Animal Farm (1999 film)

Animal Farm is a 1999 political comedy-drama television film directed by John Stephenson and written by Alan Janes. Based on the 1945 novel of the same name by George Orwell and serving as an allegory of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath, the film features an ensemble cast including Kelsey Grammer, Ian Holm, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Stewart, Julia Ormond, Paul Scofield, Charles Dale, Pete Postlethwaite, Alan Stanford and Peter Ustinov. In the film, a group of anthropomorphic animals revolt successfully against their human owner, only to slide into a more brutal tyranny among themselves.

Plot
In the 1940s, Mr. Jones, the owner of Manor Farm, invites the Pilkingtons to a gathering to talk about his debts. That night, the animals gather in a meeting where Old Major, the Middle White boar, explains that humanity is their enemy and that they can overthrow the human race and take control of Manor Farm for themselves, calling for a life of equality and prosperity. Major teaches them a song called "Beasts of the World", but while the animals are singing, Jones, hearing the noise coming from the barn, goes to investigate, only to accidentally shoot Major.

Jones goes into town for a drink without feeding the animals. Upon returning, Boxer, Manor Farm's shire horse, helps the animals break into the food shed. They accidentally awaken Jones, but the animals quickly rebel against. Jones flees with his wife and men into town.

A young boar named Snowball takes control of Manor Farm, renaming it "Animal Farm" and putting down the Seven Commandments of "Animalism". Napoleon, a Berkshire boar, calls for a secret meeting in which he has Pincher, a farm dog, swear loyalty to him, and gets hold of Jessie's puppies to train up as he likes. The pigs secretly begin hoarding apples and milk for themselves.

Learning that Jones is now homeless, Pilkington leads an invasion into Animal Farm with some villagers and locals led by Frederick. Snowball has planned for this and the animals launch a counter-attack. The men flee. Pilkington considers working with the animals.

Snowball's plans to build a windmill to better the animals' lives are opposed by Napoleon, who summons Jessie's now-grown puppies to chase Snowball out of the farm. Napoleon decrees the pigs will decide the future, and the animals begin to build the windmill. Pilkington learns that the animals can speak English and that they can trade. Jessie tells that she saw the pigs living in the farmhouse and sleeping in the beds. Later that night at the Red Lion Inn, Pilkington laughs at how he's been taking advantage of Napoleon's inexperience, selling him cheap farm equipment.

Jones conspires with his wife to sabotage Animal Farm. Napoleon blames it on Snowball, pigs consume more food, blame Snowball for the food shortage and that the hens will have to surrender their eggs to the market. When the hens oppose, Napoleon makes feeding a hen punishable by death. Napoleon's assistant Squealer begins making propaganda films. It is revealed that the alcohol and killing commandments were altered into "no animal shall drink alcohol to excess" and "no animal shall kill another animal without cause".

During the rebuilding of the windmill, Boxer is injured. When the time comes for Boxer to be transported, Jessie and Benjamin, a wise donkey, suddenly realize that the van taking him away is from the glue factory. Napoleon is paid by Pilkington for selling Boxer to the glue factory. That night, Jessie watches as Pilkington and his wife dine with the pigs in the farmhouse. Napoleon reverts the farm's name to Manor Farm. While watching the meeting through the warped window, Jessie sees that Napoleon and Pilkington's faces have become so alike, she cannot tell the difference between them. Muriel the goat and Benjamin notice that the final commandment, "All animals are equal", has been extended to include "but some animals are more equal than others". Now seeing Napoleon and Squealer's evil nature, Jessie, Benjamin, Muriel, and some of the other animals escape, while Napoleon, now wearing human clothes and walking on two legs, enslaves the farm, falsely declaring all animals free.

Years later, the escapees return and investigate the remains of Manor Farm, having long collapsed following the end of Napoleon's reign of terror. They find Napoleon and Squealer are dead, having perished from their own dictation, though a few animals have survived the fall, including Jessie's puppies, who all recognize her as their mother. Later, Jessie finds that a new family has purchased the farm (though it is unknown what happened to Mr. Jones and his wife), and vows to help them avoid the mistakes of Jones and Napoleon.

Cast
The cast is as follows:
 * Pete Postlethwaite as Jones
 * Caroline Gray as Mrs. Jones
 * Alan Stanford as Pilkington
 * Gail Fitzpatrick as Mrs. Pilkington
 * Gerard Walsh as Mr. Frederick

Voices
The voice cast is:


 * Julia Ormond as Jessie
 * Kelsey Grammer as Snowball
 * Patrick Stewart as Napoleon
 * Ian Holm as Squealer
 * Paul Scofield as Boxer
 * Pete Postlethwaite as Benjamin
 * Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Mollie
 * Peter Ustinov as Old Major
 * Charles Dale as Moses, and as Pincher the Rottweiler
 * Jean Beith as Muriel the Saanen goat.

Production
Filming began on 25 August 1998 and ended on 6 November.

Animals were built to represent the titular characters of Animal Farm at Jim Henson's Creature Shop in London: four pigs (Old Major, Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer), a shire horse (Boxer), two mares (Mollie and an unnamed black horse that is implied to be Clover), a Border collie (Jessie), a rottweiler (Pincher), a donkey (Benjamin), a raven (Moses), a goat (Muriel), a flock of sheep, cows, a rat, chickens, ducks and pigeons.

Reception
The film won Best Special Effects and was nominated for best film in the 2000s Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award.

The film's director John Stephenson was nominated for Starboy Award in the 2000s Oulu International Children's and Youth Film Festival.