Animal Farm review
Back then in the 50’s, Disney wasn’t just the studio that made kid friendly films. In 1954 an animated film based on George Orwell’s book Animal Farm was released. This wasn’t your typical kid friendly animated movie. This movie is all about the Cold War. And surprising, this movie is pretty disturbing. But the question is does it still hold up in 2019? Well let’s find out. As I watched the movie on YouTube for free. Also this review may contain spoilers.Animal Farm is about farm animals living on a farm in a very poor condition by a Farmer who has an alcohol problem. Sounds weird, but hey I guess it works. So during the nighttime, all the farm animals hold a meeting in the barn because you know, animals can hold meetings too. Anyways there is this pig called Major, and he’s old. He discusses that his time will come, and encouraging the animals to stand up to their rights because the animals on the farm have been being abused by the farmer. So Major teaches the farm animals a song called the revolutionary song, and good god these animals cannot sing. I know it’s suppose to be serious, but holy crap they sing so terrible. You would think these animals would talk in the movie right? Well not in the revolutionary song. They just make animal noises, and it doesn’t sound good in my opinion. After that song major literary squeals, and straight up dies of old age. The way they did his death was absolutely disturbing. Especially when all the animals leave the barn, and leave his dead body in the barn. That scene gave me chills. They did a pretty good job with it.
The film gets a lot more darker later on. The farmer locks up all the food, trying to starve the farm animals, and the farm animals get pissed. That sets a even more darker tone to the film. Another scene involving the the farmer bringing his friends, I think those are his friends, try to attack the farm animals. But the farm animals attack back at the farmer and his friends. The film also has some deaths. We’ll get to that later on. The farm animals straight up go communist later on in the film. Since the story Animal Farm reflects on the Russian Revolution Of 1917, Stalinist Era, and the Soviet Union. Which is honestly weird. But that’s what Animal Farm is based on,
Animal Farm gets even more darker later on. The pig Snowball dies from a dog attack because a pig named Napoleon hated Snowballs ideas, like warmth though the winter, and other stuff. This film has some pretty dark moments, and definitely something kids probably won’t like. Unfortunately I can’t really say that the film holds up to this day. Maybe it’s just me, but Animal Farm (1954) hasn’t really aged well. I mean it has a good topic, but it just doesn’t really hold up in 2019.
Animal Farm also has an interesting ending. Spoilers ahead.
All the animals were sick in tired of working under Napoleon, and the pigs. They were also tired about Napoleon’s guard dogs killing animals. After Boxer, a horse that was taken into the death wagon in exchange for beer. All the animals had enough, and deside to straight up storm into Napoleon’s house, and well it just cuts to the credits after that. My guess is the animals destroyed the place, and probably killed Napoleon, the pigs, and the guard dogs.
So... after all that stuff, I will give my final thoughts on the film. I honestly don’t know what to say about this film. It’s dark, it has a historical accuracy, and a disturbing animated film. The narration in the movie is fantastic, but at the same time, this movie doesn’t really hold up in 2019 because it hasn’t aged that well. But I will say it’s a decent movie. Even though i’ve haven’t read the book yet. Unfortunately this movie is only seen in Britain, and has never came to the U.S. I don’t recommend this movie, but if you wanna give it a try, go ahead. It’s free on YouTube. Animal Farm is a decent movie, but definitely something not for a younger audience.
Final score for this movie:
7/10