From the Page to the Screen – Animal Farm
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From the Page to the Screen – Animal Farm
Animal Farm is a classic 1954 allegorical novel written by George Orwell. It is one of the most important novels of the 20th century and one of the most influential. Its politics still ring true, the film remains a very sophisticated and deceptively simple animal tale and I really liked both the book and its cinematic adaptation.
THE FILM ADAPTATION
The film was released in 1954, nine years after the novel was first published. It holds the distinction for being the very first British feature animated film. And it definitely paid off as the critics liked it and it truly is a respectable adaptation of an important novel and a somewhat underrated film today.
PLOT
The film follows the book pretty closely and is mostly a terrific adaptation that doesn’t really sacrifice anything important. However, the ending is altered and overly happy and thus it is not comparable to the source material unfortunately.
WINNER – BOOK
CHARACTERIZATION
Definitely the voice acting could have been better as one guy literally voiced every single character here which is troublesome. But the characters themselves are very strong and so well developed just like their book counterparts.
WINNER – TIE
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EMOTION
The novel is very emotional, but the film is also highly emotional in a couple of truly devastating scenes. Both works are heartbreaking at times and mostly overly dark and realistic that you end up rooting for the good guys.
WINNER – TIE
THEMES
Of course this one goes to the novel. The film is good and very well adapted, but as is usually the case, the themes are much better explored in the written form. That is not to say that the film is thematically thin, it’s just that the novel’s exploration of order, leadership and corruption is much more striking and sophisticated.
WINNER – BOOK
TECHNICAL ASPECTS
I like Orwell’s style. I really do. His style with simple and shorter sentences really works as it makes the work much more dramatic. However, some parts were overlong with the descriptions lacking. The film, on the other hand, features good sound design and absolutely terrific, admirably grounded in reality character design where animals are not cute but fittingly realistic and even grotesque.
WINNER – FILM
BOOK 4: FILM 3
I actually like the animated film almost as much as I like the book. It truly is a phenomenal adaptation that is going to remain the best ever made out of this material. But there is no denying that the book was first and that this work is so deep and rich in themes. Thus the novel takes this one, but not by much.
