Animal Farm: A Star-Studded Cast Couldn't Save It

Classics

Animal Farm

by George Orwell

Animated Film

Classic Adaptation

Comedy Drama

In Theaters & Available to Rent

Director: Andy Serkis

Screenplay: Nicholas Stoller

Studio: Angel Studios

Based on: Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945)

Where to Watch: Still in select theaters; available to rent or purchase on Fandango at Home and Angel Studios

The Voice Cast

Seth Rogen	Napoleon
Gaten Matarazzo	Lucky (original character)
Woody Harrelson	Boxer
Glenn Close	Freida Pilkington (original character)
Laverne Cox	Snowball
Kieran Culkin	Squealer
Jim Parsons	Carl & The Sheep
Steve Buscemi	Mr. Whymper
Kathleen Turner	Benjamin
Andy Serkis	Mr. Jones, Old Major & The Rooster

What the Critics Are Saying

2.6/10

IMDb

28%

Rotten Tomatoes

Critics have been blunt. The film's central problem, most agree, is that it softens and fundamentally alters Orwell's famously bleak allegory — replacing the Soviet political satire with a more generalized commentary on corporate greed, adding original characters, and swapping the novella's cyclical, despairing ending for something considerably more palatable. For a story whose entire power lies in its refusal to offer hope, that's a significant departure. The voice cast is genuinely impressive and the animation draws some praise, but the consensus is that the film loses the very thing that made the source material essential.

Our Take

George Orwell wrote Animal Farm in 1945 as a direct allegory for Stalinism and the betrayal of the Russian Revolution, and its power has always been inseparable from its specificity and its darkness. The animals' rebellion fails. The pigs become the farmers. There is no redemption. That's the point. Serkis and screenwriter Nicholas Stoller have made a film that is, by most accounts, visually impressive and occasionally funny — but in smoothing out Orwell's sharp edges and introducing a coming-of-age protagonist named Lucky, they've produced something that resembles the book in name only. If you've never read Animal Farm, this weekend is a good time to fix that. It's under 100 pages and one of the most important novels ever written. The film, on the other hand, can probably wait.

Animal Farm

by George Orwell