Tuesday, February 10, 2009

An American Tail?

My kids used to sing a song from the cartoon An American Tail titled "There Are No Cats in America." The song is sung by mice onboard a ship leaving Russia headed for America. As it turns out the mice were wrong. Almost as soon as the mice stepped onto the dock at Ellis Island they were assaulted by cats trying to destroy them.
The most dangerous of the cats is named "Warren T. Rat." With the help of some devious rats, a clever cockroach and a rat nose disguise, Warren sells himself to an unsuspecting mice population as the savior of the mice; offering his protection for pay. He tickles the ears of tiny unsuspecting mice with promises of a better life, convincing them that their lives will improve if they will but follow him. Once convinced, the mice are then snared and sold into a sweatshop servitude.
Near the end of the movie the mice finally discover what the audience has known for awhile. (1) that Warren is really a cat who's every move has been calculated to ultimately destroy them; (2) that if they will work together using an entreprenuerial spirit and the strength of each individual mouse they can save themselves; and (3) American tyrrants should be sent to China, not put in charge of governing their lives.
Warren T. Rat's final line in the movie is "I wonder how you say 'trust me' in Chinese."