THE SECRET OF NIMH [1982 / 2014] [Blu-ray] [USA Release] The Secret of NIMH will “delight kids everywhere!” Right Before Your Eyes and Beyond Your Wildest Dreams!
Get ready to meet some runaway rodents with an earth-shattering secret! Suspenseful and heart-warming, this beautifully animated odyssey stars Mrs. Brisby, a mild-mannered mother mouse with a plan to move heaven and earth (or at least her house and home) to save her family from Farmer Fitzgibbons’ plough!
Along the way Mrs. Brisby gets some help from a lovelorn crow, a busybody neighbour mouse and a fearsome great owl. Unfortunately, Mrs. Brisby will need an engineering miracle to hoist her home, and for that she must face a mysterious rat, fend off a ferocious cat and claim a magic amulet! But when Mrs. Brisby discovers the astounding secret of NIMH...it could change her life forever!
This timeless tale of love, courage and determination will transport the whole family into an enchanting world – where the bravest hearts live in the meekest of mice.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1983 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: Win: Best Animated Film. Nominated: Best Animated Film. 1983 Young Artist Awards: Nominated: Best Family Feature in an Animated, Musical or Fantasy.
FILM FACT No.2: The rights to the book “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH” had reportedly been offered to Disney in 1972 but were turned down. ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH’ was the first feature film to be directed by Don Bluth. In September 1979, fellow animators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy and eight other animation staff left the animation department at Walt Disney Productions to set up their own independent studio, Don Bluth Productions. The studio worked, at first, out of Bluth's house and garage, but moved to a two-story, 5,500-square-foot facility in Studio City, California, and several months later. As Gary Goldman recalled, "that pulled the enthusiasm rug out from under us. We had hoped that the studio might like what we were doing and agree to buy the film and allow us to finish the short film in the studio, which would allow us to recoup what we had spent in terms of money and the many hours that we and the other members of the team had invested in the film." Gary Goldman described the casting process as "exciting, fun, and sometimes strange" and stated that focusing on the characteristics of each character, the voices and acting abilities were crucial, saying that using voices that added to a movie's texture was part of the team's philosophy in the development of a film. Gary Goldman found the strangest casting decision to be Dom DeLuise for Jeremy the Crow, which Goldman, Bluth, and Pomeroy had considered after they watched the 1978 film ‘The End.’ Don Bluth, explaining the amulet's inclusion in the film, says "The amulet was a device, or symbol, to represent the internal power of Mrs. Brisby. In many ways, it was an extension of Mrs. Brisby ... a visual extension of an internal (and harder to show in a film) power."
Voice Cast: Derek Jacobi (Nicodemus), Elizabeth Hartman (Mrs. Brisby), Arthur Malet (Mr. Ages), Dom DeLuise (Jeremy), Hermione Baddeley (Auntie Shrew), Shannen Doherty (Teresa), Wil Wheaton (Martin), Jodi Hicks (Cynthia), Ian Fried (Timothy), John Carradine (Great Owl), Peter Strauss (Justin), Paul Shenar (Jenner), Tom Hatten (Farmer Fitzgibbons), Lucille Bliss (Mrs. Fitzgibbons), Aldo Ray (Sullivan), Norbert Auerbach (Councilman 1), Dick Kleiner (Councilman 2), Charles Champlin (Councilman 3), Edie McClurg (Miss Right), Joshua Lawrence (Billy Fitzgibbons), Sally Stevens (Singer) (segment "Flying Dreams Lullaby") (uncredited) and Paul Williams (The Balladeer) (segment "Epilogue") (uncredited)
Director: Don Bluth
Producers: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, James L. Stewart, John Pomeroy and Rich Irvine
Screenplay: Don Bluth (story adaptation), Gary Goldman (story adaptation), John Pomeroy (story adaptation), Will Finn (story adaptation), Robert C. O'Brien (novel “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH”) and Ken Anderson (uncredited)
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
Spanish: 2.0 Dolby Digital Audio
French: Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Português: Dolby Digital Mono Audio
German: Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Italian: Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish
Region: All Regions
Running Time: 82 minutes
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / 20th Century Fox / Aurora Productions / Don Bluth Productions
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: Back before the days of DreamWorks and all the other modern competitors, Disney essentially had the feature film animation market all to itself. Of course, we still got other efforts at times, a niche represented here by Don Bluth’s 1982 animation ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH.’
Life’s not going well for a mild-mannered mouse named Mrs. Brisby [Elizabeth Hartman]. Her husband died recently, her son Timmy [Ian Fried] has pneumonia, and she’s about to be forced to move since a tractor will demolish her home. All that, and she has to worry about attacks from Farmer Fitzgibbon’s [Tom Hatten] nasty cat Dragon, a critter who almost nabs her while she takes medicine to Timmy. A clumsy crow named Jeremy [Dom DeLuise] helps save her, though, and they start an unlikely friendship.
Despite her escape from Dragon, Mrs. Brisby still faces problems due to “moving day.” Because of his bed-ridden status, she can’t move Timmy. She needs to figure out how to keep the tractor from her home, at least until Timmy recovers. A visit with a prophet called the Great Owl [John Carradine] reveals that she needs to consult with a mystical rat named Nicodemus [Derek Jacobi]. The rest of the flick follows Mrs. Brisby’s escapades as she tries to save Timmy and she learns the secret possessed by the rats.
Given the very disappointing animation of Disney’s late Seventies and early Eighties animated films; one would think competition would do well. That wasn’t the case for NIMH, however, as it didn’t draw much of an audience back in 1982. Time hasn’t treated the film kindly either, as it seems just as bland and forgettable as Disney’s efforts in the same era. That’s too bad, as the story presents real promise. With their special powers, the rats of NIMH should be interesting – maybe even fascinating characters. Unfortunately, the focus on Mrs. Brisby places them firmly in the background, so we never get to see much of them.
‘THE SECRET OF NIMH’ moves quickly and may lose younger viewers. It also features that trademark darker aspects of many Don Bluth movies. ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH’ isn't afraid of death, violence, or the odd bit of cussing. It's a grown up animated film. Most animated films nowadays won't even touch death for fear that it may scare the younger ones, and if death is ever talked about it's in broad terms. We hardly ever have to watch someone die in an animated film, here they not only die, but they're also involved in vicious sword fights to the death.
See, there's no circumventing the human emotion aspect of this animated film, if by chance animals were able to gain human intellect. With that new intelligence, these animals are suddenly thrust into creating a society with rules. Some of them want to do well; others aspire to gain power through evil ways. That's what's so endearing about ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH.’ It is not afraid to discuss the more sinister impulses of humankind. Through these rats, and their actions, we witness everything from greed to compassion. Throw Mrs. Brisby into the mix and we get endless amounts of courage and sacrifice.
If there's one thing about ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH’ that makes it less than perfect it's the fact that it moves far too fast. Don Bluth packs quite a lot into under 90 minutes, but it would have been nicer to have a longer story that fleshed some of these wonderful characters, like Justin and Nicodemus, out a tad more. I can't help but get choked up at the end each time I watch ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH,’ because it is such a simple story, but it makes such a profound statement of all time.
THE SECRET OF NIMH MUSIC TRACK LIST
FLYING DREAMS (Lyrics Written by Paul Williams) (Composed by Jerry Goldsmith) (Arranged by Ian Fraser) [Performed by Paul Williams] [Lullaby Performed by Sally Stevens]
Blu-ray Image Quality – ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH’ presents us with a really nice colourful 1080p image and equally with a very nice aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. I thought the film looked decent but rarely much better than that. Sharpness usually came across as reasonably concise and distinctive. However, a fair number of scenes looked slightly iffy, but didn’t dominate the animated film, but they caused occasional distractions. No signs of jagged edges or moiré effects appeared, and I also saw no problems with edge enhancement. Print flaws created concerns, however, grain looked moderately heavy at times, and the image displayed a mix of specks, spots, and marks, which were a bit too noticeable for me and were prominent enough to distract me much of the time and slightly marred my enjoyment and cannot understand why they could not with the modern computer gizmos got rid of this all those of specks, spots, and marks. For the most part, colours came across as reasonably lively and precise. Most of the hues were acceptably vibrant and dynamic. However, some tones appeared bland and murky, so inconsistency occurred; the grain was a factor, as it tended to add murk to the colours. Black levels were nicely deep and rich, but shadows seemed somewhat muddy and excessively heavy. ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH’ was never a poor image, but it lacked much sparkle and had more than a few problems. Hopefully, some sort of Anniversary edition will get a new re-master, but I'm not holding my breath.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – The 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack of ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH’ seems pretty good, especially the music, as it was composed by the brilliant and impressive Jerry Goldsmith, who sadly is no longer with us. Music demonstrates the greatest expansion, as the score offered general spread to the sides and the rear. Stereo imaging was pretty nice, as the music spread across the channels well. Effects had less to do, but they add some pep and showed decent localisation and movement. Audio quality was pretty good. Speech appeared natural and concise; only a little edginess ever marred the lines, as they usually remained distinctive. Effects appeared reasonably vivid, and they boasted nice bass during louder scenes. Music was also warm and lively. Nothing here dazzled, but the audio was more than adequate for its age. To my surprise, the DTS-HD audio track offered a good step up over its predecessor of the inferior DVD 2.0 mix, that was a total mess, but the DTS-HD edition is a lot clearer, better placed and totally involving. The Blu-ray’s audio was a definite improvement over its predecessor.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman: I've listened to a few audio commentary tracks by the Don Bluth and Gary Goldman duo, and the collaborators are always genial and very informative, still rightfully excited and proud of their creations. This audio commentary track was recorded in 2007, and Don Bluth and Gary Goldman reveal about the challenges of making a Disney-sized animated film on an indie-sized budget, and guide us through many of the techniques used to bring the world of NIMH to life. Don Bluth and Gary Goldman are fun to listen to and they talk in-depth about animation and the way they approach it. They discuss how hard it was to make a full-length animated feature on a limited budget that didn't come near to rivalling the budgets Disney was putting into their films. They share a vast wealth of animation knowledge. Fans and animators alike will want to give this audio commentary a really good listen. So all in all it was a very good effort and you will find out some very interesting facts about this unique animated film.
Special Feature: Secrets Behind the Secret [1982] [480i] [1.37:1] [14:25] Here we are presented with a short in-depth look behind-the-scenes with Don Bluth and Gary Goldman who cover the project really well and guide us through the entire story-to-screen process as well as how the animated film was adapted from the book and also the genesis of the project. A lot of the same ground is covered in the audio commentary but there is some good stuff here too. We also get to hear how Gary Goldman and Don Bluth discuss putting their new studio together, and the importance of animators being like the voice actors, and we also get to hear about other assorted memories with the making of this unique animated film. Gary Goldman also mentions how they all had to mortgage their houses to raise the money to finish the animated film after their funding was cut. What made it even more curious to me was that Don Bluth seemed shocked that this had to happen.
Theatrical Trailer [1982] [480i] [1.37:1] [2.20] This the Original Theatrical Trailer for the animation film ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH.’ I am always puzzled why they can’t show the proper aspect ratio for this film trailer.
Finally, it's great to finally start getting some of the Don Bluth animated classics now available on the Blu-ray format, but alas, they don't feel like they're looking or sounding the best that they could be. The video here is disappointing to say the least. A fantastically animated film like this deserves to be completely re-mastered and reworked. I'm holding out a small shred of hope that may happen at some point, but this is probably the best us Don Bluth fans are going to get for quite a long time. As much as it pains me to say it but ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH’ is arguably Don Bluth's best and darkest animated film and it's a must-own for animation fans. It's too bad this Blu-ray release fails to deliver a transfer worthy of the animation film, but despite this, I am so pleased to add this to my Blu-ray Collection, as this classic animation has been a big favourite of mine, especially as it is a classic Don Bluth animation that is just as good as any Walt Disney animation. But if you feel you ought to hold out for a better transfer, it is still great that it has been transfer to the Blu-ray format and despite all the mix of specks, spots, and marks, I am still pleased to own this beautiful animated film that will keep all the family entertained for a very long time. If you want to know the dark and menacing secret behind ‘THE SECRET OF NIMH,’ then you are going to have to purchase this Blu-ray disc. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
