Customer Reviews

Peter and the Wolf

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

"Peter And The Wolf" (2008)
Technically stunning, and thematically dark, this amazing adaptation of Sergei Prokoviev's classic children's piece, features marvelous stop-motion animation from director Suzie Templeton.

The film places "Peter" squarely back into its Russian origins, but rather than an idealized rural-agrarian past, it places the story in a more modern setting, amid glum, drab, rundown shacks and tattered forests, a grim vision of a Soviet-era or post-Soviet Eastern Europe, complete with gun-toting thugs (the hunters of the original story here seem more like cold-hearted militiamen) and the nearby village appears as a rundown, dismal cinderblock outpost. Amid this crushing gloom, Peter finds wonder and joy, unlocking a secret garden where he and his friends the bird and the duck (both crippled and unable to fly) are able to play and forget the bleakness around them.

While this may sound a bit miserable, the film itself is a marvel: the amount of work that went into this film is amazing, with Templeton devoting a full five years of her life to completing the piece. Equally engrossing are the added special features, including a making-of video and interview with Templeton and her cohorts that gives a sense of the sheer scope of their project, and the level of detail that went into this production. While the film itself may be a bit dark for smaller children, it will enthrall older kids and adults alike... This is a real class act, a film worth having and viewing for years to come. Recommended! (Joe Sixpack, Slipcue film reviews)

Suzie Templeton may be little known outside of the world of stop motion animation circles, but she is an incredible talent with a penchant for dark, thoughtful and sometimes twisted short subjects. With Peter and the Wolf she delves more into the mainstream and handles her biggest project to date.

Templeton has weaved together an international co-production between studios in Britain and Poland, using stop motion animation and digital effects to create a modern retelling of the Sergei Prokofiev musical.

There are plenty of reviews of the movie itself, but the amazon.com description does not include information about the plethora of extras on this new Region 1 DVD. Included are:

The musical themes
The story in pictures
The making of Peter & the Wolf
Behind the scenes documentary
Audio commentary
Educational workshop

If you are worried about buying an $18 DVD for just a 32 minute feature, you can rest assured you are getting much more than that.

Just watched on PBS. This film is stunning to look at, tells an amazing story. Incredible articulation of the characters. Reminds me of vintage russian animations (if you've ever seen "Masters of Russian Animation" it's the same feel.) An instant classic. Can't wait for my copy!

For a young boy, unhappiness can be a natural state. Peter and his aged grandfather live in a scrabbly old farmhouse on the edge of a forbidding Russian forest. The grandfather has built a wooden fence around the dirt yard and forbids Peter to go into the forest, where dangerous things lurk, like wolves. Peter hates this. All Peter has for a friend is a scruffy, long-necked duck. When he goes into town two hunters bully him. Still, Peter is a good kid. He helps a bird with an injured wing fly again with the help of a balloon. He sneaks out and plays on the iced pond, skittering and sliding and joined by the duck. He accepts his grandfather's fat, fat cat as a creature perhaps not to like, but not to hurt. Peter even manages to catch the dangerous, hungry and mangy wolf in his net. Peter stops his grandfather from shooting the wolf. When he and his grandfather take it to town, Peter is a hero. But it's not to last. Those hunters show up to taunt and bully the wolf. Peter stops them with his net. Then, Peter...and at this point you need to see this stop-action animation short film.

The director, Suzie Templeton, changes some of Sergei Prokofiev's storyline, as well as ditching all the narrative. There's no dialogue, just the music and silence. She gives a conclusion that is unexpected, brave and touching. This is particularly so when we figure out that there are lessons to be learned, especially since there are bullies in this world, and good friends can die. Cats eat birds, wolves eat ducks, bullies hurt any they want who are weaker than they.

This new look at Prokofiev's symphony for children runs less than 30 minutes. Over the years, the narrative, in my opinion, had become a boring old aunt who stays too long when she visits. There doesn't seem to have been a celebrity who hasn't wanted to prove his or her love for the kiddies, score some publicity and make a few bucks by doing the narrative. We're talking everyone from Arthur Godfrey to John Gielgud, Boris Karloff to Paul Hogan, Sean Connery to Mia Farrow, George Raft to William Buckley. That's just starters. Without the narrative, and with Templeton's visual style, we wind up concentrating on the story. That means we wind up concentrating on this kid who starts out unhappy and who winds up teaching us all a thing or two.

The extras are worth watching, including the discussion of the development of the film by the director and how the stop-action animation stuff was worked. And, of course, you'll learn which musical instruments go with which characters. This Peter and the Wolf won the 2008 Academy Award for Animated Short Film. It's a thoughtful, delightful film.

This version of "Peter" is the best I've ever seen. The purpose behind teaching "Peter" in an elementary music setting is to introduce theme and variation as well as the instruments of the orchestra. I've always been so frustrated by the versions of this which have a narrator. Who needs a narrator when you already have a visual for students to watch? The narrators always take away from students' ability to listen to the music. In this version, no narrator exists leaving the story to the music and the beautiful stop motion animation. My students are better able to focus on the music (the themes and instruments) and vocally duplicate them after I use this DVD to enhance my unit plan on "Peter and the Wolf." It makes me want to hug the director. -K. Adams

This unique stop-motion version of the classical musical tale was justly awarded the Academy Award for best animated short in 2007. With its detailed models and wonderful animation, this is truly an enchanting version of how the young Peter makes a name for himself by capturing a mean and hungry wolf. Prokofiev's classic score is handled in high style here and is a treat for the ear. There are also delightful characters throughout ranging of the balloon-riding bird to the sly cat. The wolf is especially forbidding and adds a real sense of menace missing in some versions. Many folks familiar with this classic will be caught off-guard by the surprise ending, which teaches a rather touching lesson. For fans of the stop-motion technique, this is definitely a must-have flick!

I've been teaching kids about the score to Peter and the Wolf for many, many years. Until now it had a slightly comical edge to it. This little movie puts a wonderful new slant on the story. No longer is Peter the carefree little ratbag who gleefully catches a wolf and then blithely marches him off to the zoo. Peter is more closely related to my more interesting students - gentle, unsure of himself, frustrated with being a powerless boy and ready to make some big decisions.

The movie has its comical moments, and the animation is charming, but the brilliant way the story creates a multi-faceted tale means the music moves to an entirely different level for young viewers. They won't just understand the story, they will understand the feelings the music conveys. This brings the music not only to very young students, but to music students of any age. If you are looking for something that students can get their teeth into instead of just a one-dimensional fairy story, this is the flick for you!

Downside: as observed in some one star reviews, this version scrimps on Prokofiev's music, which is odd, because the music is so ingenious, characterful, humorous, and charming. The rest is all upside: each of those adjectives also applies to the visual and story-book aspects of this Suzie Templeton version of Peter and the Wolf - and even if the fates of the duck and the wolf come out a little differently I couldn't bring myself to become Upset about it - but just enjoyed the "alternate ending". This movie made me laugh, but adults need to step back and try to view a little movie such as this from a child's perspective. Suzie Templeton has created an entertainment and a narrative that is deep and involving for a child. It stimulates their creativity, and involves them emotionally. It sensitively deals with a reality that is hopefully more brutal than what most of our children are experiencing, and shows a child overcoming adversity. Its only a million times better to have your child watch this than "Power Rangers" and occasionally children do need to take a few minutes break from videogames. If you think Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Henson's Mirrormask are great (although made with very different techniques), then you will probably also like Peter and the Wolf. Children's movies that are good for their little sould are too few and far between. On the musical side, I suggest you find the Alec Guinness - narrated CD with the Boston Pops, but there are many fine versions.

My testimonial: I have no connection WHATSOEVER in ANYWAY to this product other than as a consumer.

Some complaints, like the low rating ones here and others I've read elsewhere, hinged on the notion that because this version of "Peter and the Wolf" does not follow the original story line, it is therefore less worthy, and to this I say...

For whatever reason the original was made, this stop motion animation is superb, a masterpiece in its own right. Do we care what the original purpose or reason for the atom bomb was?--No, as we now use nuclear power in many different ways than the original purpose. Does it matter that we do not build our modern home like the original mud and stone design?--No, we created new versions of mud buildings. The original version of this story exists and for those who cannot appreciate different expressions of the original, then please stick with the original--but don't knock this one down. This modern version of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" is a beautiful piece, pain stakingly done--no one, despite their preference for whichever version of the story would deny this fact, so give credit where credit is due.

The accurate review for this version of "Peter and the Wolf" would be: This piece contains the most beautiful stop motion animation work I have ever seen; the story line is not the same as the original but the stop motion craftsmanship is extraordinarily fine and I love it for that; the focus of this version is more on the animated art form with Prokovief's music in the background. As you watch the animation you get mesmerized by the claymation artists' skills: the expressions are fluidly delivered full with emotional meanings in all the characters. Making a piece of clay tell you he is hurt, sad, angry, happy, etc., without using words takes exceptional skills--I was in awe, because I couldn't believe the life that came from those clay figures--and all done without words. This skill-set and the beautiful music created a universal film able to reach into everyone's mind and heart without the barrier of language. This is the beauty in this piece of work that the die-hard-original-version lovers missed or ignored. As an adult I love this short film (I wish it was longer)--the kids I saw it with ages 5 and 13 were fine with the content. They were not scared as in scary; they felt its realism--no different than a realistic Nature film. (I can't speak in this regard for all kids so you have to figure that out for yourself. This version is a lovingly well made film and the quality reflects the extra ordinary skills of all the artists involved in making this artistic expression of a story. I am looking for the dvd with the extra or extended behind the scene version as I hold on to my friend's copy of this dvd, so I am not yet a "verified buyer," just a verified viewer.

Amazon has a separate listing for the DVD with extras (as of today, it's only $2 more). I'm ordering that now -- it was my mistake for ordering the first one I saw and not reading carefully.

Beware, too, that this re-worked story line is darker than the original. I suggest you watch it before sharing it with young kids. I agree with the comments a few other have made about the initial encounter with the hunter -- it seemed unnecessary, as does Grandfather locking Peter in the yard.

The music's excellent, if not exactly what Prokofiev wrote, and performed beautifully.