Animal Farm

Animal Farm is a 1954 British-American animated drama based on George Orwell's novel. It follows the animals of Manor Farm, who rise up against the neglectful and drunken farmer Mr. Jones and take control of the farm themselves, hoping to build a society where all animals are equal. Their hopes give way to disillusionment as the pigs gradually seize power and the revolution turns against those it was meant to serve.

The film was directed by John Halas and Joy Batchelor, who also wrote the screenplay with Borden Mace and produced it through their company, Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Films, with Louis de Rochemont Associates and the Central Intelligence Agency also involved in production. It was the first feature the directing duo made, preceding their later animated film Heavy Metal by more than twenty-five years. The voice cast includes Gordon Heath as the narrator, Maurice Denham providing the voices of the animals, and Simon Cadell as the farmers.

Running just over an hour, the film has held up well with audiences over the decades, rating 7.2 out of 10 on IMDb from around 21,000 votes and 7.1 out of 10 on TMDB from a smaller pool of viewers. A film critics' rating of 6.9 out of 10 from twelve reviews places it slightly below the audience scores, suggesting broadly favourable but not unanimous praise.