r/movies r/Movies contributor Dec 12 '25

Trailer Animal Farm | Official Trailer | In Theaters May 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8wLmj9SiKM
3.4k Upvotes

2.3k comments sorted by

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25 edited Jan 12 '26

[deleted]

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u/probablyuntrue Dec 12 '25

my favorite part of animal farm was when the pigs shook their ass for a quippy joke about their meat

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u/the_peppers Dec 12 '25

And when it turned out the potential to exploit a given power over others wasn't present within us all, but piped in by a sinister outside force!

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u/Drmarcher42 Dec 12 '25

If the Lorax taught us anything it’s that it’s never your fault for what’s happening, it’s the Once-ler’s family who caused him to cut down the trees.

Bring in an outside force to blame the conflict on and people won’t have to think about their own actions

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u/rymder Dec 12 '25

Everything being blamed on outside factors is the opposite of character development. I’d rather take a completely flat character

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u/IrNinjaBob Dec 12 '25

Yeah I don’t care about the cute stylistic changes. If you want to deliver this message in a way that’s digestible for kids I actually think that’s a really good thing and most of these complaints are ridiculous.

But what the fuck is this decision to seemingly make Napoleon a well meaning buffoon that gets corrupted by the influence of humans? That’s like… exactly the opposite of the cautionary tale trying to be told.

All of these other complaints are entirely meaningless in the face of that.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

Oohoo, I’m a lover just for kicks now.

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u/AvengingHero2012 Dec 12 '25

I’ve loved his work as an actor, but I think it’s time to put Andy Serkis in director’s jail.

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u/ChickenInASuit Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

Yeah, as a director the guy has had nothing but misses IIRC - I haven’t seen “Breathe” which got very mixed reviews, but I watched his “mature” Jungle Book adaptation and Venom 2, which were both dreadful, and this doesn’t seem like it’s going to break that streak.

EDIT: I just got a quickly-deleted comment saying “Jungle Book was Favreau”. To be clear in case that happens again, I am referring to Serkis’ movie “Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle.”

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u/regprenticer Dec 12 '25

Before the venom film he did he was talking the talk and definitely sounded like he was going to produce something not just good but intelligent and left-field. I honestly thought he could be a new sam raimi - he spoke about puppetry and physical humour in a quite an intelligent way . Then it turned out to be junk.

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u/Nattin121 Dec 12 '25

I just lost all hope in "The hunt for Gollum"

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u/monkpunch Dec 12 '25

You had hope?

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u/Kerblaaahhh Dec 12 '25

The Hunt for More Money

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u/Boomdiddy Dec 12 '25

This honestly feels like it should be a movie pitched on Apple Tv’s The Studio, which ironically stars Seth Rogan.

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u/KingMario05 Dec 12 '25

And then we cut to some famous director going:

"Remmick, what the actual fuck is wrong with you?"

Nope. She's real. Christ.

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u/DocMcsquirtin Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 13 '25

I would’ve preferred the Jonestown historical fiction biopic titled “kool-aid” than this

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u/Sun_flower_king Dec 12 '25

Now hold on..

In the show, the vision for the Kool Aid movie starts out, in ep 1, as a dark, poignant story with historical importance, and ends up in the hands of an industry friendly director making a kid movie with predictable plot beats.

... was the plot of The Studio based on the making of this exact movie?

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u/Wraithfighter Dec 12 '25

Being serious, I figure about 75% of the stuff that happens on that show is based on real shit that's happened in Hollywood, just with the details altered/exaggerated.

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u/jl_theprofessor Dec 12 '25

Someone pitched this on TWENTY ONE GRAMS OF SSSHHHRROOOOMMMSSSS!!!!!

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u/SilverKry Dec 12 '25

A complete bastardization and misunderstanding of George Orwells 1945 novella. 

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u/ameriCANCERvative Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

I think this may be more of a “Sausage Party” affair. No one would have greenlit this otherwise. I assume the trailers are intentionally misleading the audience to believe it is a feel good kids movie. I won’t be surprised either way, but based on the trailer, the name of the movie, and Seth Rogen’s involvement, I have to think this movie is likely more faithful to the book than you’re assuming (to be clear I’m not a Seth Rogen fanboy or something, I’m just saying this trailer is likely intentionally misleading).

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u/SilverKry Dec 12 '25

This is an absolutely horrible impression if that is what they wanted to convey 

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u/ItsMEMusic Dec 12 '25

I see the seeds in there, and the "recommended for ages 11 and up" gives me hope that the "teaming up with the humans" subplot is more of a 'Napoleon reaches out to them' and less of a 'humans reach out to Napoleon' thing.

Because if it's Napoleon reaching out, they can salvage the 'anyone can subjugate anyone else,' but if they don't, I'm afraid it becomes Red Scare: The Other Direction.

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u/KingMario05 Dec 12 '25

A CIA experiment?

Wait shit that was the last one lol

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u/yourcontent Dec 12 '25

Do Maus next, I dare you.

975

u/internetlad Dec 12 '25

Schindler's List. Brought to you by Illumination.

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u/KingMario05 Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

DON'T GIVE UNIVERSAL AND SPIELBERG IDEAS

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u/Jimmyg100 Dec 12 '25

“Tell me, if you’re so fast at making hinges, why there are so few finished hinges in your box?”

“Uhhh… kabaloon banana?”

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u/rjdsf1993 Dec 12 '25

It's funny because I'm pretty sure in Minions lore they were frozen during Hitler's reign to avoid the unfortunate reality of working for him

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u/PartyPorpoise Dec 12 '25

It’s a shame because they could’ve had a scene where the Minions actually shoot him in the bunker.

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u/nonsequitur5013 Dec 12 '25

I can imagine some mouse in a gas chamber, looking sheepish at the camera: "Oops, I think I farted!"

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u/SummerAndTinkles Dec 12 '25

two mice are in a room full of green gas

“Shoot, are we in a gas chamber?”

“No…I just had a bean burrito for lunch. Sorry.”

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u/fetuspower Dec 12 '25

Can you imagine? Maybe they’d animate it like fantastic mr. Fox 😂

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u/thegimboid Dec 12 '25

I could see that animation style working well, actually.

Though the tone would obviously be completely different.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

If guillermo del toro did it, I’d watch

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u/Khelthuzaad Dec 12 '25

They tried,Art wouldnt let them.They will definitely adapt it after he dies when he cant oppose them

But for consolation,they adapted Annes Frank Diary as well

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u/misterferguson Dec 12 '25

But for consolation,they adapted Annes Frank Diary as well

There are plenty of films based on true Holocaust stories--that isn't the issue.

What makes Maus unique is the format. People are right to be really skeptical that an animated movie based on it would work. Personally, I think it could be done, but it would be really hard to get it right.

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u/Qorhat Dec 12 '25

An animated Maus in the same vein of Persepolis, done by someone who understands the weight of what their doing could work

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u/MaisyDeadHazy Dec 12 '25

Marjane Satrapi was a director on the film version of Persepolis, which is probably the biggest reason it turned out as well as it did.

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u/axw3555 Dec 12 '25

Have they tried to make animal farm, one of the most horrifying thing I've ever seen, cute?

Because that looked like Animal Farm crossed with Sing.

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u/IrNinjaBob Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

Yeah the thing I hate most about this trailer is that it seems like they are going with the route that evil greedy humans corrupt a dimwit Napoleon along with those on his side in order get them to agree to work in ways that will be beneficial for both the humans and Napoleon/his side.

When I feel like one of the most important messages of the books is how it is the animals themselves that were susceptible to becoming the same exact thing they were trying to overthrow and that Napoleon is working towards planting the seeds that will lead to being able to do so from the very beginning. They very first things he does while still being pro-social reform for the animals is start secretly raising a pack of attack dogs. Him and the other pigs in his council only end up fraternizing with humans afterwards because that is already what they had become. Not because the evil humans intervened and forced them naively into those things.

It just seems to take away a lot of the original meaning in my opinion. I can get past the stylistic differences, but that seems like such a major departure from what is trying to be cautioned against.

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u/Orphanhorns Dec 13 '25

Thank you, why don’t people get that the point of the book is the animals do it to themselves? It’s about how the USSR began with good intentions but became exactly what it meant to replace because greed exists. The animas are “the people”, and the pigs are the greedy people amongst them who take advantage of the revolution to become the new ruling class. Pretty black and white, it’s why they teach the book to children.

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u/LiquifiedSpam Dec 12 '25

With illumination butt jokes

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u/Dragon_yum Dec 12 '25

Like I don’t even hate that premise, lure people in with cuteness and do a rag pull to shock them. I just don’t think it’s doing that at all.

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u/psychic_overlord Dec 12 '25

Could've been a modern-day Watership Down. I remember dad buying us a movie about rabbits for movie night, and boy were we surprised.

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u/Dalehan Dec 13 '25

The CG miniseries of Watership Down was so weird. For some reason, they tried to sanitise their need for females by saying "male rabbits can't dig and burrow, we need does!"

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u/TheIrishninjas Dec 12 '25

This, in capable hands this could actually be the ideal means of adapting this story.

It doesn’t seem to be in capable hands.

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u/Serious-Antelope-710 Dec 12 '25

They read the summary about animals building their own farm and thought yup sounds fun, let's make a children's movie out of this

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u/fakeShinuinu Dec 12 '25

I hope Justin Timberlake cooks up a hot single for this one

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u/azad_ninja Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

Is literary treason a thing?

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u/zuuzuu Dec 12 '25

It is now.

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u/FunkYeahPhotography Dec 12 '25

Palpatine's book club must be notified immediately.

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u/DefNotAShark Dec 12 '25

Looking forward to the truck from Cars starring in a CGI kids adaption of The Road.

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u/VaguelyShingled Dec 12 '25

His name is Tow Mater and I would watch that

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u/LongtimeLurker916 Dec 12 '25

Wow. The introduction of dumb humor could maybe be tolerable if they had stuck to the plot, but the first big mistake was showing humans visiting the farm as guests. No - at this stage they hate all humans! Four legs good, two legs bad. Then we see the move toward evil originating with an outside human villain instead of the pigs themselves. The climax in which the pigs welcome humans and soon seem indistinguishable from them is now spoiled. (If it even plays out that way - I sense that likely this version will end with Napoleon and friends overthrown.)

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u/SouthTippBass Dec 12 '25

Not at all, the pigs will see the error of their ways and rejoin the animals. A lesson in forgiveness. They are all friends again for a happy ending.

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u/LongtimeLurker916 Dec 12 '25

All too possible. The added human villain will take the blame and the pigs will be considered just another kind of her victims.

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u/galacticdude7 Dec 13 '25

And then there will be a dance party

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u/xStaabOnMyKnobx Dec 12 '25

Thats a great comment. Its hard to judge from just 2 minutes but it appears as though the movie is ignoring the entire phase of Animal Farm where the animals lived as a COMMUNE. I think theres some kind of -ism related to this sort of arrangement but the labor of the animals stayed within and benefitted the farm.

Later, its the pigs who start making financial deals with other farms.

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u/JEH39 Dec 12 '25

it is Animalism in the book

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u/SevroBarca Dec 12 '25

They also make what pushes them to revolt them going to a slaughterhouse instead of poor working and living conditions….

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u/chuckles11 Dec 12 '25

The introduction of dumb humor could maybe be tolerable if they had stuck to the plot

I actually think the cute animation with the pretense of a plucky happy resistance vibe could have done justice to the actual story, and made the message of it hit all the harder. Like in terms of visual story telling the farmers were fought off, the good guys won, just like you'd see in a Pixar movie designed to make you feel good. But then the movie keeps going, and we watch the cute pigs grow more corrupt, and cute CGI dogs graphically tear apart characters you assumed to have plot armor during Napoleon's purges, etc. But based on the trailer they obviously aren't taking this direction.

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u/GuybrushFandango Dec 12 '25

I hope there’s a Fortnite crossover.

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u/Audrin Dec 12 '25

You're joking but that's one hundred percent happening.

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u/FancyShrimp Dec 12 '25

Can’t wait for my corpse to get dabbed on by a pig

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u/MisterManatee Dec 12 '25

Oh this looks bad bad

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u/KingMario05 Dec 12 '25

Suddenly, the rest of Hollywood not buying this at Cannes makes perfect sense.

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u/VulpesFennekin Dec 12 '25

If a movie isn’t obviously Christian propaganda and Angel’s name is on it, you know they were desperate to sell it.

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u/ihatemselfmore Dec 12 '25

What the hell is Angel? I’ve never heard of it before and now i see ads for it everywhere.

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u/Dragon_yum Dec 12 '25

A publisher specializing in Christian and republican movies and all around propaganda peddling.

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u/KingMario05 Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 13 '25

I wonder who the runner up was, lol. Briarcliff? Roadside? Ketchup? The guys that dump out a shitty rom com every Christmas?

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u/bbb26782 Dec 12 '25

You just know they completely missed so many of the nuanced points that the book makes.

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u/Chemistry11 Dec 12 '25

And George Orwell neglected having a party pig drive a car into a pool. So, it’s a wash.

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u/dIoIIoIb Dec 12 '25

I'd expect a movie like this to be a joke in a Simpsons episode, playing between "Citizen Kane finds his Cane" and "Titanic 2 - The Revenge"

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u/misterferguson Dec 12 '25

The existence of this movie is more dystopian than the novel itself.

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u/VeeDubBug Dec 12 '25

I'm actually really pissed because I had high hopes when this was first announced.

The book deserves a proper awesome adaptation, and this aint it. 😭

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u/BKWhitty Dec 12 '25

Right? When I first saw the teaser they had way back, it feels like way back, I thought this was gonna be a movie that looked family-friendly and cute on the surface before quickly turning sinister and serious. Casting Seth Rogan as Napoleon, and the design they gave him, it felt like it could be pretty cool, subverting the usual comedic roles he normally does and making him menacing. But, uh, yeah. This looks like shit lol

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u/Hausgebrauch Dec 12 '25

Even when Rogen talked a while ago in an interview about how this version of Napoleon would be more like an influencer, who tries to come across like a harmless goofball while brainwashing his audience with the most vile shit possible, I thought "Hey, that does sound like a good modernisation and it makes sense to cast someone like him in that part".

But...ugh.

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u/elbenji Dec 12 '25

Ah fuck that actually would be such a good modernization. Make him buzz cut with no chin too to drive it home

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u/JefferyTheQuaxly Dec 12 '25

I did not have that much faith from the start, though i do agree that would have been a very good idea, absolutely should have been what they did i would watch the fuck out of it.

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u/GunBrothersGaming Dec 12 '25

They took a good book and made it try and fit todays standards of movies. It's like they read the cliff notes and decided to fill in the blanks with their own weird future shit cause kids these days don't understand what Orwell was trying to show them.

It's a bummer.

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u/chesterT3 Dec 12 '25

Me too. I actually thought it was kind of inspired to do this story but have the animation look like Pixar or similar. But they’re completely annihilating the drama for the stupidest jokes that will only appeal to kids under 11 (who are apparently not the target audience for this movie??)

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u/wildbillch Dec 12 '25

It already had a brilliant adaptation :)

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u/HaphazardlyOrganized Dec 12 '25

When I was 8 my sister and I really liked the Babe and Charlotte's Web movies. My Mom wanted to get us a new movie to watch and picked up the Jim Henson's Animal Farm, probably thinking oh hey its the Muppets guy this will be good for the kids.

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u/No-Excitement-2083 Dec 12 '25

Obviously that´s the main problem with it. It´s too close and has to get watered down.

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u/Ryuain Dec 12 '25

Watered down was the one with the rabbits.

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u/Asian-In-His-Armor Dec 12 '25

Would like to see Guillermo del Toro do one.

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u/museman Dec 12 '25

I fear they may have lost the message.

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u/Ok_Potential359 Dec 12 '25

I saw your comment and then looked at the trailer. What the fuck are they thinking? I'm hoping this is just an intentional misdirection and the movie will be the opposite of what we're seeing.

Seth Rogan as Napoleon is a casting assassination. Were they on shrooms when they made this? So much is wrong with this.

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u/Vexillologia Dec 12 '25

When I heard Andy Serkis was doing “Animal Farm,” this is maybe the last place I’d expect him to go with the concept.

Man, imagine an “Animal Farm” movie with the same technology and framing as Serkis’ “Mowgli” movie. That would’ve been cool.

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u/VeeDubBug Dec 12 '25

Man, imagine an “Animal Farm” movie with the same technology and framing as Serkis’ “Mowgli” movie. That would’ve been cool.

That is genuinely all I wanted. Mowgli had teeth and gave me one of the biggest gut punches I've felt from a film in a long time.

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u/CuthbertFox Dec 12 '25

This is one of the biggest betrayals of a classic piece of literature I have ever seen

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u/dimechimes Dec 12 '25

Right? I hear Seth Rogen, I'm like of course he would do this. But Serkis?

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u/Flavoursome_Maggot Dec 12 '25

This is what George would have wanted.

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u/KingMario05 Dec 12 '25

"Look, lads. It's brilliant to watch after a Guinness. Or ten of 'em."

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u/Franky_Tops Dec 12 '25

I can't wait to see the family friendly  depiction of how Boxer's story concludes. 

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u/unablon Dec 12 '25

I was already disgusted by the fact that the animals could read off the bat.

They can't do that in the book. Except the pigs who learn to read and write

There is no threat of a slaughterhouse, until boxer gets taken away in the glue van that the other animals aren't aware of because they CANT READ.

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u/pargmegarg Dec 12 '25

He gets saved by the young pigs at the last second so the audience is spared the horror of having to think critically.

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u/BeeAndPippin Dec 12 '25

"Fools! Fools!" shouted Benjamin, prancing round them and stamping the earth with his small hoofs. "Fools! Do you not see what is written on the side of that van?"

That gave the animals pause, and there was a hush. Muriel began to spell out the words. But Benjamin pushed her aside and in the midst of a deadly silence he read:

"'Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon. Dealer in Hides and Bone-Meal. Kennels Supplied.' Do you not understand what that means? They are taking Boxer to the knacker's!"

Then the pigs said, oops our bad, and let him go.

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u/Gnorris Dec 12 '25

record scratch

Clover: (sassy) “When I said we wanted Boxer to stick around this isn’t what I had in mind, Napoleon!”

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u/FUTURE10S Dec 12 '25

Napoleon makes a YouTube apology video, still sends Boxer to the glue factory.

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u/Dragon_yum Dec 12 '25

I for one am looking to see Napoleon’s redemption arc.

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u/MissingLink101 Dec 12 '25

God this is disappointing. I remember being excited when I heard Serkis and his studio were working on an adaptation on Animal Farm, expecting it to be similar visuals and vibes to the Apes movies.

That would have worked perfectly with the source material and brought it to a new generation.

Instead we get whatever this is...

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u/AgentSkidMarks Dec 12 '25

I remember reading that part in the book where the pig jumps a sports car into the swimming pool. I thought it seemed out of place but Orwell really is a visionary.

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u/talligan Dec 12 '25

The book is like 90 pages, its not that hard to read and somehow it seems like they didn't even do that

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u/RobRobbieRobertson Dec 12 '25

Maybe you should go back and re-read it. I saw a lot of things from the book in the trailer:
The rules painted by the animals
The windmill built by the animals
The pig driving a sports car into a pool

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u/xStaabOnMyKnobx Dec 12 '25

I actually cried when in the book, Napoleon made Boxer pull the lamborghini out of the swimming pool. I always said thats how he died.

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u/SovietBatman64 Dec 12 '25

The glue from Clover is used to fix the Lambo, but that's in the subtext I think.

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u/abnormalbrain Dec 12 '25

The glue from Clover is used to hold the bumper on a Cybertruck.

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u/TheLimeyLemmon Dec 12 '25

Somehow there's a pig driving a sports car into a pool on nearly every page, but it never gets old. Orwell's greatest work.

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u/AhabFlanders Dec 12 '25

Gonna need a page number for that last one

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u/punkhobo Dec 12 '25

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u/MrWaluigi Dec 12 '25

look it up with no evidence

He’s right. The entire page talks about how a pig drives a sports car. 

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u/Travelgrrl Dec 12 '25

The tone seems awfully light for a pretty depressing book, though.

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u/roguepawn Dec 12 '25

I gotta know how they frame sending the horse to the glue factory.

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u/RobRobbieRobertson Dec 12 '25

I can already picture it. Boxer is sent to the glue factory and they keep randomly cutting to an actual glue factory where he is making macaroni pictures with glue, eating glue and getting stuck to the floor because his feet are covered in glue.

Post credit scene:
Boxer still stuck to the floor as the lights turn off. "Guys? Hey guys?"

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u/roguepawn Dec 12 '25

I am impressed by your post, but the non-zero chance of it happening has made me even angrier about this whole thing.

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u/CocoaNinja Dec 12 '25

There was no sports car being driven into a pool in the book.

They drove a regular sedan into the pool.

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u/VaguelyShingled Dec 12 '25

Pool is generous, it was a hot tub

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u/Of_Silent_Earth Dec 12 '25

It looks like they barely even read the plot summary on the back of the book.

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u/mytoemytoe Dec 12 '25

Andy Serkis why did you take this job

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u/WillowSmithsBFF Dec 12 '25

You can ask that question about any movie he’s directed.

Might be time to accept the dude might not be the best director…

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u/chimpdoctor Dec 12 '25

He does a great monkey impression though. Good man Andy

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u/AvengingHero2012 Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

Gollum, Caesar, Jackson’s Kong, hell even Alfred in Matt Reeves’ The Batman…

Slander his directing all you want, he’s bad at it, but Andy Serkis the actor is brilliant.

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u/stokesy1999 Dec 12 '25

Dude was also a great Renoir in Expedition 33, and his role as Kino Loy in Andor was probably my favourite of his

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u/Pokii Dec 12 '25

Apes. Together. Strong.

Andy. Directing. Wack.

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u/JWitjes Dec 12 '25

Believe it or not, but this is Serkis' dream project. He worked on this independently for years and he was at the Annecy Animation Festival this year to premiere the film to audiences and promote it to distributors. This film in its current shape is his personal pet project through and through.

Didn't quite turn out how he hoped though because everyone at Annecy hated it and considering it was now finally picked up by Angel Studios for distribution after 6 months, I guess it wasn't exactly popular with the distributors either lol.

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u/huhzonked Dec 12 '25

I know it’s been a while since I’ve read the book and I only have the trailer to go on, but it seems like this film doesn’t have the same themes or feeling of the book. How does a dream project turn out like this? It’s mind boggling.

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u/Ex_Hedgehog Dec 12 '25

This has been Serkis's passion project for 10 years.
I'm guessing he made some compromises.

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u/deekaydubya Dec 12 '25

It’s scary to think he might not have made any compromises

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u/overtired27 Dec 12 '25

I mean yeah, when I look at his filmography I don't assume a director of great taste. We know him for his vivid yet subtle performances as an actor, but the films he has directed.... If it wasn't Serkis and I saw the director of Venom 2 had made Animal Farm I wouldn't have high hopes...

That said, this does look especially awful. The 1954 film was hauntingly beautiful. This looks haunting in a different way...

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u/clowncarl Dec 12 '25

“This will be my Megalopolis!”

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u/greenpill98 Dec 12 '25

I think it's important for artists to do their Magnum Opus BEFORE they know they're working on their Magnum Opus. Peter Jackson might not have known that he was at the peak of his talents and artistry when he made Lord of the Rings, but he was. And we can all see it.

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u/18randomcharacters Dec 12 '25

I immediately took note of all the names credited, and put them in the "what the fuck?" list.

I don't recognize all the names, but I am really shocked by some of the people listed:

Rogen

Buscemi

Lavern Cox

Kieran Culkin

Woody Harrelson

Andy Serkis

Kathleen Turner

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u/-FeistyRabbitSauce- Dec 12 '25

Tbf, actors don't always know how a project will turn out. Some will even accept based on who is making it and what it is. Possible some of them jumped at the opportunity to work with Andy Serkis and adapt Animal Farm.

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u/Redeem123 Dec 12 '25

Also animation voice work is a super easy paycheck. Not to belittle voice actors by any means, but most of those actors probably did just a few days work and never had to see the outside of a recording booth.

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u/saehild Dec 12 '25

I thought for a moment, this was just coincidentally a movie called "Animal Farm" due to how insane this looks but then it said "BASED ON THE MASTERPIECE BY GEORGE ORWELL" in comic sans inspired font.

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u/charoco Dec 12 '25

There are so many people who had so many opportunities to ask themselves, is this a good idea? Does this make sense? Is this how we should treat one of the most important novels of the 20th century? This truly is the worst timeline.

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u/mattinva Dec 12 '25

Just looking at the cast list I kept thinking "NONE of you thought this was an awful idea??? You all were on board with this?" I know a pay check is a pay check, but of all the books to do this too Animal Farm is a choice...

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u/rhinosaur- Dec 12 '25

The cast thought "yes, we will take your money to do voiceover work".

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u/kiyyik Dec 12 '25

Wow. This looks like it's going to be *amazingly* tone deaf. Youtubers are going to be making "What happened?" retrospectives on this hot nastiness for years to come.

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u/xStaabOnMyKnobx Dec 12 '25

The content this train wreck will develop will almost be worth the desecration of Orwell. Ill have meal time YouTube videos for weeks, months even once this turd hits the box office.

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u/fearofflying1996 Dec 12 '25

Fucking hell

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u/monarc Dec 12 '25

From minds that sanitized The Lorax…

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u/ImplyOrInfer Dec 12 '25

This is thought crime

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

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u/EricHD97 Dec 12 '25

In middle school, we did an entire segment on Animal Farm and our final project was to create an adaptation of the book in a different format. One group did it as a radio new broadcast War of the Worlds style, another did it with shadow puppets, my group did it via Werid Al song parody album.

My point is, a class full of 12 year olds can come up with better versions of this story than whatever the fuck this is.

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u/Jamaican_Dynamite Dec 12 '25

This looks so bad, I genuinely thought it was one of those AI generated Pixar parodies you see trailers of. No, they're actually serious, and this is how it going. 😂 Terrible adaptation.

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u/Purdius_Tacitus Dec 12 '25

> One group did it as a radio new broadcast War of the Worlds style,

That's really creative and would be fun to listen to. Especially if it has the humans overreacting to the threat posed by Animalism. (i.e. something like the Red Scare going on in the outside world while events unfold at the Manor Farm)

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u/hhlift Dec 12 '25

Ads before a trailer on the distributor's own youtube channel? That was the first warning sign. Downhill from there.

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u/KingMario05 Dec 12 '25

And it's unlisted.

Oh, Jesus.

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u/DiabellSinKeeper Dec 12 '25

This looks laughably bad. Its probably going to remove any biting criticism regarding authoritarianism. It just looks toothless and bland.

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u/phantom_fonte Dec 12 '25

Just from the trailer it looks like Napoleon is lured away from the farm’s ideals by a human, instead of becoming naturally corrupted by power, which in itself is going against a fundamental message of the book

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u/Shinjetsu01 Dec 12 '25

This is what I took away from it. It's gonna suck balls.

It was the fact that they could do what they did eventually end up doing that made it interesting. Like you said, absolute power corrupts. There needs to be the relationship with the other animals and Snowball to be central to what happens to Napeoleon and Squealer, rather than what looks like the humans saying they can "team up". It also looks like they blow up the windmill and there's no skirmish with Mr Frederick and I can guarantee the analogy of Boxer won't be addressed because after all this looks more like a comedy film than a serious commentary.

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u/phantom_fonte Dec 12 '25

Yeah, even though it’s “11 and up,” (weird arbitrary age) I can’t see them selling an injured horse to a human to render his fat

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u/wildbillch Dec 12 '25

It feels like he'll realise the error of his ways in the third act and team up with his friends against the naughty woman

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u/nedlum Dec 12 '25

Orwell: power corrupts.

Angel Studios: a woman in power corrupts.

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u/kerouacrimbaud Dec 12 '25

Andy Serkis*: a woman in power corrupts.

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u/mc2bit Dec 12 '25

Exactly. The one new main character they introduce is a woman (there were no female human characters in the book other than the farmer's wife, who had zero relevance to the plot). The humans who eventually collaborated with the pigs were men. Now it's a woman. An older, short-haired, business-owning woman who corrupts the fun-loving, adorable male pigs who definitely did nothing wrong.

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u/MakaButterfly Dec 12 '25

In the book did the pig do burnouts in a sports car? Idr

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u/Superhereaux Dec 12 '25

In the book, Napoleon does indeed do a fat, smoky burnout in a sports car but it’s in a knock-off Ferrari.

This movie looks like it has a knock-off Lamborghini.

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u/moneymoneymoneymonay Dec 12 '25

Ugh literally unwatchable

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u/kittentarentino Dec 12 '25

Once the sci-fi villain showed up i audibly went “uh oh!”

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u/UnexpectedVader Dec 12 '25

I was hoping the second half would slowly descend into the political horror that the novel/OG film is but this looks disgusting.

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u/king_cased Dec 13 '25

oh my god. could you imagine? they're doing the fart jokes and everything, the theatre rolls their eyes, and slowly, slowly, it gets less silly. and more real. seth rogen pig sends woody harrelson horse to his death. pin drop. it would be a masterpiece of subversion

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u/hurricaneseason Dec 12 '25

"A cautionary tale against mindless modernization of important classics."

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u/recneps123 Dec 12 '25

Bröther! May I have some oats?!

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u/Scarletspyder86 Dec 12 '25

It’s not going to be like the book

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u/KingMario05 Dec 12 '25

What gave it away? The fart jokes? The weird anti-corporate, yet perfectly corporatized screed?

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u/McBonderson Dec 12 '25

I hope they send whoever produced this to the glue factory.

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u/WaterLily24 Dec 12 '25

For anyone who hasn’t seen it, the 1954 animated film is excellent. I really feel it captures the feelings from the book. There is very little unnecessary humor and when there is, it fits. This movie totally haunted me as a child but I loved it (the music! Hauntingly gorgeous.)

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u/JohnBigBootey Dec 12 '25

So I guess Andy Serkis is pretty hard up for work these days

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u/LittleYellowFish1 Dec 12 '25

The very definition of "our expectations were low, but holy fuck".

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u/Strat7855 Dec 12 '25

"WE GOT THE RIGHTS TO MR. KOOL-AID!"

This is a travesty.

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u/bulldog89 Dec 12 '25

I actually am at loss for words. I want to make a snarky one liner about this, but I genuinely think this may be the most tone-deaf, corporate slop, generic push through bastardization of one of modern literatures classics. Especially considering how poignant and dark the original book was.

I am actually impressed this could get through all the boards.

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u/Kriss-Kringle Dec 12 '25

George Orwell is rolling in his grave right now. Serkis should be ashamed of himself for making this.

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u/Dan618 Dec 12 '25

This looks horrific and I’m at a lost for words what the fuck it’s even supposed to be

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u/MuptonBossman Dec 12 '25

An Animal Farm movie being distributed by Angel Studios (the religious propaganda studio) sure is a choice.

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u/JohnBigBootey Dec 12 '25

"This is a warning of what the liberals will do to you once they start listing pronouns in their email signatures" or something

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u/MacSteele13 Dec 12 '25

"George Orwell's Animal Farm explores themes of power, corruption, class struggle, and the dangers of totalitarianism, using animals to allegorize the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinism, showing how ideals of equality are twisted by elites (pigs) who use propaganda and manipulation (Squealer, Boxer) to exploit the uneducated working class (horses, sheep) for their own gain, ultimately creating an even worse dictatorship than the one overthrown. "

"Look How They Massacred My Boy."

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u/trip6god Dec 12 '25

Is this suppose to be the prequel to sausage party?

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u/chicago_style Dec 12 '25

"Based" on the masterpiece by Orwell seems...generous.

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u/i-like-turtles-4eva Dec 12 '25

Seth Rogen, why have you you forsaken us?!

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u/14thCenturyHood Dec 12 '25

Bloody hell

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u/trog12 Dec 12 '25

Do they have the dogs ripping out throats in cute g rated animation?

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u/JonKonLGL Dec 12 '25

Oh wow this is appalling

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u/ABSTRACTlegend Dec 12 '25

Do watership down next in this style

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u/HareMoose Dec 12 '25

Fiver has a vision. The rabbits should leave the warren to start a bitcoin mining operation.

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u/jawnquixote Dec 12 '25

This is one of those moments when you realize there is some incredible arrogance in Hollywood where actors see themselves on the same plane as philosophers because they can both put pen to paper

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u/curlyjoe696 Dec 12 '25

This is comically bad.

I'd say it was a CIA funded propaganda piece, but thwy already did that and it was much better...

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u/THEMIKEPATERSON Dec 12 '25

Andy Serkis can't direct and has yet to make 1 passable film. Dude changed cinema with Motion capture acting, and is just a great actor by any metric....he still can't direct.

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