Having never read the book, I don't know if it is dealt with there. But it always bothered me in the movie that it is never made clear (or, for that matter, even MENTIONED) where the amulet actually came from. Did this bother anyone else?
shareI don't believe there even is an amulet in the book. I never thought that deeply about it as a kid, but it is rather strange how the rats go from being intelligent to some of them knowing how to do magic. Super smart genetically engineered rodents I can buy, but also giving them apparently supernatural powers seems unnecessary and confusing.
shareYep, no amulet in the book.
Instead the climax was on the farmer hiring pest removalists to kill the rats, and Mrs Frisby Being able to warn them in a nick of time.
Yeah, I actually think it was a really poor artistic decision on the part of bluth. SoN, IMO is very much about animation, and it really pays off there, but some of the creative alterations to the story don't make much sense. The ending to the book >>> the ending to the movie.
*dodges income NIMHFAN assault!*
I very much disagree. As a kid I was fascinated by this film, and a considerable amount of that fascination was with Nicodemus and the amulet, and the flashy animation used for it's magic.
Without that fascination, I probably never would have bothered with the book.
Well obviously mileage varies. Because Bluth mostly abandoned the plot of the book in the later half of the film, it might have been nice if he had fleshed out his own. Personally I don't care much for the amulet and swordplay, but I had read the book long before seeing the film. Watching NIMH as an adult, I'm willing to accept its changes and enjoy most of the strengths the film has, but no one can argue that the amulet is fleshed out or explained (along with several other more mystical incongruities of the film); the question is, does the film require it?(and that's a subjective question.)
I think it does, but I think there's a deeper problem. Bluth was smart in recognizing that the interest in a more speculative sci-fi premise had greatly dwindled since the publication of the book, while fantasy adventure was very much the rage. Thus he co-opted the plot into something very much different; enough so I consider them completely separate works. There are questions of how last minute this was, and apparently the company ran out of budget before everything was nice and tidy. You'd think I'm just over analyzing this film as an (adult) animation fan, but I felt about the same way as a kid. A lot of kids pick up on these sort of thematic blunders in media but don't know how to describe it, while there's plenty of adults who just like lots of action and explosions.
So...yeah. :)
My theory about this movie is that the audience is, for the most part, only supposed to know as much about what is going on as Mrs. Brisby knows. Nicodemus tells her the bare minimum about the amulet because that is all she will need to know in order to use it to save her family. He never tells her that anyone else knows about the amulet, so it is as much of a surprise to us (perhaps a little less to us) as it is to her when it turns out Jenner knows about it and wants it.
share