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The Secret Of NIMH
Right before your eyes and beyond your wildest dreams.
Directed by	Don Bluth
Produced by	Don Bluth Gary Goldman John Pomeroy
Written by	Don Bluth, Robert C. O'Brien, Will Finn, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy
Starring	Elizabeth Hartman Derek Jacobi Dom DeLuise John Carradine Arthur Malet Hermione Baddeley Peter Strauss Paul Shenar Shannen Doherty Wil Wheaton
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	July 2, 1982
Running time	82 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$7 million
Followed by	The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Secret of NIMH (alternatively spelled "The Secret of N.I.M.H.") is a 1982 animated film adaptation of the Newbery Medal-winning book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Mrs. Frisby's name is changed to "Brisby" in the film due to trademark concerns with Frisbee discs), written by American author Robert C. O'Brien. The title of the movie was later used for newer editions of the book. It was directed by Don Bluth, produced by Aurora Pictures, and released by United Artists.

The film begins as an old rat named Nicodemus writes something about Jonathan Brisby just being killed as he holds onto the amulet he made and says goodbye to his dearest friend. Elsewhere, Mrs. Brisby, a shy and timid widowed mouse, lives in a cinder block with her children on the Fitzgibbon farm. She is preparing to move her family out of the field they live in as plowing time approaches, however her son Timothy has fallen ill with pneumonia, and moving him could prove fatal. With the help of Jeremy, a clumsy but compassionate crow, Mrs. Brisby visits The Great Owl, a wise creature who advises her to visit a mysterious group of rats who live beneath a rose bush on the farm.

Upon visiting the rats, Brisby meets Nicodemus, the wise and mystical leader of the rats, and Justin, a friendly rat who immediately becomes attached to Mrs. Brisby. While there, she learns that her late husband, Mr. Jonathan Brisby, along with the rats, was a part of a series of experiments at a place known only as N.I.M.H. (revealed earlier in the story as the National Institute of Mental Health). Nicodemus also presents Mrs. Brisby with an amulet which he tells her to keep secret.

The experiments performed on the mice and rats boosted their intelligence, allowing them to read without being taught and to understand things such as complex mechanics and electricity. The experiments also allowed the rats and mice to live longer. The rats, Mr. Ages and Mr. Brisby escaped from N.I.M.H. and came to live on the Fitzgibbon farm. The rats created a home for themselves under Mrs. Fitzgibbon's rose bush, creating an elaborate habitation of beautiful chambers, elevators, and Christmas lights. However, the rats are unhappy in their dependence on the humans, whom they are stealing electricity from, and have concocted a plan to leave the farm and live independently.

Meanwhile, on her way back, she sees Jeremy again. Jeremy has tied himself to a lilly pad and uses a hollow stick for air, so he can avoid being spotted. Mrs. Brisby asks Jeremy for some string; at first, Jeremy is too obsessed with the amulet to give her the string. But he soon gets into the conversation, responding that he has lots of string in different colors. Mrs. Brisby notices that he is getting carried off and leaves, and Jeremy gets back in disguise.

Because of her husband's prior relationship with the rats, they agree to help Mrs. Brisby move her home out of the path of the plow. However, the evil Jenner and his unwilling accomplice Sullivan, who wish to remain beneath the rose bush, plot to kill Nicodemus during the move. Mrs. Brisby is told by Justin that someone must drug the Fitzgibbon's cat, Dragon, so that they can complete the move safely. She volunteers. That evening, she successfully puts the drug into the cat's food dish, however the Fitzgibbon's son catches her and convinces his mother to let him keep her as a pet. That evening, she overhears a telephone conversation between Mr. Fitzgibbon and NIMH and learns that NIMH intends to come to the farm to exterminate the rats. She manages to escape from the cage and runs off to warn Justin.

Meanwhile, the rats are completing the move. Just as the Brisby house is over Nicodemus, however, Jenner cuts the pulley ropes, causing the house to fall and crush Nicodemus. Everyone assumes that it was an accident and Jenner begins to convince them to return to the rosebush and abandon the plans to migrate. Mrs. Brisby shows up and begins to shout that NIMH is coming and that they must leave immediately. Jenner becomes angry and then notices the amulet and tries to take it. Justin rushes to Mrs. Brisby's aid and he and Jenner begin to sword fight. During the fight Justin accuses Jenner of killing Nicodemus and Jenner tells Justin that Nicodemus wanted to ruin everything. Jenner stabs Sullivan after Sullivan manages to get a sword to Justin. Jenner appears to have the upper hand. However, shortly before dying, Sullivan manages to toss a dagger into Jenner's back, killing him.

Mrs. Brisby suddenly hears the cries of her children from inside the house and realizes that the house is sinking in the mud it landed in. She is unable to pull it from the mud. However, as she tries to save her children, the amulet glows and lifts the house to safety.

The movie ends some time later, presumably in spring. The Brisby house has been moved to a safe location and Timothy has begun to recover. The rats moved from the farm and Mrs. Brisby gave the amulet to Justin, now the leader of the rats. Jeremy comes with the string, but he is too late. Then he finds "Miss Right", an equally clumsy crow with whom he flies off.

Mrs. Brisby meets Nicodemus. Backlighting techniques are used in this scene to give Nicodemus's eyes a bright glow.

The Secret of NIMH was the first feature film to be directed by Don Bluth. In September 1979 he, fellow animators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, and eight other animation staff left Walt Disney Productions animation department 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 several months later.^[1] After completing work on several shorter projects, including a two-minute animated sequence for the film Xanadu, the studio forged a deal with Aurora Productions, a film-making partnership established by former Disney executives.^[2]

The rights to the book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH had reportedly been offered to Disney in 1972 but turned down.^[3]Aurora Productions acquired the rights, and gave Don Bluth Productions a budget of US$7 million and 30 months to complete the film, tighter in both budget and schedule than most Disney animated features at the time. The studio set out with the explicit goal in mind of returning feature animation to its “golden era”, concentrating on strong characters and story, and experimenting with unusual and often more labor-intensive animation techniques.^[4] Bluth believed older techniques were being abandoned in favor of cheaper ones, and the only way animation could survive was to continue traditional production methods. Among the techniques experimented with on The Secret of NIMH were airbrushed contact shadows, and backlit animation (where animated mattes are shot with light shining through color gels to produce glowing areas). A modern version of the multiplane camera was also invented.^[5]

To achieve the film's detailed full animation while keeping to the tight budget, the studio strove to keep any waste of time and resources to a minimum. The crew often worked long hours with no immediate financial reward (though they were offered a cut of the film's profits, a practice common for producers, directors and stars of live action films but never before offered to artists on an animated feature); producer Gary Goldman recalled working 110 hour weeks during the final six months of production.^[6] Around 100 in-house staff worked on the film, with the labor-intensive cel painting farmed out to 45 people working from home.^[7] Many minor roles, including incidental and crowd voice work, were filled in by the in-house staff.

During the film's production, the studio was contacted by Wham-O, the manufacturers of Frisbee flying discs, with concerns about possible trademark infringements if the "Mrs. Frisby" name in O'Brien's original book was used in the movie. By then, the voice work had already been recorded for the film, so the name change to "Mrs. Brisby" necessitated a combination of re-recording some lines and, because John Carradine was unavailable for further recordings, careful sound editing.^[3]

The film garnered critical acclaim for being one of the most vibrantly animated films ever made.^{[citation needed]} It has recently received an outstanding score of 100% on Rottentomatoes.com, a website which accumulates online reviews from film critics. However, Rotten Tomatoes has only fifteen reviews for this movie. [1] Despite good reviews, the film only did moderately well at the box office, attributed to a combination of poor promotion, regionally-staggered release dates and competition from the Steven Spielberg blockbuster E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.^[8] A major dispute between Aurora Productions, the studio which financed NIMH, and United Artists which had bought Aurora prior to the film's release and added scheduling and marketing difficulties, may also have affected NIMH's commercial success.^{[citation needed]} There was some controversy over the perception that the film was perhaps surprisingly frightening and violent for most young children despite its MPAA "G" rating (the Walt Disney Company originally rejected this project because it was perceived to be "too dark" and complicated to be a financial hit). In addition, in one scene where Mrs. Brisby is captured, Justin cries, "Damn!", which almost caused the film to receive a PG rating.

Nevertheless, the movie garnered a passionate cult following that arose from home video and also made quite an impact to the animation world in general. Steven Spielberg loved the film so much that he insisted on working with Don Bluth to create An American Tail.

The film had a successful run on home video and spawned many VHS and DVD re-releases. In 2007, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman made a special high-definition restoration of the film, though it wasn't released on 2-disc DVD as the "Family Fun Edition", on June 19, 2007. Though in Canada, just like The Pebble and the Penguin had happened on its 2-disc DVD re-release in March of that same year, the DVD was re-released in several Canadian Wal-Marts on June 5, 2007. Though the Don Bluth website said that there will be a special Blu-ray release of the film, no details have been announced yet.

The film was followed up in 1998 with The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue, a straight-to-video release. This movie was made without either Don Bluth's permission or creative input.

Soundtrack album track listing

• 1. "Main Title" (orchestral)
• 2. "Allergic Reaction/Athletic Type" (orchestral)
• 3. "Flying Dreams Lullaby" (performed by Sally Stephens)
• 4. "The Tractor" (orchestral)
• 5. "The Sentry Reel/The Story of NIMH" (orchestral)
• 6. "Escape from NIMH/In Disguise" (orchestral)
• 7. "Flying Dreams" (performed by Paul H. Williams)
• 8. "Step Inside My House" (orchestral)
• 9. "No Thanks" (orchestral)
• 10. "Moving Day" (orchestral)
• 11. "The House Rising" (orchestral)
• 12. "Flying High/End Title" (orchestral)

1. ^ Cawley. Walkout to Independence
2. ^ Beck, The Animated Movie Guide p.243-4
3. ^ ^{a b} Cawley. The Secret of NIMH
4. ^ Counts. Coming: The Secret of NIMH
5. ^ Mandell. Interview with Dorse Lanpher
6. ^ Cawley. The Secret of N.I.M.H.
7. ^ McDaniel. Remembering NIMH
8. ^ Beck, Don Bluth Goes Independent

• Beck, Jerry. "Don Bluth Goes Independent", Animation World Magazine, 1996-06-01. 
• Beck, Jerry (October 2005). The Animated Movie Guide. Chicago Review Press, p.243-4. ISBN 1-556-52591-5. 
• Cawley, John (October 1991). The Animated Films of Don Bluth. Image Pub of New York. ISBN 0-685-50334-8. 
• Counts, Kyle. "Coming: The Secret of NIMH", Cinefantastique, February 1982. 
• Hildebrandt, Tim; Bohus, Ted. "Interview with Director Don Bluth", January 1982. Retrieved on 2007-01-30. 
• Mandell, Paul. "Interview with Dorse Lanpher", June 1982. Retrieved on 2007-01-30. 
• McDaniel, Adam. Remembering NIMH: An Interview with Don Bluth Studios.
• "Bluth Completes Cartoon Feature", Variety, 1982-05-19. 

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Secret of NIMH

• The Secret of NIMH at the Internet Movie Database
• The Secret of NIMH at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Secret of NIMH at Box Office Mojo
• The Secret of NIMH Archive