An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island

An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island
DVD cover
Directed by	Larry Latham
Produced by	Larry Latham
Written by	Len Uhley
Based on	Characters by David Kirschner
Starring	Thomas Dekker Lacey Chabert Elaine Bilstad Pat Musick Dom DeLuise René Auberjonois David Carradine John Kassir Sherman Howard Tony Jay Nehemiah Persoff Erica Yohn Richard Karron Ron Perlman
Music by	Michael Tavera James Horner (archive music from An American Tail and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West)
Production company	Universal Cartoon Studios TMS Entertainment (overseas animation)
Distributed by	Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Release date	November 16, 1998 (United Kingdom) February 15, 2000 (United States)
Running time	78 minutes
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English

An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (also known as An American Tail III: The Treasure of Manhattan Island) is a 1998 British-American direct-to-video animated film produced by Universal Cartoon Studios, animated in Japan by TMS Entertainment and released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The film is interquel, set between the first two movies. It was the third film in the An American Tail series and the first to be released straight to video. The film first premiered in the United Kingdom in 1998 before being properly released in the United States two years later.

Thomas Dekker took over the role of Fievel Mousekewitz from Phillip Glasser, the original actor, who was already 20 years old by then. Four actors from the original film (Dom DeLuise, Erica Yohn, Nehemiah Persoff, and Pat Musick) reprised their roles.

The story begins in New York City setting sometime after the first movie (which began in 1885) presumably between 1886 and 1889, as Fievel and Tony discover that an ancient treasure lies underneath Manhattan when snooping around an abandoned subway (the Beach Pneumatic Transit system) and stumbling upon the remains of a dead mouse clutching a treasure map, deciding they must find it with the help of an archaeologist Tony knows: Dr. Dithering, along with fighting five villains as well.

The movie focuses on the relationship between the over-exploited workers of a sweatshop (in this case, a cheese production line) and the factory's rich owners: Mr. Grasping (Ron Perlman), Mr. Toplofty (Tony Jay) and Mr. O'Bloat (Richard Karron). It also focuses on the plight of the Native Americans in the United States. The treasure under Manhattan turns out to be a group of Lenape mice living a long distance beneath the surface (far below the sewers, riding in an underground pressurized train) that decided to hide when they saw how the first Europeans only brought war and disease with them and didn't want to wait for the European mice to do the same to them. An emotional scene ensues when Fievel must struggle with how cruel his own people the Europeans were (and still are at the time the film takes place) to the natives of America.