<em>Animal Farm </em>Is Not for Kids but They Made It a Kids’ Movie Anyway
The article humorously imagines a series of animated family films adapted from dystopian literary classics, inspired by a fictional children's version of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Written by Alexandra Petri, it satirizes Hollywood's tendency to sanitize dark source material for kids, complete with fart jokes and action sequences. Each proposed film, all supposedly directed by Andy Serkis, absurdly reimagines works like Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Orwell's Animal Farm as lighthearted, commercialized adventures.
- ▪The article is a satirical piece proposing absurd animated adaptations of dystopian literature for children.
- ▪Each fictional movie is attributed to director Andy Serkis and reimagines serious works as family-friendly comedies.
- ▪Examples include 'Andy Serkis’s The Metamorphosis' as a bug-themed adventure and 'Andy Serkis’s Lord of the Flies' as a 3D kids' island romp.
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HumorSome Other Fun Family Movies Like Animal FarmThere are many more animated children’s films to be made based on dystopian source material.By Alexandra PetriIllustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.May 1, 2026, 2:14 PM ET ShareSave Hurry! Get up on your two legs (good) or four legs (better) and walk down to your local cineplex, where George Orwell’s Animal Farm has been made into an animated family adventure that critics are describing as “geared to younger children for inexplicable reasons.” If you have ever wanted to see Animal Farm, but where Napoleon the pig keeps calling himself “Napopo” and the story concludes with a big climactic fight sequence on top of the All Animals Are Equal sign (picture dialogue like “Napoleon! What you did at the animal farm was wrong!”), you are in…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Atlantic.
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