Simply A Masterpiece

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Suzie Templeton's very soviet-looking "Peter & the Wolf" is one of the short films that won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film with the longest running time. It goes on for slightly over 30 minutes and features the tale and music from Sergei Prokofiev famous 1936 composition. Apart from the music, the one thing I really liked about it was the way the snowy landscapes and animals were animated. The fat feisty cat was interesting to watch throughout and the wolf, who does not appear until halfway in, was depicted perfectly as a wild beast, just the way he should be. What I did not like at all was the way Peter, the central character, was animated. He basically spotted the whole annoyed face expression for half an hour and even the animals had more movement in their face expressions depending on the situation. It was pity of course as he was in every scene and the most crucial character of all. This is what lowered the film from "pretty good" to "merely okay" for me.The story is pretty okay and makes for a good watch, but it is also clearly elevated by the ending. I recommend this one, especially to animation lovers, mainly because of the interactions between all the animals involved. I certainly also makes a good watch for children as it's pretty much puppet theater put on screen.

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.

I heard about this film on the news, from director Suzie Templeton, from Hedge End, Southampton, Hampshire, England (which I know very well) won the Oscar for Best Short Animated Film, and deservedly so. It is a film based on the piece of music by Sergei Prokofiev, so like Fantasia, a story is added with the music to guide. Basically Peter is the young boy locked out the woods by his protective grandfather, and his only friend is a duck, he is bullied in town. Peter manages to steal the gate keys from his sleeping grandfather and enters the woods with the duck, and an ill-flying bird. They have a little fun on the frozen lake, with the grandfather's cat joining them. Soon though they encounter a wolf, and when it eats the duck, Peter wants to get revenge and capture the wolf with a near netting. He succeeds, and his grandfather sees it too, but in the end, when taking the caged animal into town, Peter can't let the wolf be either put in a stage show, or killed by hunters, he just lets it go. The stop-motion animation, particularly for the ginger cat and wolf, is extraordinary. Templeton apparently spent a year making this half hour film, and she deservedly won the Oscar for Best Short Animated Film (also nominated the BAFTA), a great triumph. Very good!

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.