Britain's first animated feature, which, despite the title and Disney-esque animal animation, is in fact a no-holds-barred adaptation of George Orwell's classic satire on Stalinism, with the animals taking over their farm by means of a revolutionary coup, but then discovering that although all animals are supposed to be equal, some are more equal than others...

Plot Summary for Animal Farm (1999) (TV)

A satire of Stalinist Russia, Animal Farm tells of the revolt of the animals of Manor Farm against their human masters. Led by the pigs Snowball (Lenin) and Napoleon (Stalin), the animals attempt to create a utopian society. Soon, however, Napoleon gets a taste for power, drives out Snowball, and establishes a totalitarian regime as brutal and corrupt as any human society. Manor Farm becomes a world where all animals are equal--but some are more equal than others.

A direct allegory to the rise of Stalinist Russia, this film combines Orwells parable with animatronics and voice characterizations by popular actors. Following a speech made by a enerable pig named Old Major (Lenin), the animals of Manor Farm form their own philosophy of Animalism (Communism), and lead a successful revolution orchestrated primarily by the pig Snowball (Trotsky) who tries to implement Old Majors ideas to the letter.

Snowballs idealism does not save him when he is exiled by a more ambitious pig named Napoleon (Stalin) who seizes power over the farm, and proceeds to reshape Old Majors ideas to his own liking, and bringing the animals into a darker existence than they had ever dreamed