40 Years of THE SECRET OF NIMH

My favorite animated feature of all time.

July 2, 1982 was the release of Don Bluth’s masterpiece THE SECRET OF NIMH, which stands 40 years later as my #1 favorite animated feature of all time.

I was 7 years old at the time, and I vividly remember the TV commercials, the newspaper ads, and seeing it in the movie theatre.

At the time of its release, I read every magazine article I could find about it (I vividly remember reading one about the child actors in the film and how the directors tickled them to make them laugh), and I had a copy of the comic book and the storybook, which planted the storyline firmly into my brain. The storybook is notorious for its enigmatic cover image of a scene that’s not in the film at all, with the entire Brisby family on Jeremy’s back.

Sadly, I no longer have these books, but I’m always on the lookout for used copies. The only rare bits of memorabilia I have now from that era are a Little Golden Book and a press kit, which is missing some production stills but still has production notes and bios of the cast & crew.

That summer of 1982, in our family’s cottage in Up North Michigan, I wrote my own story which was essentially a rip-off of the film called THE SECRET OF CAMELOT. This is me working on the book and building the story’s castle out of sand. As you can see, I took it very seriously. You can see the entire book here.

As a kid, about a year later, I also read the book that it’s based on, and have read it a few times as an adult. It’s also very good, and there are different schools of thought surrounding how the magic elements were added to the film which are absent from the book. I am one of those who appreciate the book and the film as separate entities and different ways of telling a similar story.

THE SECRET OF NIMH would be watched again, and again, and again, on cable TV, VHS, and DVD in the years to follow. For 40 years it’s been something I would keep coming back to, and today it’s something I could watch anytime of the year, in any mood, at the drop of a hat. It ignites my imagination and makes me want to tell stories of my own.

The film often gets mentioned in lists of films that traumatized and scarred children for life. I can see why, but it never had that effect on me. I was riveted by it, even (and perhaps especially) its blood, violence, and grotesque imagery. They don’t make ‘em like they used to, and that’s a damn shame.

The voice cast is so good - and I love how casual and colloquial their delivery of the screenplay is. So much of the story and little details of the environment and dialogue is left unexplained, and I love that. It invites the viewer to participate with their own imagination.

The musical score by Jerry Goldsmith and closing song by Paul Williams is also an absolute treasure, and I love listening to it on its own.

The layouts. The special effects. The mystery. The strangeness. The disturbing scenes. The funny and beautiful scenes. The animation. The sincerity. THE MUSIC....and above all, THE GREAT OWL. I love it, I love it, I love it.