The Secret of NIMH · reception & legacy

1982 · Don Bluth

How The Secret of NIMH has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

In summer 1982 it earned strong reviews but got flattened at the box office by E.T.; home video and cable turned it into a cult classic, and it's now routinely called the best non-Disney animated film of its era.

What's debated

The perennial fight it fuels: was Don Bluth right that kids' films should be genuinely scary — or is NIMH exhibit A for '80s animation that traumatised a generation'?

Its footprint

It's the flagship of the 'dark 80s animation' canon alongside Watership Down and The Dark Crystal — the glowing red amulet and the terrifying Great Owl are endlessly cited as 'the scene that scarred me as a kid.'

Where it stands

A beloved cult object and Letterboxd comfort-rewatch for animation heads — the standard 'proof animation didn't need Disney' pick.

★ Did you know? The heroine of the source novel is Mrs. Frisby, but the film renamed her Brisby over fears of a trademark clash with Wham-O's Frisbee — some already-recorded dialogue had to be altered to make the change.

Named by the director

Influences Don Bluth has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

Walt Disney — Bluth, who quit Disney with his animators to make NIMH, repeatedly framed the film as an attempt to restore the craft standards of Walt's golden age.