Animal Farm

Andy Serkis’ adaptation of George Orwell’s Russian Revolution allegory jettisons a lot of historical context for a cranked-up and mostly shallow exploration of fake news and the dangers of political idolatry. Fans of the original text may guffaw at some changes, which appear to exist to sugar the bitter pill of introducing complex themes to younger audiences. If that is the case then, much like the revolution itself, good intentions have lead to a regrettable outcome.

Reading the original novella in class is a defining memory of early secondary school for myself. I admit my personal history so the reader is aware of potential bias, as it seems an odd choice to me to take such a brutally informative story and reform it into a standard children’s film. Gone are poetic moments of genius such as the funeral for the leather and ham products left by the farmer, or the inciting call from Old Major, the oldest pig, to rise up and take the farm for themselves. Instead, the film makes time for jokes about flatulence, fast cars and an evil, Amazonian corporation that wishes to crush the farm, and when that fails, get into bed with the reigning pigs.

The voice cast try (and sometimes succeed) in injecting depth into the film. A standout is Woody Harrelson as Boxer the horse, the dutiful farm worker with unwavering trust in his leaders, and who pays the price for it. Gaten Matarazzo does well as the (frankly uninteresting) audience surrogate Lucky the piglet, and Seth Rogen manages to convey a sinister edge to his trademark buffoonery as revolutionary-turned-dictator Napoleon. It’s a shame therefore that Kieran Culkin appears to be phoning it in, and Glenn Close makes the rather strange choice of playing the human villain Pilkington with an alienating Southern accent.

The film has a fast pace, which helps a great deal, but truthfully it’s hard to think of a filmmaking style less-suited for Orwell’s subdued original than the Dreamworks-esque, family-friendly version they’ve arrived at. Serkis and his team should be applauded for the genuine effort (over a decade of work from start to finish) to introduce the story to a younger audience and warn them of the dangers of fake news and propaganda. Unfortunately, he talks a better film than he’s delivered in this case.