities. The Great Owl is especially frightening. The main villain, sadly, is about as bland and one dimensional of a bad guy as you can get, but this is a minor quibble as he provides ample menace during the film's rather gruesome fight scene.

Don Bluth's trademark weak narrative abilities, unfortunately, aren't exempt from even this classic. While Mrs. Brisby's story of trying to save her family is strong enough, her story also seems to be strongly bound to the rats, who could've just as easily become backdrops and we still would've had the same story about the mother mouse and her family. Instead we get treated to some sideplot about a power struggle within the rats' society and a plot to escape to Thorn Valley and Mrs. Brisby getting sidetracked to assist in drugging the cat and some incredibly useless babble about animal experimentation. The real star of the movie's "history", Jonathan Brisby, barely gets a glossing over. The mythical stone in this movie is very beautifully animated but serves no real purpose other than providing most of the movie's magic and being the embodiment of the movie's "courage of the heart" message. Its ties to Mrs. Brisby, the rats, or much of anything are never explained. It does indeed make the movie magical and wonderful to behold, but if it wasn't there, how then would Mrs. Brisby save her family? Finally, the movie's sidekick, Jeremy, while exceedingly funny, detracts from the movie's dark atmosphere with his happy-go-lucky slapstick. However unlike many of Disney's sidekicks, I wouldn't say that he served no purpose as a character.

On the whole though, The Secret of Nimh is a hugely enjoyable and rewarding movie. It's beautifully animated and emotional, majestic, dark at times, and most importantly dramatic and different, which is more than what can be said for many Disney movies, which often try to go for by the numbers fight scenes and injections of unnecessary humor into their important drama scenes. This movie often gets strangely compared to The Fox and the Hound, if only because this one came out a year after and Don Bluth worked on both. I personally found The Fox and the Hound to be superior, but like the former, The Secret of Nimh starts off with a quiet, but moody opener, isn't afraid to show blood or very real injury, and is often very grim and very dramatic and character driven. A real winner I hold close to my heart throughout the years while many animated movies lose their luster.

In a sense, it is such a simple story--a mother who must save her son's life. The character of Mrs. Brisby in the movie shines with all-too-real emotions. She is one very small mouse in a very big world and she is, quite understandably, very afraid. Through her fears, we can come to appreciate the trials and the wonders that Mrs. Brisby finds on her quest to save Timothy. Also worth noting, is the character of Jeremy the crow who provides the needed comic relief and does it with unforgettable flair. All the characters are very well cast voice-wise.

I think though that the greatest wonder of this film is how carefully each of its characters are animated. The emotions flicker so naturally across the characters' faces--something that is particularly important for the very emotional Mrs. Brisby--and there are nuances in just the right places that bring each character to life. Another thing to watch for is the rich background work done in this film. When Mrs. Brisby descends into the world of the Rats, it is the background artists that transfer her wonder to the audience. A splendid film.