The 1930s and '40s saw a number of dystopian classics like "1984," "Atlas Shrugged," "Brave New World" and "Animal Farm" that warned of a world where freedom was in short supply.
With "Animal Farm," a satire of the Russian Revolution, Orwell was trying to warn the world about the dangers of communism.
In the modern film's trailer, a pig sparks an animal rebellion when she asks the other animals headed for a slaughterhouse, "Do you want to be food, or do you want freedom?"
They choose freedom. But as the farm descends into authoritarian corruption, the animals begin to justify adopting the very things they initially rebelled against.
Their "all animals are equal" commandment, for example, goes on to include, "but some are more equal than others."
Considering that, podcaster Matt Walsh found it especially ironic—and probably not coincidental—that this reimagined adaptation was released on May Day (May 1), a holiday widely considered communism's equivalent to the Fourth of July.
"They've taken this masterpiece of literature, which was supposed to be a warning about communism, and they've turned it into this slapstick, kid-friendly, 'Zootopia' type of thing with pop music," Walsh relayed in his review.
He said the film, which opened in the No. 6 spot at the box office, has a lot of woke tells, including a nod to critical race theory.
"They've completely removed the core message, the point about communism," he summarized. "They've invented a new villain who is, of course, a rich, white capitalist."
He gives the animated adaptation two thumbs down.
"We've seen many attempts at adaptations that have failed spectacularly, but I don't think we've ever seen one that is quite this off, even just tonally," Walsh said.
In his opinion, the director, Andy Serkis, turned Orwell's novel into a "cartoon trainwreck."
