MovieChat Forums > The Secret of NIMH (1982) Discussion > Great movie, bad choice for title

Great movie, bad choice for title

posted 11 years ago by Dreamcatcher9000
5 replies | jump to latest

One of the most basic things producers and/or a studio do for a film, is to give it a catchy, nice title. This is the only animated film that I always had a problem with the title. NIMH?? How do you pronounce it?? And they're supposed to be initials, but the title doesn't have "." between the letters ("N.I.M.H."). It's "THE SECRET OF NIMH". And someone who hasn't seen the movie, especially a kid, wonders "is that a spelling mistake? What is nimh?". Well, it's the National Institution of Mental Health! What a great title for a kids' movie starring a mouse! "The Secret of the National Institution of Mental Health"! WTF???

Great movie, one of the '80s animated classics, but it could have a better title. And yes, I know it comes from a book, but studios have changed the titles of books or whatever so many times when they adapted them into movies, they could have done it here too.

[–] JohnQuincyPublic 11 years ago

I love the title, it's always captured my imagination.

I got news for 'em. There's gonna be hell to pay. 'Cause I ain't Daddy's little boy no more.

[–] ccoutroulos 10 years ago

For another thing, the word "nimh" (pronounced "niv") means "poison" in Irish. Coincidental, of course.

[–] king_of_bob 10 years ago

You pronounce it exactly like they do in the movie and exactly how you would expect it to sound. Nim, the H is essentially silent. The title makes perfect sense too, and I doubt too many kids were concerned with any possible spelling errors in the title. And it's actually "Secret of NIMH." The fact that NIMH is capitalized implies that it's a acronym. Many people don't include periods when using acronyms.

And what title do you suggest would be better?

Prof. Farnsworth: Oh. A lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!

[–] ccoutroulos 10 years ago

I wasn't suggesting that the word in the title should be pronounced like the Irish word it resembles. I distinctly said that the resemblance was coincidental.

[–] 10 years ago

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