Is the movie good? - Animal Farm (1959) Discussion

[–] justin8617 8 years ago

Every time I ask that question about a movie, book, food, or pretty much anything, I always get a weird response. Some people say yes and some people say no. It is so weird and it is almost like different people have different opinions.

All joking aside though, there is really no point in asking because just because I like the movie and other people like the movie, it doesn't mean that you will like it. I gave this movie a 7 and the average IMBD score is 7.2 so I guess that is a C-, which is passing. It means that most people thought it was good but not great.

The only way to know for sure if you would like it, is to watch it yourself and decide yourself. If you like it, then it shouldn't matter what other people think about it. For example, I prefer soda when it is flat but I know that most people don't. However, the fact that other people don't like, it isn't going to change my opinion.

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[–] tomtac 8 years ago

That is a pretty good answer. I can add a little.

It really depends on the person who did read the book and now is watching the movie. If they are expecting the drawings in the book to be replicated in the movie, nah, that didn't happen for me, there was another drawing style. And if they want a play-by-play visualization of all of the book, nah, that didn't happen either, after all, a movie is not a book.

One can say that there are "main ideas" of the book, and then perhaps agree that the film does a right fine job of presenting those ideas. Okay, that is a good thing to look for, and this film DOES present most of the book's main ideas. So the OP may like this movie on that point.

But there are a couple of "ideas" that didn't make it into this movie. For one spoiler ....
..... spoiler .... the film leaves out the scene where "4 legs good 2 legs bad" falls prey to "revisionism" and the sheep proclaim the new version at the top of their lungs. If THAT kind of editing will bother somebody, then this movie is not for them.

Look, justin8617 had a good point. The movie is less than an hour and a quarter. Instead of overthinking this, perhaps one can just spend the next hour plus watching, and make up one's own mind.

here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wss6vvFOoeY

or here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWdvNQhPm78

or here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcKChE9VqMk

or here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0pys7boNro

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[–] Prismark10 8 years ago

Its a classic.

It's that man again!!

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[–] AndyKing1967 (33802) 4 years ago

Yes.

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[–] NotoriousRio (12927) 4 years ago

It’s a good adaption, apart from the end, which differs from the book.

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[–] BullSchmidt (3189) 4 years ago

> It’s a good adaption, apart from the end, which differs from the book.

I'm unable to be as generous as you. IMO, changing the ending changes the entire story. The book's story is one of hopeless futility. In this movie, after some unpleasantness good wins out and they presumably live happily ever after.

By analogy, imagine changing one of the Biblical gospels. Keep the new version exactly the same as the old one, until the crucifixion. Then make the ending something like, "They crucified him, and he died. And that was that." No resurrection, etc. A small change at the end turns out to be an enormous change. [*]

I hate that Orwell died as young as he did, but I'm glad he didn't have to see this.

[*] I'm neither endorsing nor criticizing Christianity here; this is just the best analogy I can think of to make the point.

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[–] NotoriousRio (12927) 4 years ago

Yea, I agree, if ever there’s a new adaption, I hope it’s truer to Orwell’s book. Stupid studio interference most likely changed the film’s ending, I imagine it was some fat guy with a cigar thinking cartoons are just for kids and demanding a happy upbeat ending.

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[–] BullSchmidt (3189) 4 years ago

> if ever there’s a new adaption, I hope it’s truer to Orwell’s book.

Have you seen this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGzRf0Ow1qU

I don't remember much about it, which means I must have neither strongly liked or disliked it -- unlike the 1954 version which I dislike intensely for the reason I stated. Anyway, you might wanna give it a look.

> Stupid studio interference most likely changed the film’s ending, I imagine it was some fat guy with a cigar thinking cartoons are just for kids and demanding a happy upbeat ending.

Not just Hollyweirdness in this case. The CIA was also in the act, and funded this film. I guess the thought a happy ending made for better pro-USA propaganda. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm_(1954_film)

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[–] Forky (1739) 4 years ago

In the sequel Animal Crackers (1956) they all go crazy.

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