Sightlines · reception

How The Secret of NIMH was received

1982 · Don Bluth · The Secret of NIMH on Sightlines

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 traumatized 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

• 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.