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Animals

Play trailer 1:00 Poster for Animals R Oct 2026 1h 46m Mystery & Thriller Crime Drama Action Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
30% Tomatometer 81 Reviews 36% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
When their son is kidnapped, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife find themselves drawn into a web of deception. As they scramble to raise the ransom payment, they're forced to make choices that could tear their world apart.
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Animals

Animals

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Audience Says

Despite all the makings of an enticing story, including a compelling Kerry Washington, Animals’ weak writing prevents it from reaching its full potential.

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Critics Reviews

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Randy Myers San Jose Mercury News Oct 15, 2026
2/4
Animals is indeed a curious beast, a familiar thriller that poorly cribs from the classic Kurosawa film “High and Low” and feels stuck in its larval stage. Go to Full Review
John Nugent Empire Magazine Oct 15, 2026
3/5
A mixed bag. It’s far from Affleck’s best work, but there are glimmers of his muscularity and sharpness, as both filmmaker and actor. Go to Full Review
Ryan Lattanzio IndieWire Oct 10, 2026
C-
For every piece of drone footage sweeping across LA, every shot that carves out about two feet of space between actors with no sizzle, I kept wishing for more Gillian Anderson, more Gillian Anderson, please. Go to Full Review
Maxance Vincent Cosmic Circus 1 day ago
1.5/5
How the mighty have fallen... Go to Full Review
Michael Medved The Michael Medved Show 2 days ago
2/4
An acclaimed filmmaker and star wasting his gifts on an often painfully plotting potboiler that only intermittently grabs your attention. Go to Full Review
Andrew Auger Pop Culture Leftovers 5 days ago
Animals is a truly shocking misfire. Affleck’s skills as a filmmaker have been proven time and time again, so I genuinely have no idea how this happened. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Aobhna B @RT55682221 5 hrs ago I actually liked it. The acting was great. It was slightly predictable at times but overall worth a watch. See more Deeban Ratneswaran . @Deeban_Ratneswaran 10 hrs ago It's a powerful, emotional film about what it means to have a child. It handles, with real care, the nuances of how priorities shift when a child is or isn't yours. It makes you consider how you'd act in the same moral scenario. The emotional entanglements change how you see family: what matters and what doesn't, and how your work fits into it all. It shows how those feelings change when something serious happens, and how quickly everything you were chasing stops meaning anything. I think that's why it's called Animals: when some life event hits, the image and ambition all fall away until you're left with something primal. Anyone who has had to balance those things - work, family, life issues - will feel it. I think most critics missed the mark because they don't understand that dynamic. I had mixed feelings at the end about the characters involved, but not every protagonist needs to be good. Gillian Anderson's character deserved better; Ben's could have grown to be better. See more Troy Babs T @troybabs 17 hrs ago A real, serious stinker. Bad writing. Bad acting. And novice cinematography. Everything about this film is amateur. See more Vin B @VinBak123 1 day ago Cool movie. See more Taiqan T @RT76430839 1 day ago Unrealistic movie based on a James Hadley Chase book I read 50 years ago. A detour to the original book was inserted when the psychologist wife has an affair because she is struggling with the marriage. She gets caught and says sorry and they live happily ever after. Firstly, no woman will apologise for an affair just after being caught like that and secondly, no man will forgive a betrayal like that. You would think a female wrote this unrealistic crap from all the Mills and Boons novels they read over the years but nah, it's 3 men, one of them Affleck who wrote the screenplay. See more marcial M @RT91657116 1 day ago Lame . Worst movie by Affleck.totally unbelievable. Can't get back 2 wasted hours of my life See more Read all reviews
Animals

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Movie Info

Synopsis When their son is kidnapped, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife find themselves drawn into a web of deception. As they scramble to raise the ransom payment, they're forced to make choices that could tear their world apart.
Director
Ben Affleck
Producer
Brad Weston, Collin Creighton, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Dani Bernfeld, Luciana Damon
Screenwriter
Connor O. McIntyre, Billy Ray, Ben Affleck
Distributor
Netflix
Production Co
Artists Equity, Fifth Season
Rating
R
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama, Action
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 9, 2026, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 9, 2026
Runtime
1h 46m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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