Her youngest, Tim, is ill with pneumonia and cannot leave bed.
When the farmer begins ploughing the field, this puts her family in danger.
Her only option is to move her house to a safer location.
And the only people who can help her are the legendary rats of NIMH…
Don Bluth was a key part of eighties and nineties animation.
I was too young at the time to work out or care that Thumbelina and Anastasia were not made by the same people as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
A former employee of Disney, Bluth and a group of other animators left the corporation after being disenchanted by the company’s business practices and ethos regarding animation.
A combination of science fiction and fantasy, The Secret of NIMH was Bluth’s statement of intent and a shot across the bow of his former employer.
NIMH is a collusion of different genres - it takes place in a world where animals have anthropomorphic characteristics and interactions. The rats of NIMH are a product of genetic engineering - they have developed a vaguely tribal hierarchy with elements of mediaeval design and magic.
On paper, all these elements could come off incongruous.
But the film does a good job of slowly introducing these elements, and keeps Mrs Brisby’s quest tactile and rather difficult - the third act builds as a rather terrifying thriller, cutting between Mrs Brisby tries to escape the farmhouse, and Jenner preparing to take over the Rat colony.
Most of the fantastical elements are familiar things rendered uncanny or dangerous by their size and relationship with the animals: the farm cat Dragon; the plough, which becomes the main character’s existential threat.
I am not an expert in animation techniques, but cinematically, NIMH has a lot to recommend it.
Certain solid elements, like the plough, are rotoscoped. With the sound design, it becomes a terrifying, alien monster disturbing the more familiar animation style of the mice and other animals. The colour palette is dark and lush.
Bluth was heavily influenced by the darker elements of Disney, and NIMH is filled with dark, scary imagery and sequences, like Mrs Brisby’s encounter with Dragon the cat, and her visit to the Great Owl’s cave, which is strewn with bones of rodents.
Characters are wounded, children are put in peril, and the villain is stabbed on-screen, with no cut-aways or use of silhouette. The Secret of NIMH may share some vague similarities in design and subject, but it is far grimmer in presentation and outlook.
The voice cast are great - I particularly enjoyed Albert Shenar’s work as the devious Jenner.
The film does not really have a villain - Jenner is more of an obstacle to Mrs Brisby.
What is interesting is that the villain’s plan is to stand in the way of change - maybe a metaphor aimed at Bluth’s former employer?
The Secret of NIMH is a strong effort from Bluth, and while his company would soon collapse, it showed that Disney was not the only game in town - and paved the way for Bluth’s future work.
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