YMMV / Animal Farm (1999)

• Broken Aesop: The film falls into this due to Adaptational Karma. The original book is principally about the problem of the Full-Circle Revolution, and how any authority that places itself above the workers while taking the lion's share of their efforts is wrong, whether they identify as capitalist or communist. Humans, in the world of the book, embody the exploitative ruling class, and any attempt by the animals to emulate humans is treated as a sign of placing themselves above their kin. The book ends with the pigs becoming no different from humans, bullying and killing the other animals to make their money. However, the film decides to instead end with the farm being bought by another family of humans after the pig's organization collapses, and this is treated as a happy ending, because the new family will obviously run it much better than the pigs. So it turns out that an exploitative ruling class is perfectly fine, after all; just so long as it's a friendly exploitative ruling class. Indeed, considering that the farmer in the book was a clear metaphor for the Russian monarchy, apparently the movie is saying that the Soviet Union could have been fixed just fine if they'd reinstated the Tsars. Given when it was made, this may have been altered to reflect the fall of the USSR and capitalist Russian Federation supplanting it (along with the other post-Soviet states), which was viewed favorably by most at the time (after Putin became effective dictator, many people's views soured).
• Complete Monster: Napoleon was one of the leaders of the animal revolution on Manor Farm, only to reveal himself to be even worse than the humans he overthrew. Napoleon steals Jessie's newborn puppies and has them raised to be his servants. When he and his rival Snowball come into conflict about how to run the farm, Napoleon has Snowball chased out and steals his plan to build a windmill. Napoleon sets up pigs as the rulers of the farm and manipulates other animals into back-breaking labor and starvation with the help of his right-hand Squealer. Napoleon has the animal commandments changed so he and other pigs can trade with humans and enjoy their luxuries. When hens refuse to give up their eggs for trade, Napoleon has them starved and threatens death to any animal who attempts to feed them. Napoleon continues to spread propaganda and kill any animal that opposes him. When the horse Boxer overworks himself to build the windmill to the point of being unable to work anymore, Napoleon has him sent to the slaughterhouse.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: The film tried to update the ending to reflect the fall of the USSR by showing a new family buying the farm and the animals vowing to do things right this time. Given the actual history of the post-communist Russia, especially under Putin's reign, it's hard to look at this ending as anything but out of touch. And the animals are still going to be eaten. Not to mention that Jones wasn't presented any more sympathetically than the pigs were, and the original book is a critique of capitalism just as much as it is of communism. There is also the fact that Jones is clearly an allegory for the Tsar. This further makes the ending of the movie bizarre, as it gives it a strange pro-absolute monarchy bend. Of course, given the cyclical nature of tyranny at the core of the book, maybe that is the message.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The movie ends on a somewhat hopeful note that something better will rise from the ashes of Animal Farm, reflecting the cautious optimism widely held about post-Soviet Russia at the time. In the same year that the movie came out, Vladimir Putin became president of Russia and eventually led the country down the road to a new kind of belligerent authoritarianism.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the film, Patrick Stewart (Napoleon) and Kelsey Grammer (Snowball) are heated, ultimately fatal rivals fighting on the same side of a war for their oppressed species' right to survive. In X-Men: The Last Stand, their respective characters (Professor X and Beast) are in very similar circumstances, only in a far less acrimonious relationship.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Farmer Jones in this version. Sure, he has plenty of vices (alcoholism, cheating on his wife, etc.) in addition to carelessly choosing not to feed the animals and later blowing up their windmill. However, his demeanor is that of a pathetic Extreme Doormat who keeps getting bullied by everyone around him, from his wife to Pilkington, and that's before the animals revolt and kick him and his wife out of his own farm.
  • Farmer Jones' wife as well. She is kind of abrasive to Jones, making him a Henpecked Husband, but it seems like she had nothing to do with Jones' apathetic treatment of the animals. It was not at all her fault that she got kicked out of the farm, and left homeless, with him.
• Narm Charm: The Grateful Duck's song is oddly silly even though it's meant to be a brainwashing device but the way the duck sings and the lyrics (helped by the music) make it a deeply chilling moment. Not to mention that the backup singers are sheep who sing while frantically running around, creating a terrifying image of "sheeple" who need a dictator like Napoleon to calm them.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • While the majority of the animal characters were created through rather impressive animatronics, there were several, such as the rat, that were created through CGI that was incredibly poor even for the time.
  • Old Major ends up looking rather stiff and robotic, especially during his death scene.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The animatronics used to help portray the animals are quite impressive.
• Ugly Cute: Old Major. He is just as chubby as in the animated adaptation, with Eyes Always Shut, big, floppy ears that are constantly bouncing, and a little, wet snout.

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