I can't really review this film fairly, because the ending is all that really sticks out in my mind. When I was about twelve, I stayed up all night reading Animal Farm. I distinctly remember finishing the book and, being unable to sleep because I could not stop thinking about the hopeless ending. The book, Animal Farm really took my world apart. I then watched the animated, Animal Farm and was completely disgusted by the optimistic ending. Years later, I did some research. It was a rumored that the C.I.A were the ones who made the decision to change the ending. This change was made so Animal Farm could be used as anti-communist propaganda. This should particularly disturb those who have read 1984.

C.I.A changed or not, the ending poisoned the whole film for me. So, I probably should not be reviewing this movie because I am unable to see the big picture of what Animal Farm was trying to accomplish. But I still have some valid criticisms.

I entirely agree with Inkwolf, and her thoughts on the narrator. The narrator is dreadful and the “show, don't tell” policy is something the director desperately needed to understand. The animation isn't great, but to be fair this was Britain's first feature length animated film, and I can't imagine the budget for Animal Farm was very big. Benjamin, the donkey, the cynical presence in the book, is altered to an obnoxious, pointless character.

I gave this movie a half of a star because I thought the battle of the cowshed was well done, and the movie did a good job of keeping the dark tone of the book, in many of the movie’s scenes.

I highly suggest disregarding most of my views on the animated Animal Farm. I also suggest watching this film on your own. While many people might consider this movie to be a classic, I can only see it as a travesty of the book.

I don't really know what to say about this movie. We were studying the Russian Revolution in my World History class and my teacher played this movie, based on the book, to show the representations of the people in the revoution. I didn't like the movie at all. It bored me. The only good thing is that you learn a bit about the Russian Revolution. Oh, and that Communism is bad(no, really? I haven't noticed with all the wars. Oh, please.).

This movie is a really interesting metaphore of the days of the communist revolution and its corrupt government to which it turned. I'd give it a 8/10. The main flaw of this movie is the animation, but it is expectable from a 1954 UK movie. Although this movie has a strong anti-communist theme I enjoyed it for its story.

The film that bagged Halas and Batchelor a reputation as "the Disney of the UK"; not counting Handling ships and Water for Fire Fighting, a pair of 60-70 minute long instructional films that the studio had made for the Admiralty and Fire Service respectively, Animal Farm was Britain's first full-length animated feature.

Aside from the occasional speech delivered by the pigs, Animal Farm has very little dialogue; most of the story is imparted by a narrator. This'll probably be the biggest turn-off to modern audiences, as the narrator shows flagrant disregard for the whole "show, don't tell" rule - at one point, for example, he carefully explains to us that a character isn't dead. Generally speaking the film is most successful when there is no dialogue or narration; just imagery - because Animal Farm's imagery can be really striking. Early on there's a sequence where a drunken, bad-tempered Farmer Jones potters about his farm at night, with a torch; aside from close-ups of his shoes he's represented soley by light and shadow, along with drunken mumbling and crunching footsteps. Later on is a scene where the animals sing their anthem in front of a blazing bonfire; both are incredibly atmospheric. Despite the Disney/Warner stylings, Animal Farm largely avoids the pantomime acting associated with its American counterparts; ironically enough it's closer in many ways to the animated features that Russia had started producing a few years previously.

Today, if Animal Farm is remembered at all, it is usually seen as just another bowdlerised adaptation of a literary classic that's not worth bothering with. Amongst animation buffs, though, it's appreciated a little more, particularly in its native country; in 2005 it was voted the ninety-second greatest cartoon ever made in a poll conducted by the UK's Channel 4. What's easy to forget about Animal Farm is that, for its time, the film was really quite unusual. An animated feature devoted to political satire - somewhat watered down political satire, granted, but political satire nonetheless - is not what you'd expect to see released between Lady and the Tramp and Peter Pan; also, the violence and sometimes sombre tone, while mild by today's standards, caused a bit of a stir upon release: American newspapers described Animal Farm as "too violent for children" and "adult entertainment - cartoon not for kids". Today people associate that kind of response with Fritz the Cat, not a British movie from 1954.

O.k now for my review.

Whilst this film is not like the book it is still a good film. The animation is not bad and try to remmeber it was the first British animated cartoon so we could not have the same budget as disney. But i think it out Disneys Disney. Though I have to agree the animation is rather flat and dated and the narrators voice rather plummy but remember thats how news readers sounded like back then.

Now i said my piece remember:
"Four legs good two legs bad."

Animal Farm combines classic animation with a timeless novel, and the result is...pretty good. There are terrifying and horrible scenes, as well as stirring and exciting ones...and who could forget the animals singing 'Beasts of England?'

And yet, there are some inherent flaws, and some dated material which detract from the film. Most sadly, the grim but meaningful ending of the novel has once more been perverted to provide a happier ending. (Though they didn't fiddle with it as badly as the more recent live-action film did.)

Secondly, a narrator has been imposed on the film who gives the whole film the feeling of one of those old Looney Toons travelogues/expositions. You know, like "The car of the future has three seats...this is the driver's seat. This is the passenger seat. And this one is for the mother-in-law." The old writing rule, "show don't tell" would have served this film well. Giving more of the animals voices might have helped, too.

The animation, art, emoting and voice acting is all very dated, but still has charm. It's a film worth seeing.

But someday, someone has to make a REAL film of Animal Farm, which doesn't pander.

The film is ambitious, but rather bland. Much of the animation is very well done, and the realism of the way characters react and express themselves is worth noting. However, it still lacked empathy for most of the characters, probably because of they way the movie chugged along. It almost feels like a child-like narration of the novel, until it gets a bit more violent, which i find to be inaccurate, because even though Animal Farm was told somewhat innocently throughout the book, the atmosphere of the movie adopts too much of the disney fluff to take some of the meaning seriously. And even so, it still lacks the charm and charisma disney displayed in earlier classics, such as Bambi, which was made 12 years before.

I suppose what really drowned my lack of overall interest and appreciation for the movie was that it twisted certain elements from the book that should have remained, as well as completely alter the unusual, and 'classic' ending of the Animal Farm novel. Even so, i recommend it to animation enthusiasts just so they can feel a warp back in time of animation just beginning to trot along in its footsteps. the definite screech of injustice still rings throughout the movie, but dimly so compared to the simple book.

Now don't get me wrong, i understand that what works in a book, sometimes never works in a movie, but the Animal Farm novel was so visual, and even simple, most of the elements could have easily be translated beautifully on screen, but hey, what's done is done, and i suppose the 'times' was partly to consider, or in this case, blame.