Mr. Coat's Movie Reviews: "Animal Farm"

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Next to 1984, George Orwell's most famous story involves animals rebelling against their farmer and putting their own system in place, only for things to go awry. Orwell intended it to be a satire on the rise of Stalin in the Soviet Union and his particular brand of communism. And several decades after the book's publication, Andy Serkis turned his attention towards adapting Animal Farm. It's been a long and fascinating road for this production, with Serkis first announcing his intention to make Animal Farm back in 2011. Since then, there'll be the occasional update about the project, including Serkis taking over directing duties from Wright and Netflix picking up the distribution rights. Even after Netflix dropped the film, Serkis still sought to get Animal Farm made, and Nicholas Stoller was even hired as the screenwriter. I actually have read the book, and even though that was many years ago, it really stuck with me, showing what a powerful story it is.

[00:00:44]And Orwell's commentary on communism and other forms of totalitarian regime is something that's still relevant. So, I was certainly curious how Serkis and his team decide to handle the story.

[00:00:53]Watching Animal Farm, I had to wonder how much changed from its original concept to what made it on screen. For what was meant to be a passion project of Serkis, based on his love of the book, this ends up being very far removed from the source material. Even though the original story remains timeless and relevant, the filmmakers felt the need to completely modernize it. This movie tries so hard to appeal to a modern audience with the soundtrack choices and the wacky comedy that ends up feeling desperate. That's right, they've turned Animal Farm, a pretty serious tale, into a wacky comedy with all sorts of animal hijinks. And I did not laugh once during the entire runtime. Not one line or bit of slapstick even got a chuckle out of me.

[00:01:30]It does not help that the animals themselves never become interesting.

[00:01:33]There's nothing that stands out about them, and that even extends to the voice acting. We get the usual crop of celebrity voices, which is to be expected from a Western animated film, but none of them brought anything unique or interesting to the roles. That includes Seth Rogen as the principal antagonist, Napoleon, with him primarily being asked to be Seth Rogen. I could picture it was him in the recording booth, especially when he does his signature laugh. They even make a joke about his laugh. I usually really like Rogen, and he's even done well with some antagonist roles in the past, but he was the completely wrong fit for Napoleon.

[00:02:04]The dialogue he and the other animals are required to say lack any sort of cleverness, even when tackling these themes, which is shocking considering some of Nicholas Stoller's previous credits. Although I could see this being a case where there were so many hands in the kitchen, as evidenced by the several creative consultants listed in the credits, that had an effect on the final script. This is also one of those animated films where the characters never seem to shut up as they yammer away some insipid joke or saying. The attempts at emotion fall short, too, as I had a hard time caring about these animals and their predicament. The commentary ends up feeling diluted. Like I said, Animal Farm was meant to be Orwell's critique of communism under Stalin and what happens when untrustworthy people end up in powerful positions. This adaptation elects for mostly anti-capitalist message as the pigs become obsessed with money and buying things. There's certainly commentary to be made on capitalist societies, but the film does not do it very well. The film includes a tech company CEO who Napoleon becomes in cahoots with. She's an underwhelming villain, though, much like every other character in the movie. There are admittedly a few times when a bit of smart commentary sneaks through. We see how lucky the pig comes to realize the system of government he was initially supportive of was not as fair and equal as he thought it would be. There's also a part where he sees the face of the pigs morphing to humans, which is an appropriately unsettling image. However, rather than delving deep into these themes, the film sends us into another comedy or action scene. I thought the most clever part of the entire movie was a montage showing historical events depicted with pigs, which happens during the end credits. Another positive I'll give Animal Farm is the designs on the animals did show some creativity. I even noticed in the credits that one of the lead character designers was Peter de Sève, who's one of my favorite character designers. You can certainly see some of his fingerprints on the animals. Many talented artists worked on this movie, with the animation team doing an overall solid job. The movie as a whole just seems to really struggle to adapt this story when it should not be that difficult. The storytelling decisions don't work, the attempts at humor fall completely flat, many of the characters are obnoxious, and the commentary, the most important aspect of Animal Farm, is muddled. I sat there during the entire runtime feeling nothing and being bored as it whisks us from one underwhelming sequence to another. Even judging this version of Animal Farm on its own terms and not comparing it to the original story, it's just loud and annoying.

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