# Secret of NIMH Revisited



## Kotter Pinn (Jul 20, 2013)

So I went on a bit of a nostalgia trip recently and watched the Secret of NIMH on Netflix. I haven't seen it since I was 8 back in '87. I remember being quite scared of several parts back then and didn't fully understand it but I always remembered it as more of a fantasy epic with magic and whatnot. I was surprised to learn that NIMH actually stands for the National Institute for Mental Health and that the characters are basically sentient test rodents that escaped from the facility in a more modern setting. That kind of demystifed the film for me but it's still good. Kind of dark too. I also watched the second film which I liked too but not as much as the first.


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## TrishaCat (Jul 20, 2013)

You know as much as I want to see these movies I've actually never seen them. I'm glad they're a bit dark though. Didn't know they were test rodents that escaped some facility. Pretty dark indeed.


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## DarrylWolf (Jul 20, 2013)

Of course, you could also watch the sequel, which is considerably worse than the original


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## Zabrina (Jul 20, 2013)

Never dared watch the sequeal.


I love the first one, though. I always will.


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## Sarcastic Coffeecup (Jul 20, 2013)

Sounds like I got a movie to put on my to-watch list.


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## DarrylWolf (Jul 20, 2013)

Zabrina said:


> Never dared watch the sequeal.
> 
> 
> I love the first one, though. I always will.



First, Richard O'Brien who wrote the book the movie was based on died a year after its release but with the permission of his widow Sally McCaslin O'Brien they option the book into a movie that would be the directorial debut of Don Bluth in 1982. The dark tone of the cartoon is a stunning contrast to most children's animation and goes on to win numerous awards. 

But in 1998, animators without either Sally O'Brien's or Bluth's approval release a sequel and they turn the entire story into a musical, except not one of the actors can actually sing. The scream of terror you hear is probably your own. Then, they make Timmy, the rat who gets one line of dialogue from the first movie into a messianic hero thanks to a prophecy that Nicodemus completely forgot to tell you about in the first book or movie. The story is absolutely predictable because you know he's the mouse Messiah, he's got to win. And to make matters worse, the final villain is a psychotic laboratory mouse whose backstory bears too much of a resemblance to Brain from the "Animaniacs" to be taken seriously.


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## Butters Shikkon (Jul 20, 2013)

Lemme just link you  this. 

God, Bluth was such a badass in the 80's...before he lost his mind.


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## Tigercougar (Jul 21, 2013)

This movie suffers IMO from the unnecessary magic element. The story of a mother trying to save her child, and in the process discovering a (comparatively) technologically advanced society, is powerful enough without throwing in an element that's never explained and whose only use is to make the climax look cool. I would've preferred the movie be closer to the book.


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## DarrylWolf (Jul 21, 2013)

Tigercougar said:


> This movie suffers IMO from the unnecessary magic element. The story of a mother trying to save her child, and in the process discovering a (comparatively) technologically advanced society, is powerful enough without throwing in an element that's never explained and whose only use is to make the climax look cool. I would've preferred the movie be closer to the book.



But it is still a great movie, based off of one of the few books from my elementary school curriculum I actually remember as being well made.


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## Sutekh_the_Destroyer (Jul 21, 2013)

I love Secret of NIMH. 


Just fucking amazing.


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## Counted_Crows (Jul 24, 2013)

Hell yes. The Secret of Nimh is one of the best children's movies out there. Best part is that the soundtrack was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, and actually holds up extremely well.


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## Neon Poi (Jul 29, 2013)

Fantastic movie. I'm about to graduate with a degree in psychology so finally putting together that NIMH is the National Institute of Mental Health...that was kind of a funny moment for me, haha.


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