Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

TheUnknown837-1 There is one thing that 1982's "The Secret of N.I.M.H." and its sequel, produced sixteen years later have in common. And that is that they both conclude with a song that beautiful, touching, and wonderfully-performed. Yes, the song, called "My Life and My Love" as performed by Al Jarreau and Bobbi Page, is truly intoxicating to the ears. And it is, by far, the best thing about the sequel. Unfortunately, it does play over the end credits, and we have to wait that long to hear it.That's not to say that the second movie, "The Secret of N.I.M.H. 2: Timmy to the Rescue" is necessarily a bad movie. It features third-rate animation, cringe-worthy lines such as "That's for being so evil!", and far too many musical numbers for its own good, but as a totality isn't insufferable. I can't honestly say I like it, but I can't honestly say I dislike it, either.Still, why, I must ask, was there a need for a sequel? The original "The Secret of N.I.M.H." was a near-masterpiece and like most films at that caliber, ended on a note that, although open for a continuation, really begged to be left alone. And the film was a financial success, but not a smash-hit. So the meaning of "The Secret of N.I.M.H. 2" being green-lighted was obviously one of kids-movie box office exploitation. And whereas the first movie was geared so that adults could enjoy it, and probably would need to sit through it with their youngsters, the second one is aimed directly at children. Young children, specifically.Mrs. Brisby, the heroine of the first film, plays neither first nor second-fiddle in the second movie. She's a cameo; the star is her youngest son Timothy, who occupied a small portion of running time before. At the end of the first film, Mrs. Brisby saved her family with the help of some intelligent rats who escaped from a laboratory at N.I.M.H. The rats then went to a haven we never saw, called Thorn Valley. In "The Secret of N.I.M.H. 2," Timothy is sent to live with them. He grows up to be a valiant, but disobedient teenager, when he runs into a mouse named Jenny, who recently escaped from N.I.M.H. As it turns out, some mice are still there, being tested upon, and Jenny came seeking their former comrades for help. When a rescue mission proves impossible, Tim and Jenny set out on their own.In fact, the next two scenes after this moment describe how the good and bad about "Secret of N.I.M.H. 2" rhythmically fluctuates. The two characters leave Thorn Valley in a makeshift hot-air balloon. The scene with them sailing through the air, accompanied by some wonderful music by the talented Lee Holdridge, is magical in its own small way. They are attacked by a hawk, also entertaining, and are forced to the ground. That is all good. But the very next scene is an abomination. They run into a caterpillar who claims to be the "spokes-bug" for the Great Owl. But as it turns out, Jeremy the crow (still voiced by Dom DeLuise) is really just posing as the Great Owl to scam the woodland animals out of their jewelry and credit cards.Well, the scene's even worse than that, as it's accompanied by a really irritating song.There are far too many songs in the film; all but two are forgettable. Many are badly-performed. The worst: "I Will Show the World," which Tim sings throughout his childhood. The lyrics are flimsy at best, and two of the singers (representing Tim at different ages) have no special singing talent. When Ralph Macchio, as the teenage Tim, takes over, it improves a tad, but not enough to save the song. But there is also a very good song, "Just Say Yes" performed with enormous spirit by Eric Idle. And his part in the film is a completely unexpected twist that though alarming, actually picks up the pace of the third act a bit.The animation is the film flips between atrocious and acceptable. There are moments where characters and objects appear out of nowhere in the middle of a shot. At another point, a returning character named Justin (now voiced by William H. Macy) changes color schemes with another rat. And the film is full of sloppy moments such as these. Other problems concern the screenplay, which, like everything else, toggles between good and bad. The first third is really slow-going, when Tim is a little kid, picks up some in the second act, but does not really come to life until the final part. And again, this really is because of Eric Idle's terrific work as the film's villain, whose identity I will keep secret. Mr. Idle, like any great actor, presents a tremendous amount of joy in his role, and this communes to the audience. Also, the romance between Tim and Jenny, though in sight from a mile away, is pleasant in a simplistic way.Voice acting, in general, is pretty good. Mr. Macchio, in particular, does a courageous job as Timothy. Mr. DeLuise also keeps Jeremy the crow lovable despite not having played the part for sixteen years. The film's saving grace is its running time: a mere sixty-eight minutes. Any longer than that - any more songs! - and it might have completely collapsed. But as it is, "The Secret of N.I.M.H. 2: Timmy to the Rescue" is a nice little kids movie, best suited for those under the age of ten. And its good parts - its wonderful parts - make me feel a little guilty for not being able to really commend it. For a straight-to-video quickie sequel, it stands over some, but not quite enough. For every good moment, there is also a bad one. And the sloppy animation and mostly-inept songs really do wear you out after a while.

Gavin Cresswell (gavin-thelordofthefu-48-460297) I should have read the warning signs. Upon seeing that my parents spent money on buying a direct-to-video sequel to one of the greatest movies ever made five years ago, I should have just ignored it. Instead, I had to watch this whole thing through. Why? Because I'm stupid and I'll watch anything that is either good or bad. The reason why I'm never watching this sequel again is because how extremely bad it is.It has spoilers. Be very afraid.The story is just simple. It tells the story about Timmy, Mrs. Brisby's son (who had just said one line at the end of the original film) who is sent to Thorn Valley to work with Justin and Mr. Ages. After finding a female mouse named Jenny, who's parents are kidnapped by NIMH, they set off to find the Great Owl. As they avoid very dangerous obstacles along the way, little do they know that they have bumped into someone from the past.The Land Before Time sequels are more entertaining than this even though some people hated them as well, but I would recommend that you should avoid this at all costs. It's still crap.The animation is lazy. For example, there's this one scene near the end of the film where Timmy tries to save Jenny from the evil Dr. Martin, Timmy's brother (who complained about not being able to go to Thorn Valley in the beginning of the film) who has strapped her in a chair (For some reason, she's not strapped until she later, it shows) and where Timmy throws the key to Jenny, but for some reason, Timmy uses the key with his sling gun to hit the switch to release her while hitting Martin as well. Think that this type of laziness is bad? It's worse.The story had no connection to the book sequel to Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH in which the original film was based on since it suffered from too many plot holes. There's a fact that Timmy hasn't done anything since he became a hero, the fact that there's a self-fulfilling prophecy, and the fact that the rats never left Thorn Valley. Plus, they had the balls to make it a musical with annoying songs while the first two songs from the original were good. (The pop song in the ending credits was also good. Gotta give this movie some credit for that).The voice acting is just horrendous with one exception. Eric Idles' Over-The-Top performance as the evil Martin is the only saving grace near the end of this horrible sequel. I know that's not saying much, but at least he's entertaining than the rest of the forgettable characters including Timmy and Jenny.The Secret of NIMH 2, Timmy to the Rescue is one of the worst sequels I have ever seen, if not one of the "WORST" movies I have ever seen. It's even more bad than "The Magic Voyage". I hope it rots in ****.There. That's all I have to say about this... horrible film.Rating: 1.5/10

FilmFreak94 The Secret of Nimh 2: Timmy to the Rescue had the potential to be a good movie. If Don Bluth had been involved in the plot we may have gotten a movie that would've been just as good if not better then the original Secret of Nimh. What we got instead of that is a disgustingly bad film with terrible animation, voice acting, and plot that has absolutely no redeeming factors. The first five minutes into the movie will have fans of the first one angry beyond belief as the movie states that Nicodemus predicted that Nimh would try to do something evil and that one of Johnathan Brisby's sons would rise up against them. That is just the stupidest way to set up a plot. Just say, "Oh you remember that one guy who was important? He made a prophecy off screen that said so-and-so would happen." It's just lazy writing. On top of that, the characters are all really bland and the amazing atmosphere from the first film is gone. Instead of a movie that takes its audience seriously we get a movie with bright and colorful environments and musical numbers(each more awful then the next). If you have the option of seeing this movie or watching Twilight... watch this movie. But I can guarantee you will not enjoy it.

TheLittleSongbird The original Secret of Nimh is an absolute masterpiece,(I do confess I saw this and the original fairly recently) with gorgeous animation, great characters and phenomenal music by the late Jerry Goldsmith, and is regarded by a vast majority including myself as Bluth's masterpiece. However, this sequel is awful in every aspect, and makes Rock a Doodle Doo, Troll in Central Park and almost all of the Disney sequels look like masterpieces, which of course they are definitely not. Sure it is a direct to video sequel, but the cheap production values really show here.The animation was horrid. The character animations were jarring, and the editing was very choppy. The colours made the backgrounds look extremely flat and dull, and the visual effects rarely impressed either.One of the highlights of the original was the music by the wonderful Jerry Goldsmith, who has also done magnificent scores for Legend and Rambo:First Blood. In the sequel, the music was dreadful,(lacking the darkness and lyricalism of the original's) and it was pretty evident that Goldsmith's score is sorely missed. "Just say yes" (I think it's called)is the only half decent song in the movie. And the singing was even worse, it was as if the vocalists thought they were singing in a school end of year production.The dialogue was pathetic, and held no correlation whatsoever to the original or the parts of the book I read. Some of it was extremely cheesy, it really was. Also it completely lacked the mystery and suspense of the first film.(sorry I'm comparing the whole time, and this is what I honestly feel) The plot was also unoriginal and unevenly paced, and inappropriately bright, compared to the darkness and sentiment of the original.It was also a shame that the characters that made the original so memorable didn't have a bigger part to play. Timmy came across as rather whiny and annoying, a far cry from Elizabeth Hartmann's sorrowful and poignant portrayal of Mrs Brisby who you hardly see in the sequel, and Dom DeLuise was nowhere near as funny as he was in the original. Justin's voice was dubbed, and quite poorly might I add. I also thought, and I am probably the only person to think this, that the villains were rather lame. Despite some spirited voice work from Eric Idle, the villain Martin was very bland, in everything he did and said. In the original, Jenner while not the best and most complex villain ever, was very convincing, a complete juxtaposition of the villain here.In conclusion, an awful sequel to a beautiful film. The only redeeming quality was the talented voice cast, who were given little to work with. I am truly sorry I am sounding like a broken record, and comparing the sequel to the original, but as honesty is the best policy, I'll be perfectly frank, and say I didn't like this movie at all. 1/10 (originally a 2, but it was worse when I saw it again to make sure I wasn't taking leave of my senses) Bethany Cox.