The Secret of NIMH is an animated movie directed by Don Bluth and released by his studio United Artists in 1982. The movie was based on Robert C. O'Brien's children's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. (The main character's name was changed to "Brisby", so that its audiences would not take its sound for the Frisbee toy.) Bluth began the idea of creating this movie after disagreement with Disney over The Fox and the Hound. Before that he worked with the previous Disney animated movie which was also about mice: The Rescuers. Later he made another animated movie about mice called An American Tail, which came out in 1986.

The story 
A widow mouse lives with her children (Martin, Teresa, Cynthia and Timothy). On her journey, she meets a comic, love-seeking crow, a group of rats and the National Institute of Mental Health. After the deaths of the enemy leader and magician, a magical amulet manipulates and restores a house shaped stone block from drowning in the mud. Bluth and Gold­man's next film, All Dogs Go to Heaven, also used digital coloring via CAPS.

Cast 
 Elizabeth Hartman as Mrs. Brisby*
 John Carradine as Great Owl
 Dom DeLuise as Jeremy
 Derek Jacobi as Nicodemus
 Arthur Malet as Mr. Ages
 Hermione Baddeley as Auntie Shrew
 Peter Strauss as Justin
 Paul Shenar as Jenner
 Aldo Ray as Sullivan
 Shannen Doherty as Teresa Brisby
 Danica McKellar as Cynthia Brisby
 Wil Wheaton as Martin Brisby
 Ian Fried as Timothy "Timmy" Brisby
 Tom Hatten as Farmer Paul Fitzgibbons
 Lucille Bliss as Mrs. Beth Fitzgibbons
 Joey Lawrence as Billy Fitzgibbons
 Edie McClurg as Miss Right
 Nipsey Russell as Councilman 1
 Dick Kleiner as Councilman 2
 Charles Champlin as Councilman 3

* It was Hartman's final movie.

Reception 
In spite of its critical success, this movie had a mediocre run at the box office, mostly because of a much bigger rival, Steven Spielberg's E. T. (Ironically, Spielberg saw the Bluth movie and asked its director to work on An American Tail.)

Many fans and critics have called NIMH Don Bluth's most important work and magnum opus and masterpiece. Even though this movie was not a big box office success, An American Tail and 1997's Anastasia became his most successful works in later years. The next day, however, Bluth approved of the idea for possible development, along with Rock-a-Doodle.

Sequel 

In 1998, MGM released a direct-to-video sequel called The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue. In the sequel, Timothy goes to a place called Thorn Valley because he wants to become a hero like his father. His brother Martin has turned evil (although he does not want to), and Timothy must fight him in order to save the Rats of NIMH. At Thorn Valley Timothy learns from a young girl mouse that the mice who were thought to have been killed during the escape from NIMH are still alive, so he and the rats try to rescue them.

The sequel was hated by the fans of the first movie and the movie critics because of its clichéd and familiar storyline, and because many people thought that the magic of Don Bluth's dark and original NIHM was destroyed by the sequel, because MGM toned down the darkness of the story.

Other websites
 
 
 
 
 The Secret of NIMH Archive

1982 movies
American animated movies
English-language movies
American family movies
Movies based on books
Movies about animals
Movies directed by Don Bluth
American independent movies