The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue (1998)

You won't be disappointed!

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

A spitting on the original. This is just wrong. If Mrs. Brisby saw timmy's future end up as this, she wouldn't have gone to all that trouble saving his life. It is t by far the worst of the sequels. Like the Ferngully sequel. On the plus side, Eric Idle isn't all that bad as the cillian, but it's not going to save this at all. Also, WHERE IS MRS BRISBY'S STATUE???? Why does Timothy get one

This movie is SO bad, that I find the original movie less good after watching it. Let me tell you about it. The original "Secret of NIMH" is… well, you know what. But this direct-to-video monstrosity is the total opposite. Thank heavens Don Bluth have nothing to do with it. "The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue" is one of the worst, if not THE worst animated sequel of all time. It's worse than "A Troll in Central Park", "The Wisdom of Friends", and "Titanic: The Legend Goes On"! But it's not as bad as "FoodFight!" The reason is because it has some redeeming factors. The animation is not quite as good as the original, but it is okay. The voice actor for the Evil Martin is good. I'll let you know later. I'll tell you the plot. The film begins with a prophecy telling how one of Jonathan and Mrs. Brisby's sons would save Thorn Valley from NIMH. (It's all a lie) Timmy (Andrew Ducote) is chosen to go but his older brother Martin (Phillip Van Dyke) believes he should have been the one chosen. Martin decides to prove his quality, and goes off to find his adventure. One day Timmy (now voiced by Ralph Macchio) comes across a field mouse named Jenny McBribe (Hynden Walch), whose parents were two of the lost 8 mice who try to escape NIMH but were thought to have died. The Thorn Valley council decides it would be too dangerous to save the 8 mice, so Timmy and Jenny go alone. They take a hot air balloon, but is attacked by a hawk and crashes in the forest. Seeking help, they visit the Great Owl, which as it turns out is not the Great Owl, but actually Jeremy (Dom DeLuise) posing as the Great Owl. There they learn that a caterpillar named Cecil (Meshach Taylor) has teamed up with Jeremy to trick the forest animals into paying them money. Jeremy and Cecil take the two mice to NIMH where they find two of the rats from Thorn Valley, Justin (now voiced by William H. Macy and I don't know why) and Brutus (Kevin Michael Richardson). They also learn that Dr. Joseph Valentine (Steve Mackall), the head scientist, has made Martin insane. After being made insane, Martin (now voiced by Eric Idle) took over the lab and brainwashed Dr. Valentine with a device similar to the one Valentine used on him and made him think he was a dog. Martin plans to use an army of lab rats riding a flock of ravens to take over Thorn Valley. He even turns two cats, Muriel (Andrea Martin) and Floyd, (Harvey Korman) crazy, who then proceed to catch the others. He asks Timmy to join him, but he refuses and is locked in a cage as Martin drags Jenny away to make her his queen. Timmy escapes with the help of Cecil and they go to free Jenny. Together, they knock out Martin, and Timmy tricks Martin's army of ravens and rats to fly in the wrong direction. Timmy and Jenny then leave to find the others, only to find once everyone is free that NIMH is on fire. The survivors flee. Timmy goes back to save Martin. Before he leaves, Jenny tells him she loves him and he tells her the same. After being attacked by the crazy Muriel and Floyd once again, Timmy sends them down an elevator shaft and finally finds Martin. Timmy and Martin are able to escape through the lab's skylight, with some help from Jeremy. Jeremy takes the survivors to safety. The mice return to Thorn Valley, Martin (now voiced by Phillip Glasser) returns to normal and Timmy arrives to a hero's welcome by the citizens of Thorn Valley, including Justin, Brutus, Mr. Ages, (still voiced by Arthur Malet) and Auntie Shrew, (now voiced by Doris Roberts) along with Mrs. Brisby (Debi Mae West) and Martin's and Timmy's sisters, Teresa (Jamie Cronin) and Cynthia (Whitney Claire Kaufman). Here is what I say about it. It is bad. The Land Before Time sequels are truly more entertaining than this, even though some people hated them as well, they are nothing and I mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING compared to "Timmy to the Rescue". Timmy could beat them at his worst in his sleep. Even "The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends" can't get worse than this. It would be knocked out of the ring by only a single touch. It is also one of the worst cartoons I have ever seen in my entire life. It has an awful plot, and annoying songs. It was released in December 22nd 1998. I wish it was supposed to come out in that day for a direct-to-video release, but due to production difficulties and somebody plundering the footage, it would come out in March 30th 2008 in theaters. It would cost $60,000,000 to make, but grossed to $1,708, making it the lowest-grossing animated film OF ALL TIME! It would also make it the WORST ANIMATED FILM OF ALL TIME! That would ruin the company. There,that's all I'm going to say about this one. I hope it rots in ****!

In the book on which these films were based, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien, 1971), the rats are so much more fascinating than in either of the films. Their plan to move the Brisby household actually works, thanks to the supervision of their mechanical expert, Arthur. In the book, Nicodemus does not get offed, and as far as the original film is concerned, I didn't understand how someone so wise and visionary didn't know better than to stand underneath a structure that could collapse at any minute, or why he didn't see through Jenner's plot. The film would have been so much nicer if Brutus, for instance, had noticed Jenner and stopped him with his electrified spear, then held him in place while Sullivan tied him up and, when they heard from Mrs. Brisby (why couldn't they just stick with Frisby? I don't care if it does sound similar to a toy) that NIMH was coming, they leave Jenner where NIMH can find him and have him sent back. After seeing Mrs. Brisby rescue her house herself with the amulet, some might say, "I think this proves that relying on the kindness of strangers only gets you into trouble." Others might say, "Did you saying 'relying on the kindness of strangers' or 'watching TV'?" This time, Dr. Schultz (the scientist who gave the rats and mice their injections) could give Jenner's cage a padlock. Besides, Mrs. Brisby wouldn't have had to burn her hands on the amulet (why did they even bother adding that?). Why did the Great Owl have glowing orange eyes without pupils? Seriously, he looked nothing like a great horned owl. Also, it never mentions that Mrs. Brisby isn't really a mouse, but rather a meadow vole (which in America is what we often refer to as the "field mouse"). Why doesn't Justin come back with the tools he uses in the book to rescue Mrs. Brisby? Cynthia was supposed to be "slim, pretty and overly fond of dancing", but in the sequel--enough said. Teresa and Martin were supposed to carry Timothy outside, wrapped in several pieces of cloth large and thick enough to avoid exposing him to the cold (okay, so it was raining in the film, but Mrs. Brisby could have asked the rats to bring some sort of waterproof covering, like cellophane). In the movie, they didn't really have the opportunity to help out. It was like the whole point of the film was to make the audience cheer for Mrs. Brisby and yawn at everyone else, forgetting how special they all were, not just she (ie Timothy was supposed to be the smartest and kindest of the four Brisby children). I wouldn't be surprised if this movie made viewers question the importance of teamwork. In the sequel, Nicodemus states a prophecy that only the son of Jonathan Brisby can stop the evil coming to threaten Thorn Valley, so anybody who has read the book might think, "Of course, this explains everything. In the original film, that wasn't the real Nicodemus. That was an impostor. The real Nicodemus would have had much more sense than to let himself be killed--and also, he wears a patch over his left eye (from an encounter with Dragon the cat) and a satchel over his shoulder. Possibly for the movie, he'll also wear a robe similar to that worn by Moses. Soon after he drugged Dragon, and lost his eye, he must have been recaptured by NIMH before he could take his position as the leader of the rats, and been put in a better cage. Don't worry, Nick, your late pal Jonathan's son Timmy is on his way to rescue you, just like you predicted." Timmy could have rescued him, and then Nicodemus could have asked where Timmy's siblings were, and said that he actually wanted all four Brisby children to rescue him to avoid jealousy and hatred, but his prophecy was mistranslated by the time it reached the rats, and apologized for the mistake. He could have said that the evil coming to threaten Thorn Valley was the development of a strip mall. Nicodemus could have explained that he needs every rat and mouse he can find to help him stop it, and Martin (who has somehow wound up at NIMH) could overhear every word of this, and realize that he, too, has a destiny. The three of them could have headed back to Thorn Valley and once more, Nicodemus would have been the leader of the rats, with Justin as his right-hand man, and repeated his message to everyone in Thorn Valley. Nicodemus could have given everybody a chance to help out stopping the mall, including Mrs. Brisby, Teresa, Martin and Cynthia as well as Timmy. They must show the developers a less ecologically sensitive place to build it. On the way, they find themselves forced to outwit--why don't we say, in the sequel, Dragon has a mate named Phoenix, and they have a son named Griffin, and he could be their arch nemesis? They must also deal with natural predators, such as foxes and weasels, and Timmy has the idea to convince them to eat starlings, thereby making things better for the largely displaced eastern bluebirds. Nicodemus could have asked Mrs. Brisby her name, and she could have said, "It's Maia". It would certainly suit her, wouldn't it? After all, it means "good mother", and it goes without saying that she's all of that. As soon as order had been restored to Thorn Valley, Nicodemus could have made some of the rats members of a safety patrol, led by all four Brisby siblings. Where was Elvira, the rats' doctor in the sequel (by O'Brien's daughter Jane Leslie Conly) to the book? Also, why didn't the sequel feature Martin's mate, Breta the meadow vole? Real meadow voles may not have Jenny's blonde ponytail, blue eyes or breasts, but they're adorable just the same. Animals shouldn't need human features to seem more appealing.

The original Secret of Nimh is an absolute masterpiece,(I do confess I saw this and the original fairly recently) with gorgeous animation, great characters and phenomenal music by the late Jerry Goldsmith, and is regarded by a vast majority including myself as Bluth's masterpiece. However, this sequel is awful in every aspect, and makes Rock a Doodle Doo, Troll in Central Park and almost all of the Disney sequels look like masterpieces, which of course they are definitely not. Sure it is a direct to video sequel, but the cheap production values really show here.The animation was horrid. The character animations were jarring, and the editing was very choppy. The colours made the backgrounds look extremely flat and dull, and the visual effects rarely impressed either.One of the highlights of the original was the music by the wonderful Jerry Goldsmith, who has also done magnificent scores for Legend and Rambo:First Blood. In the sequel, the music was dreadful,(lacking the darkness and lyricalism of the original's) and it was pretty evident that Goldsmith's score is sorely missed. "Just say yes" (I think it's called)is the only half decent song in the movie. And the singing was even worse, it was as if the vocalists thought they were singing in a school end of year production.The dialogue was pathetic, and held no correlation whatsoever to the original or the parts of the book I read. Some of it was extremely cheesy, it really was. Also it completely lacked the mystery and suspense of the first film.(sorry I'm comparing the whole time, and this is what I honestly feel) The plot was also unoriginal and unevenly paced, and inappropriately bright, compared to the darkness and sentiment of the original.It was also a shame that the characters that made the original so memorable didn't have a bigger part to play. Timmy came across as rather whiny and annoying, a far cry from Elizabeth Hartmann's sorrowful and poignant portrayal of Mrs Brisby who you hardly see in the sequel, and Dom DeLuise was nowhere near as funny as he was in the original. Justin's voice was dubbed, and quite poorly might I add. I also thought, and I am probably the only person to think this, that the villains were rather lame. Despite some spirited voice work from Eric Idle, the villain Martin was very bland, in everything he did and said. In the original, Jenner while not the best and most complex villain ever, was very convincing, a complete juxtaposition of the villain here.In conclusion, an awful sequel to a beautiful film. The only redeeming quality was the talented voice cast, who were given little to work with. I am truly sorry I am sounding like a broken record, and comparing the sequel to the original, but as honesty is the best policy, I'll be perfectly frank, and say I didn't like this movie at all. 1/10 (originally a 2, but it was worse when I saw it again to make sure I wasn't taking leave of my senses) Bethany Cox.