As an allegory of the Russian Revolution, it is as good an introduction to the history of that time as can be... Orwell was a great writer, and the film of the book, though good, was spoiled as Shaber says by alterations... if you liked it, try 1984, an even more chilling image of what happens when the few hold the power to change history....
I read it for my country's equivalent to seventh grade. I'd read it earlier though, when I was around eight or so years old, but I didn't comprehend the underlying meanings.
I've never seen the cartoon, but I've seen the movie. Pity I can't really remember the movie.
And, yeah. I liked the parallels with the Russian Revolution.
The movie was good, as well as the book. It takes a little thinking to figure out who and what everything stands for as compared to the Russia Rev. It's not a perfect match, but over 90% of it can be directly related to it. Some char in the book are hybrids of two people, like Old Major (Marx and Lenin)