A review of animal farm an animated movie

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James Hitchcock 21 October Warning: Spoilers The British film industry during the thirties, forties and fifties had a fairly varied output, but there were a few genres in which we were unable, or unwilling, to compete with the Americans. Westerns, of course, were the most obvious example, but we also produced relatively few musicals and, untilno feature-length cartoons, even though Disney had led the way in this area with "Snow White" in and a number of other countries had followed suit during the intervening period.

We eventually broke our duck with "Animal Farm" and even here we needed some help from across the Atlantic.

More of that later. It is essentially an allegory of the Russian Revolution. Inspired by the teachings of a pig named Old Major Karl Marx the animals of Manor Farm the Russian people rise in revolt against their cruel, drunken and incompetent owner, Mr.

How the CIA brought Animal Farm to the screen

Dissensions arise, however, between the two leading pigs, Snowball Trotsky and Napoleon Stalin. Eventually Snowball is driven out and killed and Napoleon becomes a barnyard dictator. The allegory is somewhat simplified; there is, for example, no figure who corresponds precisely to Lenin.

The animals are drawn in a stylised way, but are far less anthropomorphic than most Disney cartoon animals. Unlike, say, Micky Mouse or Goofy they walk on two legs, not four.

The main difference is that their faces are stylised to make it easier for them to express emotions. Whereas Disney cartoons are typically dominated by vivid primary colours, Halas and Batchelor make use of a much more muted palette, especially in depicting the English countryside which forms the backdrop to the action.

These differences probably reflect the fact that the film was primarily intended for an adult audience who would understand the political references rather than a family one.

Indeed, some of the scenes could be quite upsetting for children. In the book Benjamin is a much more passive, pessimistic character; he can be seen as representing that part of the Russian population which neither actively supported nor actively opposed the Soviet regime.

The reason for the change is that the film was funded by the CIA for propaganda reasons; they wanted to see a film which not only criticised Soviet Communism as Orwell had done but also predicted its downfall which he had not.

Orwell ended the book on a downbeat note for two reasons. Firstly, he wanted to make the point as he was to do even more forcefully in "" that dictatorships, once established, are not easy to get rid of.

Secondly, he was using the book to make a prediction about Stalinist Communism, which he believed would eventually become indistinguishable from capitalism.

As regards the Soviet Union, in fact, Orwell was not quite right; it remained an essentially collectivist society rather than a capitalist one until the system collapsed in the early nineties.Review of “Animal Farm” ( & Films) By The Red Phoenix on July 26, • (0) Introduction.

Hailed by capitalist literary critics, Trotskyites and anarchists as a masterpiece, the mediocre book Animal Farm has served a very important role in distorting the history of socialism in the Soviet Union.

Modern editions of the book hail author George Orwell’s selfless journalistic integrity in producing the work, . The British animation firm of John Halas and Joy Batchelor perform yeoman service in adapting George Orwell's allegorical novel Animal Farm to the screen%.

Feb 13,  · "Animal Farm" is a story about how the animals in Manor Farm revolt against Mr. Jones- their owner. The animals have had enough of him and decided that they didn't want to serve humans anymore. The pigs of the farm leads the others barnyards animals a revolt against Mr.

Jones/10(K). Animal Farm is a made-for-TV film released in by Hallmark Films and broadcast on the American cable channel TNT.

It is an adaptation of the George Orwell novel of the same name. The film tells the story of farm animals successfully revolting against their human owner, only to slide into a more brutal tyranny among themselves. Feb 13,  · Animal Farm Approved | 1h 12min | Animation, Drama | 13 February (Sweden) A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs.

the farmer goes horribly wrong as the victors create a new tyranny among themselves/10(K). Mar 18,  · All animated films are equal, but some are more equal than others If you guys enjoy this and the other videos, come and support my work on Patreon, like the.