Pierre et le Loup

Disney's version of the Sergei Prokofiev musical composition. Originally part of the movie Make Mine Music, this cartoon was released later on its own as a theatrical short. I saw it as a kid as part of a compilation video. It wasn't until I was grown up that I realized it was originally part of another movie. It's nicely animated with some likable characters and plenty of that old school Disney charm. The music is great. Sterling Holloway provides the narration. He possessed one of those distinctive voices that, once you hear it, you'll never forget. I won't cover the plot to the story as most people pretty much know the plot to Peter and the Wolf, right? So, give it a shot if you can find it on its own or, better yet, watch Make Mine Music and see it with many other fun cartoons.

Peter and the Wolf is an adaptation of the musical piece by soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev. The musical piece tells the story of a young boy's desire to hunt a wolf where in each instrument in the piece represents a character in the narrative (Peter-Strings, Wolf-French horns, Cat-clarinet,etc.) with the intention being to introduce children to the various musical instruments of the symphony. The short does a good job of syncing animation with the score and the timing of the animation is seamlessly integrating with the score bringing the score to life with vivid colors and fluid movement. It's a near perfect adaptation.

There are two downsides to the short however. The narration by Sterling Holloway is painfully tacked on and not only does it detract from the score, it also either a)describes things the audience can clearly see or b)provides pointless color commentary. Sterling Holloway is a great voice actor and his voice has given life to a number of great Disney characters and it's unfortunate that his voice is placed in the short. Another unfortunate shortfall that makes the short falter is a tacked on ending that changes an aspect of the original narrative despite there being no reason to do so. Without going into detail, it feels disingenuous and was clearly added after the fact since prior animated sequences make it clear it couldn't have happened.

Despite my problems with the short, it's still a well made short with some beautiful music and animation, I only wish its faults weren't so detracting.

I first saw this short when it was part of the compilation movie, Make Mine Music. It's an entertaining program telling the fairy tale of Russian boy Peter and his hunt for a raiding wolf, played to the very catchy and harmonic music of Sergei Prokofiev.

Winnie-the-Pooh voice actor Sterling Holloway does a nice job narrating, and the music fits in well with the excitement, intrigue, and adventures of the story.

Grade A

A Walt Disney Cartoon.

A brave Russian lad, with help from his animal friends, goes hunting the most fearsome beast in the forest.

Back in the 1930's the Disney Studios was visited by the Russian composer Sergey Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891-1953) who performed on an old piano his new composition of Peter and the Wolf (1936). Walt was immediately charmed and determined to make it eventually into a cartoon.

A decade later, the result was a fine little film. Although quite a departure from the original's purely aural medium utilizing the listener's imagination, PETER AND THE WOLF works well as a narrated (by Sterling Holloway) cartoon. The animation is excellent, the characters vivid, the streamlined plot straight to the point. An attempt is still made by the animators to keep true to Prokofiev's design of using this tale as a child's introduction to the instruments of the orchestra. But too much analysis becomes arcane. The cartoon does not supersede the orchestral work. It simply gives it a new interpretation.

PETER AND THE WOLF was originally a segment of Disney's compilation feature MAKE MINE MUSIC (1946), but it quickly proved popular enough to act as a standalone short subject.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.

Childhood. Wonderful mother who bought the LP for me plus Dr. Seuss books in the early 50s. Ben and Me and so many others.

Now I'm 68 and still watching this gem. Love the music (Peter theme has always been MY theme; I whistle it regularly). Like that Sonia survives. Always have felt bad for the wolf. Sterling Holloway is the best! Walt Disney: thanks. (I also watch Ichabod and Mr. Toad every Halloween!).

Confession: I just bought Disney "Alice in Wonderland" DVD simply to hear Sterling and Ed Wynn! Really.

Disney is defintely a major part of American folk history.

P.S. Special mention as another voice and fillm actor: Eric Blore (Mr. Toad). One of my heroes Blore is.