COMING SOON TO YOUR PLANET:
I Had Just Catch The Special Preview Trailer For âPlanet of the Toonsâ at the end of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West in an IMAX Re-Release, And So Far Itâs As Wonderful As Everyone Says It Already Is. Â Â
By April Fools News, April 01, 2026, 12:30 AM
The Legend...of an Evil Man of Science (Mandark)âŚand the Two Good Mice (Fievel and Tanya Mousekewitz)...brave enough to stop him...
Now, this will be a cartoon crossover film unlike any other since the days of Robert Zemeckisâ Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), being more of a science fiction fantasy epic in the vein of James Cameronâs Avatar (2009) and its sequels, Sir Peter Jacksonâs three-part film adaptation (2001-2003) of J.R.R. Tolkienâs The Lord of the Rings, and George Lucasâ original, pre-Disney Star Wars universe (1977-2005) than a spiritual successor to the film noir cartoon comedy world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Over the last week, Tiromick Productions in association with Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures, and Amblin Entertainment has unveiled a surprise gift for moviegoers by unveiling a special first look at the upcoming science fiction epic, Planet of the Toons at the end of restored and remastered theatrical and IMAX re-release screenings of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) in one of the greatest and most anticipated and impactful marketing and advertising campaigns for an upcoming film in history, and to his credit, Â the man who dreamed it up in the first place, and who had been developing the ideas and concepts for the upcoming animated/live action film epic for many years, had made a smart marketing move. Planet of the Toons went overnight from being a film project that wasnât on just about anyoneâs radar to the most buzzed-about, eagerly awaited, and highly anticipated picture in Hollywood. Mr. T.R.M.âs daring descision to use a 4K remastered and restored theatrical and IMAX re-release of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) to showcase a unique seven minute extended teaser trailer for his upcoming live action/animated space fantasy film epic at the very end of the movie, rather than before the film starts, has generated the kind of widespread hype and eager anticipation that few other films can only dream of since the first trailers were unveiled for George Lucasâ ill-received Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace way back between late 1998 and early 1999, Â from cartoon fans and fans of the American Tail franchise applauding even the first theatrical footage featuring An American Tailâs Fievel and the Mousekewitz family to hit the big screen in almost half a century since the notorious release of Fievel Goes West in November 1991, to highly positive online reactions on social media.
When this writer scored a ticket to an IMAX presentation of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, to the very end of which the seven minute teaser for the Planet of the Toons film was attached, I was predisposed to liking it on simply on principle. Filmmakers usually go through hell and back to make studio films with the tacit understanding that the general public gets to decide their fate. It is perhaps the only deal that is still sacrosanct  in a town as fickle, faddish, greedy, and even cutthroat as Hollywood itself.
But my predisposition to enjoying it was also a self-defense mechanism to protect myself from great disappointment, for anyone who knows well the track record of hybrid animated/live action films, especially with classic or contemporary or modern characters from animation history, knows very well that this road is not exactly paved with gold. If I ever wanted to be frank, there is Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Â and then thereâs everything else.
But, after seeing the seven minute first-look at Planet of the Toons, sandwiched as it was between the very end of Fievel Goes Westâs final credits roll with Linda Ronstadt singing her end title version of Tanyaâs song âDreams to Dreamâ and the final Amblimation logo credit that capped it off for good, I am now ready to rewrite my list altogether. T.R.M.âs Planet of the Toons, based on the seven minutes and seven seconds of the theatrical preview thus far, is not merely good or let alone above average â it is just plain SUPERB! Now, in a film like Who Framed Roger Rabbit or the original 1996 Space Jam with Michael Jordan, you expect gags, laughs, slapstick, and especially broad visual comedy, and based on some of the previewed footage unveiled for this film so far, this film will deliver on that promise in the most satisfying ways imaginable. But other than that, you what what you donât expect in a film like this? A high stakes science fiction-fantasy epic in the vein of Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and the Avatar films of James Cameron that does not just cover comedy or musical numbers, but the whole spectrum of emotions, especially to the point of you feeling so deeply for a character or two that you have to hold back tears. Along with an epic interplanetary landscape with epic storytelling and lots of worldbuilding detail, Planet of the Toons is also going to be as rich a portrait of a cartoon character (or, in this case, many) that has ever been put onto film so far and along with James Cameron-esque action adventure-soaked high stakes as well as comedy, it will also deliver the kind of emotional gut punch that in all of oneâs years of loving Looney Tunes and other classic, contemporary, or modern American or Western animation staples from throughout the mediumâs history and 2d hand drawn past I never even believed was even possible.
All too often today, studios treat classic animated characters as branding exercises and nothing more. Slap a character on a T-shirt  have them pop up in a film in nothing more or less than a brief cameo or bit role, and call it a day. The mere appearance of a character, or so the thinking goes, is enough to deliver a nostalgic feel-good dopamine hit, but it is also most notorious for being an approach of diminishing returns, for as time goes on, younger viewers who have only been exposed to the corporate icon for the first time in their lives are more likely to be perlpexed than be entertained by who is on the screen, while the adults will wonder why they donât enjoy the character(s) that they had once loved so dearly in the first place.
And itâs certainly not how the creators conceived these characters in the first place as well, and especially not Chuck Jones, who, more than any other creator during the Golden Age of Hollywood animation, confronted his messy insecurities, struggles, and desires through his character onscreen, and Jonesâ characters are among the most psychologically rich and complex character studioes in the history of animation art, and perhaps none more so even than Wile E. Coyote, for one example.
In Planet of the Toons, Â although Fievel Mousekewitz and his older sister, Tanya, were based more on their older redesigns as they were seen and heard in the 1991 sequel Fievel Goes West, Â the filmmakers also donât shy away from elements of Don Bluthâs conceptions of the mice, going so far as to make Fievel and Tanya more emotionally nuanced, heroically proactive, and more whole and central to the action adventure and drama than either the original Don Bluth-directed incarnations, the ones from the Amblimation Fievel Goes West era, or perhaps both incarnations of the brother and sister mice. T.R.M., who directed and also wrote the script, understand the characters both inside and out; they not only empathize with Fievelâs dramatic plight and unexpected courage, as well as his sister Tanyaâs sweet charm, hope for the future, and pursuit of dreams, they also ensure that Tanya and Fievel will share center stage this time, so that it will be clear that the Mousekewitz brother and older sister are two of the true, ultimate heroes at the heart of of this upcoming live action/animation hybrid epic, as well as compelling the viewer to see these characters anew. Although the animated characters will also share the screen with some live action actors in the same world and the same reality, and while the movie will be more of a action-adventure-packed science fiction fantasy film epic like Avatar, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars meets Roger Rabbit rather than just a lighthearted comedy caper for children, it is this character-driven thrust that will also set Planet of the Toons apart from many other ambitious attempts of its kind or of any kind.
There is much more to say about the film being previewed at the end of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West in its theatrical and IMAX re-release, and I am looking forward to being a part of that moviegoing experience when Planet of the Toons opened in theaters and in IMAX in the foreseeable future.
In the live action/animated epic action adventure fantasy PLANET OF THE TOONS, Tiromick Productions takes us to a spectacular and unique world many light-years beyond Earth. On the distant planet TenâJad, a young hero from Earth embarks on a journey of discovery, love, friendship, and courage â as he help lead a heroic battle to save a wondrous civilization from the forces of evil threatening it.
The storyâs protagonist, David Zarus, is a teenage boy who's about to graduate from high school on Earth. But fate has other plans when, one night, David receives a long distance phone call from a pair of cute cartoon mice from outer space who are soliciting his aid to help the mice undo the evil unleashed by their planetâs local Dark Lord. In order to participate in the Opportunity Builders for Intergalactic Systems (or OBIGS, for short)â  Pilot Program, which will allow him to explore another world for just seven years, David agrees to travel to TenâJad, an interplanetary environment  orbiting twin suns somewhere in deep space that is also filled with incredible life forms â some beautiful, some terrifying. TenâJad is also the home to many varieties of races and species of Toons, including the Atlemi, a diminutive, unassuming Toon race that resembles small, adorable, and frightened cartoon mice, but they are actually as much evolved and sophisticated as humans both real and cartoon. Their bodies composed of living ink and paint, the Atlemi and other varieties of Toons lived harmoniously within the free world of TenâJad. But as the evil forces of the local Dark Lord, Mandark Astronomenov, the rival of the boy genius Dexter, encroach on the free lands seeking to hunt down and destroy the children of one special family of just such mice because of an ancient local prophecy foretelling the end of Mandarkâs power at the paws of a mouse with the heart of a hero and his first-born sister as well as at the hands of a human from the stars, the very existence of the Atlemi and other free Toon cultures are threatened â and so decided to solicit the aid of no more or less than three space-faring human warrior astronaut allies from another planet such as Earth.
David has been recruited along with his fellow female friend Destiny Skylark by the older, wealthier, yet empathetic scientist Professor Jason Samuel Adams, for worked for OBIGS and its Pilot Program, to become part of this three-man mission to investigate the planet-wide conflict between the interplanetary civilization of the Toons of TenâJad and the Dark Lord Mandarkâs demonic and mechanized forces over the fate of the mouse familyâs three children destined to end Mandarkâs evil reign. Once on TenâJad, David and his fellow astronauts are free to explore and visit the many cultures, civilizations and varied environments of TenâJad, which comes complete with similarly Earth-like levels of air, for nothing more or less than seven years. Moreover, David not only befriends some of the local Toons, from Dexter to Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to Popeye the Sailor, as well as the local Wild West saloon showgirl mouse, Tanya Mousekewitz and her gun-slinging cowboy kid mouse brother Fievel, whose beauty and adorable charm are matched by their unexpected courage and heroism, but David also fell in love with a young local woman, Solariel, whose beauty is matched by equally by her spunky courage.
As David slider deeper into becoming a friend and a brother to the Atlemi mice and many other varieties of Toons as well as the local humans of TenâJad, he and his two fellow astronauts also finds themselves caught in the middle between the forces of Toon good and the forces of Mandarkâs evil as they struggle for dominion of the planet of the Toons itself â forcing David, Fievel and Tanya  to lead the free peoples and Toons in an epic battle against the forces of the evil Mandark that will decide the fate of an entire faraway world. Conceived many years ago and over several years in the making, PLANET OF THE TOONS combines live action with animation both traditional 2D hand drawn as well as 3D computer generated in delivering a fully immersive, emotional, and epic story while also offering a very unique moviegoing experience.
Gosh, Ainât I A Stinker?
