Les trois petits loups

Because "The Three Little Pigs" was such a popular short and garnered an Oscar, it's not surprising that Disney Studio would bring back the pigs for some sequels. One is "The Big Bad Wolf" and another is this film, "Three Little Wolves". And, like the prior sequel, it's a mash-up--combining two old stories into one. In this case it's "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" along with "The Three Little Pigs".

The short begins with not just the Big Bad Wolf but his three kids--who he's teaching how to capture pigs. As for the pigs, they are EXACTLY the same as in the previous shorts. In other words, the two stupid pigs are still quite stupid and seem to have learned nothing! This really annoyed me and had me wanting to see the wolves win! The two idiot pigs find a new game--yelling 'WOLF' just to watch their industrious brother come running. After a while, he gets sick of their games and, once again, I kept hoping the wolves would have a nice pork dinner. Unfortunately, this wasn't to be as the smart pig eventually arrives to save his awful brothers when they are captured by the hungry wolves. Well animated but the story is getting a bit thin.

This is the second sequel to the Silly Symphony short, The Three Little Pigs, bringing back the three animals and the notorious Big Bad Wolf for even more forest fun and thrills. This time, the wolf, joined by his three children, the Three Little Wolves, are out to get the two carefree pigs for dinner, who seem to have learned nothing from their past encounters with the predator.

There are a good share of thrills and excitement in this one, especially in the part where the wolves capture the two devil-may-care pigs and places them on a dinner dish. And, the pigs' brother, the Practical Pig, using his wolf-proof invention on the Big Bad Wolf yielded some hilarious, laugh-out-loud results.

It's also very nice to hear a reprise of the song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf."

Lots of laughs and fun. Great, entertaining one for the family.

Grade A

The title characters are the children of the Big Bad Wolf. They are taught by Dad how to carve up pigs for food. Meanwhile, two of the three little pigs fool around while the smart brother works hard. He is building an anti-wolf machine. The two lazy ones blow a warning horn, ala the boy who cried wolf. Of course, while they screw around, they are captured. They don't deserve the kind treatment they get from their brother.

The third Three Little Pigs cartoon short from Disney, following the Academy Award-winning Three Little Pigs and the enjoyable Big Bad Wolf. This one introduces the Wolf's three sons (the three little wolves of the title). They're kind of irritating but it is fun to watch them be brats to their father. Anyway, once again Practical Pig (the one who built the brick house in the first cartoon and warned his brothers about entering the woods in the second) is having to deal with his stupid brothers, Fifer and Fiddler. This time they're playing pranks on Practical and sounding the wolf alarm. He warns them about "crying wolf" and they just scoff. Of course, they live to regret this when the wolf and his sons show up. The animation is colorful and fluid. The voice work is great and the score by Frank Churchill is exciting. It's a fun cartoon; about as good as the second short in the series but not on the level of the first. Once again the highlight is the wolf in drag, this time as Little Bo Peep.

Big "Bad" Wolf, now speaking with a German accent for some reason, takes his kids out to hunt, opting to finally finish off the three little pigs while they still frolic campily. The sensible pig is even building an elaborate torture device to protect them from Wolfie. His brothers have been crying wolf as a joke and doesn't take them seriously when he turns up in actual sheep's clothing.

Again, as much as I'd like to see those little pigs get shoved in the oven and Wolfie and kids finally be fed it doesn't happen. The sensible wolf brings his torture device and gives 1930s cartoon-going kids the pleasure of seeing an animal go through excruciating pain just for being what he is.

A disturbing metaphor if there ever was one.