The Secret of NIMH (1982) (1982) poster
1982 · animation · family · fantasy · adventure

The Secret of NIMH (1982)

Directed by Don Bluth1h 23m1982
ElsewhereTMDB7.5949
  • brisk
  • intense
  • inventive
Movie DNA

Neutral, kinetic, measured animation / family, inventive in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

A widowed field mouse must move her family -- including an ailing son -- to escape a farmer's plow. Aided by a crow and a pack of superintelligent, escaped lab rats, the brave mother struggles to transplant her home to firmer ground.

Our read · The Secret of NIMH (1982) (1982) reads as a neutral, kinetic, inventive animation · family · fantasy entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

Video previewNo trailer available for this one.
Where the cast leads
Fingerprint

The shape of The Secret of NIMH

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a brave mouse mother helped by super-intelligent rats.

ends triumphantyou’ll be fine aftera slow buildgrips by minute 12attention 3/5breezes by
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upanimal harm

Skip it tonightYou want bright cheerful animation without scary moments.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
Your take
Rate it
star-clip-1-0star-clip-2-0star-clip-3-0star-clip-4-0star-clip-5-0
React
Discussion

Discussion

cmd enter to post

What does your Movie DNA look like?

Rate a few films you've seen. We map your taste across the same twelve axes and find the films you'll actually want to watch tonight.

Calibrate yourself