In it, Fievel is separated from his family as the train approaches the American Old West; the film chronicles him and Sheriff Wylie Burp teaching Tiger how to act like a dog. Fievel Goes West was the first production for the short-lived Amblimation, a studio Spielberg set up to keep the animators of Who Framed Roger Rabbit working.
It is also the only Amblimation film to use cel animation , the last in the series to do so, and the last to be released in theaters. While the animation medium was transitioning to computers in the late s and early s, Spielberg wanted almost all of the animation of Fievel Goes West to be hand-drawn, describing animation as "an arts-and-crafts business". He also wanted the animation to have a "live-action" feel.
James Horner returned as a composer and wrote the film's song "Dreams to Dream", which garnered a Golden Globe nomination. This was the same day Walt Disney Pictures ' Beauty and the Beast was distributed, making it the third instance of two animated films being released on the same date.
Fievel Goes West was promoted with a wide array of tie-ins and started in the top ten at the box office. Some film journalists and executives attributed this to having to compete with the Disney film. Upon its release, Fievel Goes West was panned for a lack of perceived innovation compared to other animated films of its time. In addition to garnering more home media releases, TV airings, and video game adaptations later on, the film has made numerous s retrospective best-of lists from online publications, especially best Netflix -available Western films.
In , five years after emigrating to the United States, the impoverished Mousekewitz family are still struggling against the attacks of mouse-hungry cats. Fievel spends his days thinking about a bloodhound-sheriff called Wylie Burp, while Tanya dreams of becoming a singer.
