Revisiting The Secret of NIMH 2

 A long time ago I did a review of The Secret of NIHM 2. In that review, I essentially echoed the complains others had over the film, many, many others. Called it a cash grab, fan fiction, hits harder when time after you see others basically saying the same thing and you feel partially responsible.

Of all the things to hold Nostalgia Critic accountable for is influencing general perception of movies for years to come, whether he was the loudest voice at the time or did it earlier than others where traction would be had by that time. The Secret of NIMH 2 is among his many casualties and they're still trying to recover, held back only by a number of washouts who forgot what year it was. Wanna know what got me to review this movie? A Nostalgia Critic type review that was released on July 24th... 2024. Yikes.

I was on the fence when it came to NIMH 2, but then I saw a video created by my good buddy Timey that defended the film, and credibly as well, and if you ask me you should check her video out first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrtxMJQoiNA

Now, for the movie in general, is it really as bad as people claim it to be? To that it's a resounding... sorta. There are some issues with this movie, but half the time people focus on less important things or just go solely by its connection to the first NIMH alone, if not regurgitating everything Nostalgia Critic said just differently enough to not make anyone side-eye.

I'm just saying, if Bobsheaux were to do a review of this movie, I imagine him just copying Nostalgia Critic's points questioning logic where it doesn't need to be questioned, use a rat puppet in his place and maybe charge two dollars just to watch it. He can't possibly be that destitute.

Whatever I may say about this movie, while it's not great, it's not the worst movie ever, not even close to being the worst sequel, a guilty pleasure at the most, and if you want an idea to what that's like for me, here's a list of my personal guilty pleasures: https://letterboxd.com/channeleven/list/guilty-pleasures/

But shameless plug aside, there's no better place to start than the beginning... of the film... 's inception.

Background

The Secret of NIMH 2 came out during a period where video/DVD rentals/purchases were on a continual rise. Companies like Disney would begin putting out sequels for the sell-through market in order to capitalize on the success of their properties. Lacking the same budget as the movies they followed (why put in extra effort for the home video market in the event ticket sales outdo rental payments, and the whole shebang behind shares?

While a lot of these sell-through movies aren't great, at best don't have the same staying power as their theatrical contemporaries, I mean companies weren't making fine art here, they were out making a profit, a necessary evil for them, you'd be a fool to expect anything more. But you don't have to always see it that way, if these movies made up your childhood or you can look past the obvious dips and enjoy a movie for what it is, more power to you, I'd probably relate depending on what movie's on the table anyhow.

Back on topic, The Secret of NIMH, the first, its success cannot be understated. Breaking new ground when it comes to storytelling and having gorgeous animation to boot, I can see why a lot of people loved that movie, and MGM would feel the same to the point they would try to continue it in some way, but with conservative spending.

The Secret of NIMH 2 was the second to last movie put out by MGM's animation division, one of four to be exact. MGM Animation originally produced a sing-a-long series of tapes, along with a handful of cartoons based on IPs they owned at the time. But regarding the movies, they first began with Babes in Toyland, which I only saw the latter half of and became one of many films that I could never figure out until recently.

But I swear that Roger Corman took the design of Humpty Dumpty for Aladdin and the Adventure of All Time.

This was followed with An All Dogs Christmas Carol which is based more on the All Dogs television series, something that Bobsheaux never even touched upon in the slightest, at least as far as I know. Anyway, that and NIMH 2 came out the same year before ending with a mousified Tom Sawyer in 2000.

NIMH 2 was directed by Dick Sebast. Sebast primarly did work as an animator for Disney productions like The Rescuers and Winnie the Pooh, later doing work for various Hanna-Barbera and Ruby Spears cartoons among other small roles. On one hand, he was involved with X-Men Evolution and even directed nine episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, those that at the very least aren't considered to be on the lower end. But on the other hand he is also somewhat attached to shows and movies I'm not particularly fond of, here's looking at you Sonic SatAM and Ultimate Avengers. The last thing he's credited to is the DreamWorks movie Home, where he was not credited, but chances are he doesn't mind that.

The film's story is credited to three people. Sam Graham and Chris Hubbell appear to be a writing team, sharing nearly the exact same credits. They had contributed in some capacity to the writing of films like Oliver and Company and The Little Mermaid, they wrote a later season episode of the Beetlejuice cartoon, four for The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest and wrote the teleplay for Night of the Twisters. But like Sebast they also have a BTAS connection, writing for one episode of that series, you wanna know what it was? You ready?

I've Got Batman in my Basement

Yes, what is generally agreed upon to be the worst BTAS episode of all time, you have them to thank for that.

But what about the third person? Jymn Magon is attached to quite a bit, but for more notable ones he was tied to Quack Pack, a product of its time at best, and was also attached to cartoons produced at DiC entertainment's French division Les Studios Tex, handling The Wacky World of Tex Avery, hated as that show is and serving as the headwritter for Archie's Weird Mysteries, a show I thought was cool, but then realized it's an E/I show using a cool premise to trick people into learning things. As far as other movies go he wrote Casper: A Spirited Beginning and Casper Meets Wendy, all two of those live-action Casper TV movies, An All Dogs Christmas Carol, I mean granted he did the story and part of the screenplay for A Goofy Movie, but you wanna know what else he was involved in?

Titanic: The Legend Goes On

Yet another punching bag of many years ago, he served as a consultant on it just for the record. If you want my opinion on the film there's an uncut version that, while not a great movie at least is better held together than the more commonly spread cut version.

As far as the cast goes it's a who's who of celebrities who were falling or fell off long ago and are looking for some easy money. Among them being William H. Macy, Ralph Macchio, Harvey Korman, Eric Idle, and we do get two returning actors, Dom DeLuise who was clearly never picky when it came to movie deals, and Arthur Malet in his final role... before he would retire and die in 2013.

I also wanna single out Meshach Taylor as I used to watch Designing Women reruns, but you may recognize him Mr. Wright from Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. And speaking of Nickelodeon actors, the second, or third if you count the 1994 pilot Arnold Shortman, Phillip Van Dyke was also in this. Also Hynden Walch, who you may recognize as Penny Sanchez from ChalkZone... and nothing else. But something tells me her presence here and what she became known for later on had given her some slack relating to who she played. Lastly, it's important to note that the voice of Mrs. Brisby, Elizabeth Hartman, had passed away under very dark circumstances. She was played by Debi Mae West in the film, and she is perhaps best known for playing Meryl in Metal Gear Solid, and she does a decent job in this movie for whatever it's worth.

If it wasn't obvious before, Don Bluth had no involvement in this movie, but whether he was on or not wouldn't affect the quality of the movie because throughout the 90s he had begun to lose his touch. You may argue Anastasia was an outlier among his more mediocre movies, and that MGM greenlit this movie because the Bluth name was more or less redeemed for a time, but that's a stretch. You already know how this movie turned out, so I'm not gonna go into the impact, it's a byproduct of trying to be like the biggest reviewer out there and share his opinions on movies, and it's never going to stop. I'm delaying the inevitable by rambling on and on about behind the scenes stuff, I should stop.

Okay, the movie, finally

As something different, I'm gonna do my best to try and explain the issues people have with the movie, it may not work, but it's different.

NIMH 2 would center on Timmy, a character who served a purpose in the first movie, but was otherwise relegated as part of a goal had by Mrs. Brisby to help him, while contending with the rot... whatever the first movie was about.

The movie would begin with a recap of the first, and this is where red flags are raised for most people, as it presents Mrs. Brisby's husband Johnathan as the main hero. As much as I'd love to bitch in the name of a cartoon rat, I think I know what they're going for here. Mrs. Brisby is the main player in the rest of the first NIMH movie yes, but Johnathan Brisby was the one who helped free the rats from NIMH, giving them the means, the will, to start their own civilization, he may've even lent a hand in the creation of Thorn Valley.

You may say Mrs. Brisby was also instrumental in helping Thorn Valley, I mean you may be right, but don't act like Johnathan had no influence either, if anything I give the movie props for trying to provide extra focus to the rest of the Brisby family, bar certain stretches. And in the case of Timmy, who spent the entire first movie sick, it's a good way to better flesh him out, what more is there to him?

Now, his selection as the rats' golden boy is kinda forced, I'll give you that, and some claim it should've been Martin in the lead, as Don Bluth also would've suggested, but I also see what they're trying to do here. Timmy is just coming into life with a greater purpose, and he feels he isn't ready for it. Martin who had more experience feels he is better suited for what's in store for Timmy, which would be a setup for what happens later in the movie.

As far as him being the chosen one, I mean I get citizens of Thorn Valley expressing optimism and fate for the next in line in the Brisbys thanks to their help. A little overblown, sure, but these reviewers going on and on about how Mrs. Brisby is a god they prey to you'd think they'd see something of her in Timmy. That would explain that celebration at the start of his arrival.

As for the cautious nature of Mr. Ages, he has faith in Timmy, but wants him to work to earn his reputation, to not just base himself solely on the achievements of his family alone, to have the experience and discipline to back it up. You don't become a hero in a day, you gotta work your way up. At least that's what I feel like they're going for.

Along with Timmy there's also Jenny, who is considered to be one of the film's few objective positives. She has enough personality and tact so she wouldn't feel out of place, as well as some importance to the plot. She had escaped NIMH and would inform Thorn Valley's higher ups about what's currently happening. For when they refuse to act on it and for those who say they should throw caution into the wind and do it... you wouldn't last one presidency, if conflict is the first thing. Yes it's ideal to help, but as the first movie shows, there will be bodycounts, and the rats escaped NIMH to live.

Oh but, building up Timmy. Perhaps he wasn't ready yet and his training amounts to protecting Thorn Valley from outside dangers, and that them going back to NIMH may lead to NIMH finding their way to Thorn Valley.

Up to this point I've ignored the musical aspects, and yeah... the songs are pretty bad. On paper they're decent, but in practice... you know what, no, I'd still take off-key singing over the autotune or swapped voice they used in The Loud House Movie. It seems like the songs are used just to help bolster the length, or because that's what kids were into, even if it doesn't fit in the context or tone of the film that came before.

I mean say what you will about Ferngully 2, at least it began as a musical of sorts.

Now as for Jeremy who is seen helping to scam forrest animals by pretending to be the Great Owl, I dunno, I guess they had to have him do something and justify him being within reasonable distance so he could rejoin Timmy and Jenny. So basically plot convenience, guess they backed themselves into a corner with that.

Getting to NIMH, remember how Martin acted earlier on? And how even more we were led on to believing one particular scientist was the big bad? It's a good ol' bait and switch, sorta. Anyway blah blah blah, evil Martin, agreement, blah blah. The rest of Thorn Valley would arrive, presumably realizing Timmy and Jenny were gone they would set out to find them and then they were like, fuck it, we're here, we may as well see this through, fruitless to go back now.

Alright let's talk about this. Martin was jealous that he was not considered to be sent to Thorn Valley, early on it was shown he knew where it was, hence how he could get out there. One can assume he traveled to NIMH to prove himself by stopping them, and either he got caught and experimented on, or his selfish desires led him to become corrupted.

Martin being the bad guy actually has more weight than people want you to believe. It plays a part in Timmy's character where he cares deeply for his family, Martin especially, so to realize the one behind all of this was his own brother, it hits hard. Compared to it just being a generic scientist that few of them know beyond some aspects, it gives this film one above sequels/d2v movies by representing an emotional connection, you don't get that as often, and while that is offset by a very goofy song it's still there.

It also says a lot in regard to Timmy's character, where he would be willing to help his brother even in spite of his corruption, "I have my brother back!". For his bravery, proving himself and potentially destroying NIMH for good, he is given a statue alongside his father for helping to bring the rats to where they are now, literally and figuratively.

Of course some of you may say "Wait a minute where the fuck is Mrs. Brisby's statue for the millionth time!?"

Alright I'm gonna be real, I'm aware of what she has done in the movie, benefit of the doubt to naysayers that maybe she did enough to warrant one. Maybe it's an oversight, maybe the extent of what she did was big but not statue big, she wasn't trying to prove herself against Johnathan Brisby, she was just trying to help her family and those close to her and faced her own journey to do so. I don't know, I really don't know, but there's a reason somewhere, I can feel it.

Animation

The animation in this movie is about what you'd expect for a straight-to-video film, not amazing but above average compared to others like it, and those others typically came out in the 2000s whereas this came out in 1998. It's not bad, but not mind-blowing and people would turn the other cheek given this is riding off of a movie best known for its animation.

Final Thoughts

A lot of people really hate this movie, and for a time I did too and I made a review to that effect. But the fact that even to this day people are still complaining about this movie and bringing nothing new most of the time it comes down to the same thing... it's getting old, and maybe this movie isn't as bad as Nostalgia Critic made it out to be.

The Nostalgia Critic had a negative impact on movie reviews, you can owe the reputations of certain films to him. For instance Garbage Pail Kids was more relatively obscure until he did a review and got more people to talk about it. The same effect occurred here as well evidentially as few could do anything more than just echo what Nostalgia Critic said in the name of a movie, of all things.

Once you take that away, you're left with a movie that, yes, isn't great but is far from the worst movie of all time, let alone one of the worst sequels. I'm being blunt here, because after seeing the same reviews multiple times and looking more into the movie, things just don't add up. Is this really that bad, or are we just regurgitating what we heard before with no variation? Only credit I can give to this is that most of the time they don't throw Don Bluth into the discussion, and since this movie came out as he was still alive there goes that go-to.

There's more to a movie than what you hear from the reviewer of the week, and people need to have the confidence to go against the grain if there is something that is getting missed. High risk, high reward.