Originally Posted by
wilson
*puts on animation nerd hat*
An American Tail was the first product of the collaboration between Steven Spielberg and animator Don Bluth. Bluth, who cut his animator teeth under the tutelage of the mouse (THAT mouse, not Fievel Mousekewitz), left Disney Studios in 1981 due to "creative differences," as well as a desire for more direct artist control over their creations.
Bluth went on to make a number of '80s/early '90s creations that are commonly mistaken as Disney productions: The Secret of NIMH was his first major production at the helm of his eponymous breakaway studio, followed by An American Tail and The Land Before Time alongside Spielberg, and then All Dogs Go To Heaven, Anastasia, and a handful of rather less esteemed productions (we won't talk about Rock-a-Doodle) after the split resulting from Spielberg's founding of his own Amblimation Studios.