Julia Louis-dreyfus Movie:

Editorial Review:
After the technical achievement of Babe, it was inevitable that "talking animal" effects would be applied to the serious themes of George Orwell's Animal Farm. A bitterly satirical indictment of Stalinist Russia and the failure of Communism, Orwell's 1945 novel is a time-honored classic, so it's only fitting that this TNT production remains largely faithful to Orwell's potent narrative. A showcase for the impressive creations of Jim Henson's Creature Shop (where director John Stephenson was a veteran supervisor), the film employs animatronic critters and computer animation to tell the story of uprising, unity, and tragic rebellion among the animals of a British farm.

The politics of "Animalism" are initially effective, ousting enemy humans according to rules ordained by Old Major, the barnyard pig whose death sets the stage for the corruptive influence of the pig Napoleon, who cites superior intelligence as his right to superiority. This tyrannical reign destroys the farm's stability, and the film--decidedly not for young children--preserves Orwell's dark, cynical view of absolute power corrupting absolutely. Particularly effective is a propaganda film shown to the barnyard collective, and certain scenes--while not as impressive as the Babe films--powerfully convey the force of Orwell's story through animal "performance." Animal Farm occasionally falters in its emotional impact (the fate of the horse Boxer should be heart-rending, and it isn't), but it's certainly blessed with an elite voice cast, including Peter Ustinov, Patrick Stewart, Pete Postlethwaite, Julia Ormond, Kelsey Grammer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Paul Scofield, and Ian Holm. Not the masterpiece it might've been, this is nevertheless a worthy representation of Orwell's novel. (Ages 8 and older) --Jeff Shannon

Animal Farm Reviews:
What a Let Down
2009-12-08 - Animal farm by George Orwell a fable that has been turned into a movie is not vary good as a movie it should have stayed a book. Is meant for children who are more mature because in the movie it has some adult parts. I don't see why they put this part in and it never took place in the book but they took out the part where the dogs kill the animals that have disobeyed napoleon with all the blood in the scene. The book was much better than the movie because when you read the book you have your own imagination of how the pigs look like and how they say things and in the movie it's vary different and doesn't sound good. In the book I didn't get a felling that squealer was on napoleons side at first he was only on his side when snowball was banished from the farm and in the movie squealer was vary ugly for a pig and sulked around looking for people who didn't believe in what napoleon and squealer where doing for the farm. Another thing I didn't like a bout the movie from the book was when old major died in the book he died peacefully in his sleep and in the movie which I thought gave the animals more reason to rebel was Mr. Jones shot him when he slipped and fell then the gun went off and shot him in the head. In the movie the changed a lot of parts some were better and most of them were worse like the ending which in the book is vary gloomy the movie was a happy ending with new owners of the farm who looked vary happy and they waved at the dog and he looked like bill Clinton. The meaning of the end for me was ruins
If you have read the book and would like to keep the books meanings in your head you really shouldn't see this movie it ruins the book don't see it.


Animal Farm
2009-11-19 - I bought this DVD to use with my English 12 classes when we studied George Orwell. I was a great addition to my curriculum.

Does not Follow the Book!
2009-06-13 - Students looking to cheat will not be happy with this version; however, using real animals in the movie and the good "star" voices make it a good version. The point of Animal Farm as told by Orwell is well-made in this made for TV movie using updated propaganda media for the villainous pigs. Clever imagery and realistic human scenes help with the exception of the characterization of Mrs. Pilkington. Gratuitous sex under the covers with Farmer Jones adds nothing to the story, and her winking at Napoleon implying that she will be in his bed is just gross. I do recommend the dvd with that one reservation until someone creates a truer treatment of the classic book.

Sent as a gift!
2009-03-19 - This DVD was sent as a gift to a student for a school project. He said that it was helpful.

Animal Farm
2009-02-26 - Its a decent film to use in a history classroom. It gives students the chance to see why communism in the Soviet Union did not work in a non-traditional way. It is not a great film for entertainment but useful as a teaching tool.