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    Courage, like all virtues found in the better parts of the human soul, comes in many forms.
    To one person, it is mental and moral strength to persevere in the presence of obstacles.  To another, it is willingness to take a risk for the sake of a belief., To some, it is simply hanging on just one minute longer.
    To find answers to problems, people search everywhere outside of themselves -- only to find that the true answer lies within.
    Such is the story of "The Secret of NIMH," an animated action fantasy about Mrs. Brisby, a widowed field mouse with four small children to raise. Her baby has pneumonia and cannot be moved from his bed, yet the family must move soon or be crushed in their  home by the plow during spring  planting.  What to do?
    She goes to the Great Owl, sage and omnipotent adviser to some of the higher creatures.  He sends her to the rats of NIMH, a mysterious group of intelligent rodents who show her that, even with their assistance, she must still learn to expand herself, to find strength and courage.

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    "The Secret of NIMH," one woman's journey from submissiveness to independence, from timidity to strength, shows the magic of the simple truth, "You can unlock any door if you only have the key." And it is more than that.
    It is the first feature from Don Bluth Productions.  Bluth and partners Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy are well acquainted with courage, though they are known to most people only as the men who walked out of Disney Studios to make their own animated films.
    After only two-and-a-half years, the company has completed the film that will usher in the Second Age of Animation, a return to the classical style of animated films seen before only in the much-respected early features by Walt Disney.  The artists' magic comes alive through devices like characters' shadows, expensive camera work that allows multiple layers of painted cels to be photographed simultaneously to add depth, special effects animation that gives water its shimmer and stars their twinkle, and a strong, uncompromised story line.
    "The Secret of NIMH" features the vocal talents of Elizabeth Hartman, Dom DeLuise, Peter Strauss, Derek Jacobi, John Carradine, Hermione Baddeley, Arthur Malet and Paul Shenar.  Bluth, Goldman and Pomeroy produced and Bluth directed.  Jerry Goldsmith composed and conducted the songs and score, and Paul Williams wrote the lyrics.  The story adaptation by Bluth, Pomeroy, Will Finn and Goldman is based on the Newbery Award-winning book, "Mrs.  Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C.  O'Brien.  Rich Irvine and James L. Stewart are the executive producers of the Aurora presentation of a Don Bluth Production.  MGM/United Artists Distribution and marketing release in July.