An American Tail - Definition and Overview

An American Tail is an animated film produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and directed by Don Bluth. It was originally released in movie theatres on November 21 1986 by Universal Pictures.

The film follows the story of a family of Jewish-Russian mice who emigrate to New York City, believing that there are no cats in America. Once there, they immediately discover that there are indeed cats in America, and take up in typical late 19th/early 20th century immigrant style: working in a sweatshop, living in horrible conditions, and paying the cats tribute as an alternative to being eaten. The film follows Fievel Mousekewitz, who is separated from his family as the boat approaches America; the movie chronicles Fievel's search for his family.

The film is an allegory for the terrible conditions immigrants to America faced at the turn of the century (the mice represent the Jewish immigrants, and the cats their Anti-Semitic tormentors), and is similar in this respect to Art Spiegelman's Maus.

External links

• An American Tail (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090633/) at the Internet Movie Database