'The Secret of NIMH' Director: Don Bluth (1982) Eureka Masters of Cinema Blu-ray

In 1979, legendary animator Don Bluth made the decision to leave Walt Disney Productions and establish his own animation studio with several former Disney employees. The newly established Don Bluth Productions adapted its first feature from Robert C. O’Brien’s popular children’s book Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

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.

A sweeping fantasy epic realised through astoundingly beautiful cel animation, The Secret of NIMH paved the way for Bluth’s later successes An American Tail, The Land Before Time and All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Special features include:
- New audio commentary with animation scholar Sam Summers, author of DreamWorks Animation: Intertextuality and Aesthetics in Shrek and Beyond
- Archival audio commentary with director Don Bluth and producer Gary Goldman
- New on-camera interview with director and animator Don Bluth
- New on-camera appreciation of The Secret of NIMH with animation expert and fan Stacey Abbott
- New video essay by children’s media expert Catherine Lester on motherhood in The Secret of NIMH
- Archival featurette