A New Take on a Classic
A new film, set for release with an all-star cast, has been met with widespread criticism from critics and fans alike. The animated adaptation of George Orwell’s classic 1945 satirical allegory, Animal Farm, directed by Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis, has been slammed as “an abomination.” The film transforms Orwell’s story, which critiques the rise of Stalinism, into a comedy-adventure animation complete with fart jokes.
Starring the vocal talents of Seth Rogen, Oscar winner Kieran Culkin, Glenn Close, Woody Harrelson, Stranger Things’ actor Gaten Matarazzo, and Steve Buscemi among others, the trailer for the movie also caused controversy last year. Fans described the first look at the film as “absolutely horrific,” “unfunny 3D animation slop for kids,” and hoped it was a parody because its tone was “so over the top and at odds with the source material.”
Critical Reception and Controversy
The latest round of reviews has confirmed many of these concerns ahead of its US theatrical release on May 1, following its premiere at Annecy International Animation Film Festival last June. Critics have been particularly harsh, with some calling the film “a tonal nightmare.”
Consequence of Sound’s review warned that the new animated Animal Farm falls into the category of movies that “drain all life and joy out of a person’s soul.” They added that while the movie was aimed at children, it was “really for no one with any sense or taste.” The Hollywood Reporter criticized the adaptation, written by Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s Nicholas Stoller, for “sacrificing the story’s powerful anti-Stalinist message for a dumbed-down critique of corporatisation featuring human villains.”
Orwell’s novella features an almost entirely animal cast, with Napoleon (Rogen) widely considered the eventual prime antagonist, as the leader-turned-brutal-dictator of the farmyard who leads every creature to ruination. However, the film introduces elements that are far removed from the original, such as a character letting out a big wet one and exclaiming, “This is the sound of freedom!”
The Wrap also criticized this version of Animal Farm, the third onscreen adaptation after the 1954 British animation and 1999 live-action movie, for its “all-new characters and a Hollywood-friendly, mega-happy ending.”
Changes and Discontent
New characters include Lucky (Matarazzo), a young piglet who acts as the audience surrogate. Screen Rant’s Liz Declan wrote that the filmmakers’ changes have resulted in the “complete bastardisation of the original story and its meaning.” She added, “Some adaptations, it seems, are far less equal than others.”
An earlier one-star review from The Telegraph’s Tim Robey, following Animal Farm’s London Film Festival screening in October, described the movie as “a shudder-worthy nightmare” and its visuals as “unremittingly horrid.” He noted that the bizarre achievement of this new film is to make us feel “trapped and punished through every phase of the story.”
Production Background
The imminent adaptation is produced by faith-based Utah production company Angel Studios, known for its “values-based” projects and strong Christian themes. It was also behind the controversial 2023 movie Sound of Freedom, as well as the upcoming chocolate biopic Hershey. The recent trailer of Hershey had viewers describing it as “awful” and feeling like “an AI prompt.”
Currently sitting on a measly 36% score from 14 reviews on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, this version of Animal Farm has so far only attracted a handful of early more positive reactions out of Annecy from Screen International and Deadline.
Development and Release
This adaptation has been in the works since 2011 with Serkis attached, originally as a co-screenwriter, and with Netflix initially purchasing distribution rights in 2018. Numerous delays saw production finally commence in 2022.
Animal Farm releases in US cinemas on Friday, May 1. It is yet to receive a UK release date.
