10 Animated Classic Movies

The Secret of NIMH

Rated: G

Year: 1982

Cast: Elizabeth Hartman, Dom DeLuise, Peter Strauss, Derek Jacobi

Poor Mrs. Brisby is a mousy widow who must find a way to save her home from the springtime plow. For help, she approaches the mysterious rats of NIMH, super intelligent creatures whose mental prowess are the result of a lab experiment gone awry at the National Institute of Mental Health. Director Don Bluth builds suspense with a sure hand, imbuing the action with Shakespearean drama.

What Parents Like: A new kind of hero: When her home and children are threatened, the gentle and timid Mrs. Brisby proves to be a soft-spoken and courageous lady.

What Kids Like: Kids will laugh at the ways the mouse children fight and get into mischief, especially when they are babysat by a clutzy crow, and admire the ingenious city the rats have constructed, using stolen electricity from the farm.