Parents' Guide to Animal Farm

Transforming George Orwell's cautionary tale into a barnyard romp must have been a beast, and while this animated take isn't exactly a hog-wild time, it does get the pigs' pointed lesson across. To mitigate the more alarming elements of Animal Farm, sweet piglet Lucky is introduced to narrate the story from his point of view, showing how easy it is to be swept up into something sinister if you're the beneficiary. "Propaganda" is a big word, so in this child-friendly version of the tale, it reads more like obvious lies and gaslighting. Another clever addition is Carl (Jim Parsons), a sheep whose wool isn't pulled over his eyes, exemplifying what it's like to be a lone dissenting voice when you know that what's going on isn't right, but all of your friends think differently. And casting Rogen as the voice of a rising dictator is brilliant: His "fun guy you want to hang out with" personality becomes the threat no one sees coming, which in real life is too often the case.

It's important for kids to feel safe while also learning to ask questions and trust their instincts. Writer-director Andy Serkis appears to understand this and uses this comic version of Animal Farm to lay a foundation that will help kids understand the importance of critical thinking, leaving it to their caregivers to decide how much of a real-world conversation they want to follow up with. That said, even without any kind of reinforcement, kids will still likely absorb that people can't always be taken at their word, and we need to advocate for ourselves. Animal Farm isn't (and never has been) a laugh riot, but there's a lot here to support raising an independent thinker.