Andy Serkis Movie Based On 81-Year-Old Dystopian Book Debuts To Underwhelming RT Score

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Published Apr 23, 2026, 5:49 PM EDT

Abigail is an editor for ScreenRant, currently writing and editing movie news. You may also have seen her thoughts on animated television, musical theater, and fantasy literature in Paste Magazine, Fantasy Hive, or The Oxford Blue. She has also written SR lists and op-eds covering movies, TV, and books as well. She is an English major through and through, having graduated with a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and an MPhil from Oxford University.

The legendary Andy Serkis' latest directorial feature, despite being based on an immovable piece of literature, is shaping up to be a huge miss.

The Planet of the Apes actor started his directorial career with the likes of Breathe, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. He is also directing and starring in the highly anticipated The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, releasing in 2027, which, for the sake of Lord of the Rings fans, will hopefully be better than what his new movie looks to be.

Largely negative reviews are rolling in for Serkis' Animal Farm, an animated adaptation of George Orwell's 1945 novella of the same name. Animal Farm serves as an allegory for the Russian Revolution, exploring how a rebellion based on egalitarian ideals against a dictatorship may turn into its own brutal authoritarian regime. Yet reviews for the new movie confirm that it is a far cry from its lauded source material.

At the time of writing, Animal Farm has a dismal 36% on Rotten Tomatoes, from 11 critics' reviews so far. The consensus is that it completely misses the point of Animal Farm and doesn't do a great job of being a meaningful standalone movie, if not a faithful adaptation, with its cringeworthy humor and family-friendly plot mechanics, despite an impressive A-list cast.

In ScreenRant's Animal Farm review, Liz Declan says: "In place of a critique of authoritarianism and an exploration of how dictators rise to power, Animal Farm takes the laziest road possible to arrive at the declaration that absolute power corrupts absolutely. [...] Painfully on the nose, and, even more problematically, completely unearned. The movie hasn't actually demonstrated that point at all."

For AV Club, Jacob Oller argues that "Animal Farm's creative bankruptcy is summed up in a single song." This critic didn't even see the whole movie as worthy of a review, opening up the piece by stating: "Rather than review the entirety of director Andy Serkis’ family-friendly, fart-filled, allegorically confused take on Animal Farm, it might be more revealing to focus on the initial opening tell that this is a film devised solely to torture George Orwell's restless spirit."

The sequence in question depicts the animal protagonists revolting, driving out the humans from their farm, while the rap song "Break Down the Barn" plays, performed by Pigeon John. In the book, however, after the animals lead a successful revolution and rename the property "Animal Farm," the leaders adopt more human behaviors, purport themselves as "more equal than others," and bloodily enforce their rule.

Animal Farm's shockingly prestigious cast includes Seth Rogen, Woody Harrelson, Steve Buscemi, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Laverne Cox, and more. It could potentially still be profitable at the box office with this kind of star power and family-friendly appeal, but it has a major hurdle to overcome after this critical debut. Serkis himself is part of the voice cast as well as the director.

Animal Farm will release in theaters on May 1, 2026.