#27 – Animal Farm

Director: Joy Batchelor and John Halas

“Four legs good, two legs bad!”

The ancient story of power corrupting, has never been shown more clearly as in Animal Farm, and despite the countless examples of this story shown in real life politics, the same scenario keeps on unfolding before our very eyes, all over the world. Based on George Orwell’s classic novel, Animal Farm is a comment on every revolution story, and shows how humans tend to react when given authority – but is shown to us, in way of a farmyard revolution, as the animals join together and get rid of the old dictator (the farmer), and take control of the farm. Animal Farm is a cartoon, but defiantly not for children, it is very violent and terrifying, and several animals are killed… With that said, I do believe that all children should see it, as it teaches a very important lesson, not only about the corruption of man, but also about the responsibility leaders have towards people and animals alike. I was shown this many, many times as a child, and I have not yet tried to become an evil dictator, and I treat people (and animals) with dignity and respect (I am not positive that this can be pined on the viewing of this awesome cartoon, but I like to think so). Every revolution must have its soundtrack, and the soundtrack in Animal Farm is totally awesome, I challenge you to watch this film, and not have the main theme, stuck in your head for days or weeks, the DVD restoration has also really pushed the overall sound of the movie up to another level, that does the movie credit. A different actor voices every single animal in the movie, and with the beautiful narration by Gordon Heath the voice actors are brilliant, as well as the animation style, that calls on many dramatic effects. In my opinion, Animal farm is the most important animated film to be made, and is a must see, for everybody who enjoys the exploration of human nature and the history of repression – it has never been shown better, on the screen. Everybody says that George Orwell’s original book is much better than the cartoon, so I’d better read it then, because it must be pretty damn excellent.

8/10