Andy Serkis’ ‘Animal Farm’ Trailer Promises Bright Colors, Fart Jokes, and Literary Treason

This looks bad, really bad.

It’s quite obvious now why no distributor wanted to touch this one, until faith-based studio Angel picked it up. The end result is literary treason — Andy Serkis’ “Animal Farm” is nothing like George Orwell’s book.

The trailer leans hard into its bright, sparkling, almost whimsical tone—a bold stylistic swing, and certainly one way to sell Orwell to a seven-year-old. In fact, Serkis’ approach makes the CIA-backed 1954 version look far more faithful by comparison.

Serkis’ animated adaptation of Orwell’s “Animal Farm” has been a passion project of his for nearly 15 years. With a screenplay by Nicholas Stoller (“The Muppets”), the film has a cast which includes Seth Rogen, Steve Buscemi, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Woody Harrelson, Kathleen Turner, and Serkis himself.

Adapting “Animal Farm” has always been a challenge; its subtlety, layered meaning, and dark tone make it difficult to translate to screen. However, Serkis, known for pushing performance capture and digital storytelling forward, might have made a far worse version than anyone could have ever imagined.

It should be mentioned that “Animal Farm” screened at the Annecy Film Festival in June. Critical reaction was muted. Audiences were underwhelmed by its tonal shift from Orwell’s bleak satire toward a more family-friendly narrative. Oh, and apparently Serkis inserted lots of flatulence? The film veers in an unexpectedly juvenile direction—including, notably, fart jokes. The decision to inject lowbrow humor into such weighty source material is rather baffling.

Somehow, Warner Bros. gave the green light to Serkis’ expensive ‘Hunt for Gollum,’ set to shoot next year— it’s not too late to back out. Before tackling “Animal Farm,” Serkis’ directing work included “Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.”