The Secret of NIMH

"Right before your eyes, and beyond your wildest dreams."

1982 1h 23m EN

👍

7.4

SOLID

🔥

93%

CERTIFIED FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.5

IMDB

★7.4TMDB · 990🍅93%Rotten Tomatoes●76Metacritic★7.5IMDB · 48,409

AdventureAnimationDramaFamilyFantasyMysteryScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“Right before your eyes, and beyond your wildest dreams.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Elizabeth Hartman
Mrs. Brisby (voice)
Derek Jacobi
Nicodemus (voice)
Arthur Malet
Mr. Ages (voice)
Dom DeLuise
Jeremy (voice)
Hermione Baddeley
Auntie Shrew (voice)
Shannen Doherty
Teresa (voice)
Wil Wheaton
Martin (voice)
Jodi Hicks
Cynthia (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Don Bluth
Writers: Gary Goldman, Don Bluth, Will Finn
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

83 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

44 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Secret of NIMH Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jeffrey C. Patch shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Elizabeth Hartman and Derek Jacobi and Arthur Malet carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Right before your eyes, and beyond your wildest dreams.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0084649 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Don Bluth directs. Jerry Goldsmith scores. Jeffrey C. Patch cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

183 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
244 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "The Secret of NIMH Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Jeffrey C. Patch shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Elizabeth Hartman and Derek Jacobi and Arthur Malet carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Right before your eyes, and beyond your wildest dreams.".
8IMDB entry: tt0084649 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9The top-rated still from this film on TMDB has 6 community votes — a signal the frame composition stuck with viewers.
10Classified under 8 themes, including "widow", "mouse", "villain", "crow".
11Released under 17 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: Jeffrey C. Patch
VFX supervisor: Dorse A. Lanpher
Sound: Donald O. Mitchell
Runtime: 83 min · 1h 23m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $7,000,000
Box office: $14,665,733
Return: 210% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: The Secret of NIMH (1982)
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 76/100
IMDB rating: 7.5/10 · 48,409 votes
MPAA: G

Awards

2 wins & 2 nominations total

Part of

The Secret of NIMH Collection

A collection of the animated The Secret Of NIMH movies.

Also by

Don Bluth

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

RealZero2026-01-03
★ 10/10
This is still one of my favorite animated movies. It combines so many different emotions so well: a cute and loving family, the urgency and danger of fleeing (/moving) your home with dangerous and action-filled scenes, and dark and scary moments involving cats and owls, clearly some of a mouse's biggest fears. Mrs Brisby herself is an absolutely lovely, beautiful character. Right from the start you see and feel how she's a loving mother, polite and shy. But due to adversary she has to rise about her gentleness and fear and really shows the strength you can develop when fighting for your loved ones. The music is really nice and fitting and I'm happy they just re-released an extended soundtrack. But maybe even more impressive is the visual style. As one came to expect from Don Bluth movies of that time, everything is beautiful, each single background of each scene a gorgeous painting even outside the movie's context, one thing I really miss in modern animation, as much as I enjoy modern stuff as well. Some added, beautiful sparkle effects on things like her medallion or the shiny lights in the rat's hideout, just lovely!! All voice actors do a great job, but I especially love Mrs Brisby herself, the loving warmth in her voice, the gentle tone when asking for help and especially how she still tries to stay gentle and polite when obviously irritated by Jeremy again. I can certainly recommend this movie! I want to support this lovely single mother and hug her and her kids so much! - If you like the movie and don't mind reading books, I also really recommend the book it is based on. The book has no magical items, no clear antagonist (Jenner is only mentioned) and describes much more of what happens around NIMH, so, even if you know one, watching/reading the other still puts a new spin on it.

Production companies