NOW IN THEATERS! Lucky (Gaten Matarazzo) is a young pig with a dream—one day, all farm animals would be free to run the farm together, working as equals. Led by a veteran pig, Snowball (Laverne Cox), the animals avoid being set to the slaughterhouse and take over the farm, kick out the humans, and establish a set of rules to live by: two legs are enemies, four legs are friends, no animal shall wear clothes or sleep in beds, no drinking, and most importantly, all animals are equal. It’s a fresh start. It’s freedom. But freedom turns out to be a lot of work. The animals realize some of them have to carry more weight than others just by nature—the horses work harder than the chickens. Still, they push forward. Lucky and Snowball team up to build a water wheel that’ll generate electricity, but it requires approval from the other animals. Napoleon (Seth Rogen) doesn’t like it. He wants to have fun, not work. So he convinces the other animals that Snowball’s getting too big for her britches and needs a “vacation.” The Dobermans make sure she takes it. Now Napoleon runs things, and he’s got his own ideas about how the farm should work.
The banker shows up demanding magic paper, aka money. Napoleon tells the animals they need to earn it, so they work even harder. The pigs pocket the money, go on shopping sprees, live like humans, wear clothes, and drink booze. Meanwhile, the rules that governed everyone else? Those don’t apply to the pigs anymore. It’s the revolution eating itself. Napoleon says the humans won’t respect them unless they walk on two legs, so the pigs start doing exactly what they told the other animals was forbidden. They sleep in the farmer’s old house, shop at designer stores in the mall—everything they promised was forbidden. By species, the animals separate—cows with cows, pigs with pigs, chickens with chickens. When the money runs out, and the pigs need the other animals to work harder to survive, they start talking about selling them off. The idea that all animals are equal is still true—just some are more equal than others.
“…two legs are enemies, four legs are friends…”
I came into Animal Farm skeptical. Everyone was saying it ditched Orwell, that it was anti-capitalist, that it gutted the whole point of the book—and I figured they might be right. But as the credits rolled, I realized something different was happening here. Yes, it’s Orwell lite. Yes, it’s Orwell for kids. But the core concepts, the actual ideas Orwell was exploring, were less about socialism than about totalitarianism. If you follow US and global politics, totalitarianism rears its ugly head in both capitalist and communist societies. Granted, I see it more on the socialist side.
The core concepts are still there. Lucky (Gaten Matarazzo) watches Napoleon (Seth Rogen) transform from an idealistic pig into a dictator who walks on two legs and wears clothes—the exact opposite of what the animals fought for. Everyone is supposed to be equal and work together for the good of the collective. But ambition and laziness are powerful forces. Those in charge of this socialist society demand that you work to uphold the pigs’ new standard of living, which is known as exploitation. That’s the meat of it. The pigs become the thing they despised, ruling through propaganda and force while everyone else starves. It’s not deep, but it’s honest about what Orwell was trying to say.
Here’s the thing, though—this film tries to be a family movie with a genuinely dark story, and when you try to do two disparate things, you become neither. I personally believe older children will watch this film, and some might get the themes, while others will have it fly over their heads. I’m personally fine with the animation and cast, but Animal Farm is hardly the Bible that translates well to children, and you either go all the way like the classic Watership Down or you strip Orwell out completely and make Paddington 4. Don’t get me wrong. I was intrigued by what Animal Farm presented about the dangers of totalitarianism. Orwell was writing his book as an indictment of his party’s push to claim everyone was equal—a deception designed to make people willingly accept exploitation or fear speaking out.
There are many flaws in Animal Farm, but its message is what I’m recommending the film for. Look, it will make great dinner conversation with your toddlers.
"…it will make great dinner conversation with your toddlers."
