Peter & the Wolf (2007)

the audience applauded

So much average

Fresh and Exciting

A Masterpiece!

I recently caught the PBS showing of this Oscar winning short and was engrossed by the terrific stop motion puppet animation. It is among the finest animation I've seen and shows animators are still using many of the old techniques (non computerized) to good use.Not only was the animation first rate, but I felt it offered a perfect accompaniment to Sergei Prokofiev's composition. I have fond memories listening to Peter and the Wolf as a child on my parent's record player. This adaptation provides a wonderful visual for the story that I only could imagine as a youth. I also found the additional filmmaker's comments on how this project came together insightful. I have very minor qualms with this production as I have tried to reconcile my imagination of how the story should look with the creative vision of the directors of this film. Overall, it is a fine piece of work and was well deserving of its acclaim.

This film earned the Oscar it got. Some very excellent traditional stop motion animation, combined with modern editing techniques.The story is placed in a more modern world and given some new twists. A modern but deteriorating Russia set against an almost primal wilderness. The main character, Peter, has lost his Disney-like cuteness. And that's a good thing! He's a more streetwise but daydreaming Peter. Tough but lonely. The animation on the characters is simply superb. They even animated the fur of the wolf and cat!Go see this animation as well as Dog, another one of Suzie Templeton's great little shorts.

Peter lives in the countryside with his oppressive and restrictive grandfather. He is unwelcome in the town and his only friend appears to be his duck. Playing outside on the ice one day, Peter's grandfather takes and locks him in the house – leaving the duck unprotected when a wolf comes. Witnessing the death of his friend in the jaws of the wolf, Peter sets out to get instant revenge with a deadly and dangerous plan.In this updating of the famous story, we find ourselves in a modern (yet also ancient) setting that feels like it is Eastern Europe. The story is well delivered and is a good mix of issues regarding the young boy Peter and the variety of emotions he goes through across the film. Although it is short it is engaging and interesting and I found all of it to be easy to watch and enjoyable. The plot is easy to follow but will provide food for thought for older pre-teens. Animation wise the film looks great. Some viewers will bemoan the washed out and depressed look of the film but for me this was a strength as it allows the touching moments of happiness to stand out more but more importantly gives the whole thing a nice edge that I thought worked and drew me in.It also suits the character of Peter as here he is dead eyed and worn down but yet with sparks still in him. It is an interesting character and one that the silent "script" brings out well. Of course this is more to do with the skill of the animators as they bring out so much with the stop motion figures. It does lack the smoothness that modern child audiences will be used to but it is better for it, suiting the rough, bleak feel of the film and, despite what I said about not being "smooth", it looks great throughout. The music is good as well, matching the mood of any individual scene and shifting well when required – as another reviewer commented, it is a good way of getting children into this type of music.Overall then an engaging and enjoyable animated take on a famous story. It has a great bleak atmosphere and a strong story and central character. Shown over Christmas 2006, it proved to be a welcome break from mass produced cartoons with simple cloying messages and is worth seeing if you get the chance.

I saw Peter & the Wolf at its world premier in the Royal Albert Hall, accompanied by the Philharmonia orchestra. That's an electric experience that will be hard to duplicate… But it certainly won't detract from watching the film in future. Is it a re-imagining of P&TW, a reinterpretation, or a modernisation? Actually, it's all three. Peter's stamping ground is visualised in a depressed, cold and windswept forest somewhere in Eastern Europe; it's hard to tell if it's pre or post Soviet economic bloc. It could be any time, and that is the first great achievement of the film. Peter is a wan, pale and sullen young boy, garbed in hoody and dirty trousers, a stroppy kid, the type who lives down the road – yet his surroundings are timeless. It raises the themes of conflict between rural and urban, youth and age and cruelty and compassion with great dexterity. It's an adaptation that speaks both to the past and the present, which is no mean feat.The plot is well-known and well-worn: the down-trodden Peter escapes the confines of grim homestead and taciturn, unsentimental grand-pappy with his pet duck and a bird with a broken wing (supported by a balloon, in a very nice touch) to go playing in the unbounded, frosty woods. Until the wolf creeps in. After suffering a great loss at the wolf's paws, Peter must rise to the occasion and capture the beast, who is much stronger and more ferocious than Peter is, but less clever… A rites of passage tale and an introduction to the orchestra for children, this version is actually quite gruelling in some respects. Impoverished and inhospitable, Peter's home life is plausibly miserable, and also easy to relate to: his run-ins with better clothed-and-fed peers and ugly hunters convey beautifully the threat of bullies and ignorant adults. Sharp and clever, but morose, Peter is a compelling hero, and the coda with him standing triumphant and grown, will provoke cheering and a quickened heartbeat.The stop-motion animation is far less slick than that seen in Wallace and Gromit, but extends a naturalistic, un-burnished and at times almost ghoulish appeal. The slightly jerky movements, warped faces and grimy sets combine to create a world at once familiar yet also deformed, blighted by neglect and insensitivity. The animation also works amazingly well with the music, the movements of people and animals alike assuming the beats, leaps and whirls of the instruments. I guess you could call this a true musical, because while the characters may not leap into spontaneous song and dance, the music actually speaks for them. I'm not much of a music critic, nor do I know Sergei Prokofiev's piece (or any of his music, for that matter) at all well, but I still loved the soundtrack. It did sound modern, and had obviously adapted and moulded to fit the film with small nuances and flourishes, but I'm sure Prokofiev would have approved.Considering the applause the film got, I'm certain no one else minded either.