Fievel Mousekewitz

Fievel Mousekewitz is the main protagonist of the An American Tail series. He is the middle child of Mama and Papa Mousekewitz, younger brother of Tanya and older brother to Yasha. He is an adventurous, selfless, curious and optimistic young mouse who often endangers himself through his reckless, but (mostly) innocent, actions.

Appearance
Fievel is usually dressed in a red shirt and a pair of blue pants. He is usually seen wearing his blue trademark hat, which is somewhat big for him. His attire has only changed during An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. In the aforementioned film, Fievel wears a yellow bandana around his neck and his blue hat can be altered into a white cowboy hat. It remains as that until the very end of the movie, when Fievel has finished a talk with Wylie Burp. Physically he has dark brown fur with light brown fur on his face, chest and belly. The exact shades of his fur differ somewhat from film to film. The film where Fievel gets the biggest redesign is Fievel Goes West, where his head his rounder, he has blue eyes, and pink pads on the bottom of his feet. He is older in this film too.

An American Tail
He is first seen in his home in Shotska, Russia. He receives his trademark hat as a Hanukkah present from his father. At first, Fievel claims that the hat is too big, but his mother says that he'll grow. His father then proceeds to tell them a story of the giant Mouse of Minsk: a mouse that was as tall as a tree and had a tail that was a mile long. The talk soon changes to America: a promise land where, suppossedly, the streets are paved with cheese, there are mouseholes in every wall, there are bread crumbs all over the house floors, a person can say whatever they want to say and there are no cats. Mama Mousekewitz tries to get Papa to not say "cat" (for fear that they will hear them), but it is too late; Cossacks soon attack the village, along with their pets- Cossack Cats (or "Cat-sacks"). For the sake of his family, Fievel goes to try to scare the cats away; however, his attempts are not very successful. Nevertheless, the Cat-sacks soon leave the village (albiet, in shambles). Deciding that they have no other choice, the Mousekewitz family gathers up their things and leaves for a boat bound for America in Hamburg, Germany.

Fievel's questions during the walk onto the boat end up annoying most of the other mice that are trying to get onboard, but humors a German American Mouse named Reese, which he took an immidieate liking too, Despite Reese making friends with Fievel while going on the boat, Fievel's antics would also annoy well as the band performing there, prompting Fievel's father to say "this is the last time I take you to America" much to the Humor of Reese. Waving goodbye to his homeland, Fievel and his family begin their ride over to America. On the trip, Fievel shows his curious ways by asking his father about fish and their different types. Shortly afterwards, he is seen dancing during the start of the song There Are No Cats In America. Later that evening, Fievel goes to explore the ship with Reese, much to his protests; however, a monstrous wave sweeps the both of them overboard, separating Fievel from his family, and Reese away from the ship.

He is later seen in a bottle with an annoyed Reese, who constantly butchers him on making the idiotic decision of going on deck during the storm and not listening to him when he did, but Fievel too worried on his family to even pay attention just lets him speak out his annoyances. Him and Reese are than washed onto the shores of the Statue of Liberty (how he ended up there in the real movie is never explained). He and Reese soon meets Henri, a French pigeon who is helping to build the Statue of Liberty. Henri nurses Fievel back to health, while Reese enjoys a nice drink of fresh Water and, through the song "Never Say Never", restores Fievel's resolve to find his family, while also getting Reese excited on having to become his own personal assistant in aiding him. Advised by Henri, Fievel and Reese is flown over to the mouse version of Castle Garden (aptly named "Mouse Garden") to find his family.

However, upon arrival, he meets Warren T. Rat: a conman and (secretly) the leader of the Mott Street Maulers- a dangerous gang of cats. Despite protests from Reese, After (presumably) becoming immigrated to America, Fievel makes friends with Warren T, under the pretense that he is being taken to his family, much to Reese's annoyance.

Fievel realizes far too late, however, that Warren T. was lying to him, and Reese was right about everything. Fievel and Reese are both cast into slavery in a sweatshop run by a fat rat named Moe (that, ironically, is a short distance below his family's new tailoring shop/home). Later that night, Fievel and Reese both team up with a street-wise Italian mouse named Tony Toponi and the rest of the orphans working for Moe in an escape made by creating a ladder out of bed blankets that is flung out the window.

Fievel and Reese, being the first to escape, quickly runs off, deciding to search for his parents the next morning, due to a small wound that Reese recieved after falling flat on his head due to the Bed sheets not being properly tied. His efforts appear to reach fruition when he hears a violin playing from a third-story window in a human apartment complex; alas, it is only a phonograph, as Fievel sadly discovers. Reese is horrified and attempts to warn Fievel as he is soon seen by two humans, who begin to throw things at the both of them, ending up with both Reese Fievel jumping out of the window and eventually landing into a bucket, but not before Reese got knocked over with a vace, causing him to fall onto the hard concrete.

Fievel and Reese once again runs into Tony, who decides to help Fievel find his family much to Reese's delight. Ironically, Fievel misses his family again when he walks on a passage over them at a local market. While at the market, Fievel, Reese and Tony meet Bridget, an Irish mouse who is trying to rally her fellow mice against the cats, which would eventually both surprise and confuse Reese.

During the attempted rally, Tony and Bridget accidentally kiss and fall in love (partly due to Fievel's work, and much of Reese's annoyance); Fievel, however, doesn't quite understand the concept of love (being young as he is) while Reese finds it confusing. Fievel, of course, is confused as to why everyone is scared of cats even though (suppossedly) there are no cats in America.

However, the belief of a world without cats is brought to an end when the Mott Street Maulers attack the local market in a scene that is somewhat identical to the scene where Fievel's house was destroyed; Fievel, himself, nearly gets eaten, but he manages to get out of the mouth of the cat that tried to eat him, thanks to Reese stomping on the paw forcing the cat to open his mouth. After the destruction, Fievel, and Reese regroups with Tony and Bridget. Bridget then decides to help Fievel and suggests that Fievel should meet Honest John, a local politician, as he knows every mouse in the city. Following his new friends with Reese, Fievel once again misses his parents at the market, even though they were almost seen by Reese.

At a wake for Mickey O'Hare, Fievel and Reese end up as part of the resistance against the cats when Gussie Mausheimer declares an alliance between the uptown mice and the downtown mice. They plan a rally at Mausheimer Park the next day to discuss plans to take care of the cats, this would amuse Reese to the point that he would almost cause a scene, but Fievel prevents this by stopping him from talking or moving in on discussing his ideas to Honest John or Gussie Mausheimer (By Grabbing his hand and shooting him a look of disproval.). Bridget asks Honest John if he knows the Mousekewitzes. Sadly, Honest John only knows every voting mouse in the city, which proves to be another fruitless end in Fievel's quest, much to Reese's annoyance.

Later that night, Fievel sings a long-ranged duet of Somewhere Out There with Tanya, while Reese was recovering from a small head ache he sustained after falling from the 3 story house. He then goes to sleep, after checking on Reese, in preparation for the rally the next morning.

At the rally, both Fievel and Reese have a mostly uninteresting time, as his attempts to sneak off are stopped each time by Bridget, even with the aide of Reese. He actually comes up with a plan to get rid of the cats, much to the annoyance of Reese, where he declares it unfair that Fievel could explain the plans but he cannot, this would make Fievel laugh and put a slow Rise in his friendship with Reese. Fievel than discusses his plan - the creation of an actual "Giant Mouse of Minsk". The crowd cheers Fievel's idea as Reese groans from annoyance, but also couldn't help but clap for him as well, but Fievel once again misses his family (who was sitting in the absolute back row for the rally).

Fievel, Reese and Tony end up an hour late to the meeting at Chelsea Pier, which leaves Tony extremely annoyed (as he had promised Bridget he'd be on time), as Fievel (suppossedly) was suppossed to keep an eye on the clock, (which might not have been a good idea, since he can't tell time, something Reese had mentioned to him multiple times). On the way over to the pier, Fievel hears what sounds like violin playing coming from the sewers.

Thinking his family is down in the sewers, he slips through the sewer grate with Reese, following the music, but Fievel is stunned as Reese is attacked by a Beetle, forcing the duo to race through the Sewers in order to escape an entire Colony of Beetles who wished to devour them. Though Fievel had managed to make it farther ahead, the intense weight of the Beetle still clenched to Reese's tail would force the mouse to slow down, Fievel, however comes to Reese's aide just before the rest of the Beetles can catch him and give him a hand running faster (By grabbing his paw, and running down the path he was just going.)

With that, Fievel was able to jump a Chasm leading to a Sewer river below along side, Reese, although Fievel was able to make on the other side, Reese was trapped on the edge of the rock, after attempting to swing over to the cliff Fievel was on. The wight of the Beetle would soon almost cause Reese's near demise as the entire Beetle Colony fell into the River below and were both devoured alive, by an unidentified Sewer Predator and drowned.

Fievel is quickly ordered by Reese to leave him to his fate, but Fievel refuses this, and saves Reese (By running down the Sewer Line and grabbing a whole bunch of rocks and tossing them against the Beetle sending it to be devoured by the Sewer predator.), Though Reese thanks Fievel for his heroics, his tail is badly hurt, much to Fievel's fears, but Reese lies to him stating that it was just a mark and it will be fine in no time. Fievel feels a little better, but some what worried, as the duo continue down the sewer to find his family.

He doesn't find his family: what the the duo does find, however, is the Maulers' Hideout and the Mott Street Maulers, themselves. They also find Warren T. Rat, who isn't a rat, but, in reality, a cat! Unfortunately, Fievel and Reese get spotted by Warren T, who orders that both Fievel and Reese be captured. Though Fievel gets out of the sewers, with Reese much to the duo's amusment, they are soon captured and thrown in a cage. Reese attempts to release Fievel from the cage with his paw but is spotted by Warren, who decides to do something "Special" to Reese. Reese is forcefully removed from the cage, much to Fievel's horror who tried to save him but was pushed back against the other side. Reese is carried away leaving Fievel alone in the cage.

He is watched over by a large and somewhat goofy cat named Tiger. Fievel quickly finds that Tiger is not like the other cats: He's a vegetarian, he likes mice (but not as food), he's separated from his family like Fievel (for years) and he is very nice. They quickly become friends and sing the song A Duo. However, an alarm soon goes off, waking up the Mott Street Maulers and getting Tiger fired (which, from his perspective, is a good thing). Fievel, managed to quickly venture down deeper into the Sewer lair in search of Reese, and eventually finds him on the ground, covered in fruits and his pants and jacket both covered, revealing that he was tormented off screen, Fievel manages to wake up Reese with water, and manages to help him escape the lair, until Reese was able to run again. The duo escape in the confusion caused and heads for the pier.

Fievel and Reese rush for the pier with the cats in hot pursuit; however, unbeknownst to him and Reese, he brought the cats in a hour early (according to Gussie's plan). Soon, the entire warehouse is awake and Fievel reveals Warren T.'s deceit to everyone, while Reese's tail is wrapped in bandages by Bridget. Soon realizing that the secret weapon is stuck, Fievel grabs a flame (after losing his hat) and uses it to sever the rope that is keeping the weapon from activating. Fievel releases the weapon, but is temporarily knocked out when a piece of metal knocks him in the head. Later, the dock catches fire, forcing both Fievel (now awake) and Reese to flee from the flames, while attempting to escape the Pier while Fireman fought the fire, Fievel and Reese temporarly get seperated after Reese recieves a squirt in the face from Salt Water left on the pier, literaly almost blinding him to the point that he almost ran blindly into an open flame. Fievel rescues Reese, by quickly steering him away from the flames by pushing his back, and the 2 escape the flames.

Fievel ends up in Orphan Alley with a critically injured Reese lying down on the haystacks with his head against a Glass window, where a group of orphans, after hearing his story, tell him to give up on finding his family. Fievel then becomes depressed, and angry saying that he'll "never find his family" much to Reese's depression, thinking that he had failed as a guide, and respectfully apologizes to Fievel, but Fievel responds stating that it wasn't his fault and takes responsibility for his mistake on the ship, and that if he hadn't been so foolish he wouldn't have been lost and separated from his family to begin with. Fievel than becomes curious on Reese's condition and becomes more worried, but Reese continues to lie stating that he is fine and by tommorrow morning he will be okay.

Due to being young, Fievel fell for Reese's lies, and went back to sleep in the spot where he was depressed on, leaving Reese broken hearted on Fievel's pain.

The next morning, however, Fievel hears his father's violin, much to Reese's both shock and happiness, where Fievel stated to him that he never failed after all. Listening to it, he helps Reese along the way but, Reese orders him to go, and that he will follow, Fievel is hesitant at first, but decides to listen to him and continues to follown the sounds of the violin where he is led back to his family, where he shares a moment with them. He also regains his hat, which finally fits, Fievel attempts to thank Reese and give him a hug for helping him only to find out that he was no where around, much to even to the surprise of Tiger, and his family (Who still remembered him from ship back in Hamburg). Fievel now panicked and scared, after realizing that Reese had never followed him like he promised too, quickly ventured back in the direction where he had separated from him only to find Reese unconscious in a puddle of Water.

Fievel is left both Heart broken, and Angry, when he learns that Reese had all this time had been lying to him about his condition, but eventually cooled off, after Toja, a Japanese Immigrant, and Doctor who had just arrived in the country stepped in after watching amongst the population of Mice, had managed to help Reese recover, but revealed that Reese won't be moving for a couple of days.

Fievel although happy, and managed to hug him, than became protective and demanded that Reese would never lie about his condition to him again, much to the proudness of his parents, realizing that their little Fievel is growing up. Reese explains why he lied to Fievel, and Fievel is happy once again, giving him one last hug revealing their friendship, much to the touch of everyone around them, including Toja.

He is last seen (in this movie) riding Henri with Tanya over America. He wonders if he will get to see all of America, with Henri responding that, someday, he will. He is last seen waving goodbye to the Statue of Liberty with Tanya.

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
The young mouse becomes an Old West hero after his family are tricked into moving out West by the villain known as Cat R Waul. Meanwhile, Fievel waves goodbye to Tiger and gets on the train with his family. His friend Tiger is chased by dogs and tries to get on the train (that Fievel, Tanya, Yasha, Papa, Mama, Tony, Bridget are on) that crosses the bridge over the river; however Tiger falls off the bridge and falls into the river and is later fished out. Fievel is once again separated from his family, thrown off the train after overhearing Waul's plan, but he soon joins forces with Tiger and Sheriff Burp to take down Cat R Waul and his gang before they can turn the mice into mouse-burgers. In this film (the second one chronologically but the 4th canonically), Fievel's personality is much more cheerful than in the first film, and he is very courageous. Between the films he has apparently taken a keen interest in cowboys, but over the course of the film he realizes that he can be a hero just by being himself.

An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island
Fievel is first seen with Tanya after having woken up from a good night's sleep. He mentions that he dreamed the Mousekewitzes moved out west and he became a famous gunslinger, clearly foreshadowing a later film. Though Tanya doubts this could happen, Fievel says "Well, it seemed real to me!"

In the rest of the movie, Fievel befriends a group of Native American mice (in particular, the daughter of the Chief, Cholena) and aids them against the cruel antics of a gang of rich sweatshop owners, who are also making Fievel's father's life miserable along with many of their workers in their pursuit of money and power. Throughout the film, Fievel must struggle with guilt over what the other European mice have put Native American mice through, and though he's not able to redeem his fellow Europeans, he shows the tribe that at least they aren't all bad.

An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster
In The Mystery Of The Night Monster, Fievel becomes ensnared in a mystery involving a supposed monster that is kidnapping mice, however this monster is soon revealed to be a mechanical device created by the villainous Madame Mousey - a miniature French poodle with a hatred of all things rodent. Unlike the other movies where he is courageous, in this film Fievel battles his fears and suffers nightmares due to the supposed monster. It takes the help of news reporter Nellie Brie to help him conquer his fears.

Trivia

 * "Feivel" is the correct Yiddish spelling. His name is still spelled that way in the beginning credits of the first movie, some of the storyboards, and in most foreign releases. It was thought that the spelling might confuse Americans.
 * Fievel is named after Steven Spielberg's grandfather.
 * Fievel was voiced by Phillip Glasser in every appearance up until the direct-to-video sequels, where he is voiced by Thomas Dekker.