Customer Reviews

The Trumpet of the Swan

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Trumpet of the Swan is obviously a film made for children, but one that adults can enjoy too...which is VERY important if your children are like mine and watch their new video DAILY for the first week! I must add that I think it's unfair to hold this movie up to Disney standards as some reviewers seem to be doing. This is NOT a Disney film, which costs about $10 more, and I find it is every bit as good or better than anything else in the childrens home video department.

I've never read the book, so I can't speak to how well it follows the original story (but does anything from Hollywood EVER follow the original book?) And I concede the animation does not meet the highest standards. (There's a pretty obvious flaw in Louie's big trumpet performance.)

But on to the positives...

While the animation isn't the best quality, the color is bright and beautiful! And the vocal talent is terrific! The cast of voices includes Jason Alexander (Father), Mary Steenburgen (Mother), Seth Green (Boyd), Reese Witherspoon (Serena), Carol Burnett and Joe Mantegna. Each actor injects life and personality into their character. I especially liked Mary Steenburgen's "mother" and Jason's "father" is very entertaining. My daughter thinks the camp leader who mumbles through the megaphone is funny--I found him annoying at first but I got the joke when I saw the campfire scene.

And as a music lover I must mention the film's music. Louie's "trumpet voice" is performed by Michael "Patches" Stewart, and the music score is by Marcus Miller. I find myself humming the tunes at work and my 3 year-old is already starting to sing along with the words!

Bottom line...small children will love Trumpet of the Swan!

My two children ages 3 and 4 love this movie. In fact, this is one that they routinely watch, rewind and watch again (when I let them). I have sat down and watched this movie several times over and still enjoy it.

This doesn't follow the original book very well. If you are someone that believes a movie has to follow the book word for word you will be dissapointed. However, if you can get past that, you will enjoy this book.

Louis a trumpeter swan is born unable to talk. He falls in love with Serena and can't court her. He goes to school and learns to read and spell and write. However, as other swans can't read it does him very little good. In the meantime his father gets a trumpet for him. Louis learns to talk through the trumpet and music.

This is a classic video. It is well done. I have read reviews for the dvd that say there is poor pictures and audio. This is not the case for the VHS tape we have at our house.

This movie is about relationships between parents and friends and husbands and wives. It is about music and love and more.

Well worth the money.
Enjoy.

It was with some hesitancy and fairly low expectations that I put Trumpet of the Swan into my VCR. The creators of former screenplays inspired by E. B. White's books have turned literary masterpieces into cinema that leaves the viewer unsatisfied at best and most likely thoroughly disgusted by the unhallowed cinematic treatment of White's literary brilliance. This attempt, however, left me pleasantly surprised. The changes in storyline are minimal and appropriate for moving this work from book to movie format. The animation is lighthearted yet aesthetically pleasing. The vocal talent, particularly of Jason Alexander, is impressive. In short, this is one video adults can thoroughly enjoy along with their children, especially if they have had the pleasure of reading White's book together prior to viewing it.

This was a very entertaining movie ... Both my 4 and 6 year old girls really enjoyed it. My 6 year old often gets scared during several parts of movies (particularly disney movies which typically have a villian) but did not get scared in this movie. I stayed awake the whole time too ;-).

The movie may not follow the book, but who cares! It was warm delightful and my three-year old actually watched the whole movie! The songs were wonderful. The animation was great! There aren't any really sad parts in the movie, and it remains light all the way through. I hate the trend in which some main character dies in kids animation, or some kid gets lost from their mother etc... Great movie for a Saturday evening with the kids. Very upbeat!

I purchased this DVD for my fourth grade class. We read the novel, and then watched the movie. The movie is loosely based on the book, and is awful. The animation looks cheap, and the swans all have weird halloween wig like hairstyles. The music is bad, despite having a good cast. I bought this movie after reading other reviews saying how terrible it was, and hope to save someone else disappointment. The positives were that the students enjoyed it, and it worked well for comparing and contrasting. Don't waste your money; rent it on Netflix.

My nephew is 2 and a half. He loves this movie. It is definitely one to have in your dvd library.

I'm a teacher and I love this movie! My preschoolers and kindergartners love it as well as my own 2nd grader! Its such a positive, uplifting movie... my kids watch it and learn that they can do anything... and differences can be your strengths! Its just a great story by a great author!! How can anything by the author of Charlottes Web be bad?

I just want to warn any people seeking the spanish audio version of this movie: the cover says that it has spanish audio, but it does NOT. You can read spanish subtitles, but there is no spanish audio. It isn't an option on the disk menu, and my dvd player cannot get it to play a spanish version either. I've had other people try it as well. No spanish audio!

The Trumpet of the Swan had a lesson in it. It doesn't matters how you are. It matters what is in your heart. Who cares what it is. But it is important that it is special. Some people think that loving is special. Everybody in my family love each other. We play with each other. And we can get along easier than we could with strangers. The trumpet of the swan was about communicating. Louie couldn't communicate with his friends so he used it in his heart. Sabrina was married to louie. But before they even got married there was a Swan named Boyd who wanted to get rid of Louie. But Louie saw a sign that said "Dangerous Currents ahead." Louie said "Too bad old boy never learned to read." and Boyd got crashed into a wall while flying. And they got married. The end. -Eleni (age 6)