An American Tail: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack

John Williams is always said to be the prestigious composer of film music, but I have always preferred James Horner. He doesn't just write music that enhances the mood, he writes music that steals the show. The Main Title of this album is beautifully stunning with melancholy splendor, and then suddenly and appropriately goes into Feivel's upbeat, mischievous theme that you never can really forget. It's hard to believe that this symphonic-style score was written for a cartoon about mice. But, the story itself is beautiful, and could be told in any way, shape, or form, and I think that Horner realized this when he was writing his score--he was not thinking of little cartoon mice running around shouting "Down with Cats!" He was thinking of the trials and the bravery of those immigrants crossing the Atlantic to escape the persecution of their homelands, and I think Horner realized this, and composed the score for them, so that today it is more of a monument to them than to the...Read more

James Horner has done a lot of great scores for movies, but "An American Tail" is his greatest. Once again, he puts a lot of emotion and depth into it. The song that he wrote for this movie, "Somewhere Out There," is my favorite song from a movie. It is the best song he wrote for a movie. The Main Title track at the beginning of this soundtrack is so beautiful, inspirational and moving. Track 13, Reunited, makes me cry the most when I hear it because I can picture the sence where Fievel is in Orphan Alley in my head. It's amazing that when you hear a moving piece of music like this, the sences from the movie play in your mind. This soundtrack is a must for all Horner fans.

Wow, at this price especially, this is a steal. I remember going on a field trip as a kid to see this thing in the theater. I had already started to notice good music and film music even at that young of age. When I heard this music for the first time, it made cry several times. Beatiful, tender, and bone chilling beauty. Forget Titanic! This is the James Horner that I grew up with. This, and his score for Don Bluth's other animated feature, The Land Before Time, are two of his best works of all time. They are also some of the best film music in some time as well. Yeah, some of the songs I could do without, but even they have their charm. His follow up to Amercian Tail 2 wasn't as good, but decent. This has such depth and soul, you just can't believe it was for some cartoon. I realize all these years later that this is what gave Amercian Tail its heart and soul. A must have! Now THIS is Horner at his best!