An American Tail is a
1986 American
animated musical adventure film directed by
Don Bluth and produced by
Sullivan Bluth Studios and
Amblin Entertainment. It tells the story of
Fievel Mousekewitz and his family as they immigrate from
Russia to the
United States for freedom. However, he gets lost and must find a way to reunite with them.
Steven Spielberg's first foray into animation and his first with Bluth, it was released on November 21, 1986 to positive reviews and was a box office hit, making it the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film at the time. The success of it,
The Land Before Time, and Disney's
Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as well as Bluth's departure from their partnership, prompted Spielberg to establish his own animation studio,
Amblimation, which would later become
DreamWorks Animation, which he cofounded with
Jeffrey Katzenberg and
David Geffen.