The Secret of NIMH

Summary: A widowed mouse sets out to save her children and along the way discovers that her husband was involved in more than she could have ever expected.

Warnings: Lots of threatening situations for our heroine, Mrs. Brisby. One of the rats says “D—m”. Human experimenting on animals (called ‘torturous’). Several incidents of blood, including death of multiple characters.

Opinion: This was more violent than I remembered. So much so that I really debated on bumping this up to recommending it at age 8. And I’ll still suggest waiting for at least age 8 for better understanding of the plot (there are several ideas present that can confuse young children, especially what happened to the rats while at NIMH).

This movie is based (loosely) on the book “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH”, but it takes a very different approach to several things. First, in the book, the emphasis is on the changes the rats experience as they gain intelligence - both at the labs and then later after their escape. In the movie, the experience at NIMH is a side note at best. In the book, there is no magic at all, simply science, whereas in the movie, there seems to be a whole lot of magic, including the climactic rescue of Mrs. Brisby’s children and home. I admit that I prefer the book’s version of events far above the movie’s, but it does make for vivid visuals.

And the visuals do shine in this. They are usually dark, but highly detailed and creative, with the artwork impressive and atmospheric. There is some music, but this is not a musical, and it fits the movie well.

The characters are fairly well done - a crow adds comedic relief, and the bad-guy is very one-dimensional, but otherwise the characters are interesting and engaging.

The messaging seems to lightly touch on evils of humans experimenting on animals, but it isn’t emphasized, nor is the theme of “stealing is bad” (mentioned, but not really delved into enough to make it seem important to the story). Perhaps the theme of courage is the strongest, with Mrs. Brisby acting several times against her natural instincts in order to protect her family or help others.

Overall, this is an excellent film, abet dark in some ways. For sensitive children, I’d suggest delaying their introduction to this movie, but as long a a parent is willing to answer some questions and reassure children during this movie, then most seven year olds are probably fine.

Sequels/Remakes: There was a (very bad) sequel created (don’t bother finding it). The book is recommended, but only for older children (probably ages 10 and up).

Educational Value: 1 out of 3 stars.

Cultural value: 3 out of 5 stars. Perhaps not as well known as the Disney animated films, this is still a good film that’s well known to the general public and so worth showing your children.

Age rating: This show is appropriate for ages 7 and older. As mentioned in my opinion, be cautious about this age rating - your children might benefit from being older.

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