ANIMAL FARM is the famous allegory about the Soviet Union written by George Orwell . It's a timeless fable that has outlived Orwell , Stalin and communism itself which speaks of humanity's fondness of the tale of the state versus the individual. Strangely though this might be down of humanity's fondness of animals rather than its reverence of Orwell . One problem with the narrative is that if you know anything about the history of the USSR then its roots are a bit too obvious with Jones being the Czar , Snowball being Trotsky , Napoleon being Stalin etc

Christopher Hitchens wrote a legendary criticism n Michael Moore's FARENHEIT 9/11 in which he stated it is clearly unwise to quote Orwell when you're clearly out of your depth on the subject of moral equivalence . This is an ironic problem with Orwell's work . He's a popular author at primary Catholic schools with an agenda that Christianity = good and atheistic communism = bad . But is communism really atheist ? Surely it's a philosophy merely seeking to replace a godly religion with a secular one ? Is the misanthropic view that gives birth for a need towards a classless utopia any different from Christians believing in the original sin of humanity ? By a bitter irony lost upon both believers and communists Orwell himself stated that both Catholic and communists are alike in that an opponent can not be more honest and intelligent than themselves

This is the problem with the animated version of ANIMAL FARM . For the most part it follows Orwell's narrative to the exact letter , then for dubious reasons changes the entire ending for something quite different . The reason for this change remains unresolved . Some claim it was because the financier of the film was the CIA hence wanted a " non communist " ending and some claim a happy ending would have appealed to a mainstream audience . Whatever the reason it does spoil what was a relatively effective adaptation of the novella . Of course it might a prophetic ending where the proletarian animals overthrow the pigs and impose their own perpetual revolution on Manor Farm that involves continually purging its leadership but I doubt if even Mao Tse Tung had come up with that concept yet never mind George Orwell

This movie, like Orwell's original story, was a brilliant metaphor for the Russian Revolution and Stalinism. There was so much brilliance in the original story that the film couldn't help but be excellent as well. The only problems are that this film OFTEN is shown to young children and the metaphorical aspects are beyond their ability to comprehend (this is NOT a kids' story) and the quality of the animation isn't great. However, this isn't to say the animation is bad, but compared to Disney or more modern sources, it does appear rather cheap and washed out--but in no way does that change the fundamental beauty of the tale. I use the film with my World History class when we discuss Stalinism--it provides a lot of great discussion material for my high school students.

The book by George Orwell is absolutely wonderful, if I were to be honest I found it easier to read and understand than Nineteen Eighty Four. It tells the timeless story of farm animals seeking a life of equality, harmony and prosperity. This animated film is terrific. It is reasonably true to the style of the book, while taking liberties. One of the more major liberties was replacing the "downbeat"(the words of the producers of the film) ending, with a more optimistic one, that does kind of miss the point of the original ending of the book. Though I have to say, the 1999 film, despite the good voice cast and cute animiatronics missed the point of the book almost entirely. That said, this is extremely good. The animation was surprisingly excellent; while I wasn't crazy about the animation of Farmer Jones, but the backgrounds are very nice and the animals are well drawn. The music is fantastic, if anything else it is very haunting especially the song that the animals sing, I suppose it's a kind of anthem. The characters are very well done, from the intelligent Snowball(his death was horrible though) to the rebellious Napolean. The beginning with Major was also another highlight. And the voices of Gordon Heath as the narrator and Maurice Denham as all the animals were spot on. All in all, this film is great. 8/10 Bethany Cox