Pierino e il Lupo

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.

This short film was released in the full-length Disney film "Make Mine Music"--a very, very uneven collection of short films with musical themes. I assume that because so many of the shorts in this film were just awful, that's why Disney later released several of the better shorts as stand-alone shorts. Heck, until I recently saw "Make Mine Music", I always thought that "Peter and the Wolf" was a stand-alone short, as that's how I saw it as a kid.

The film begins with Sterling Holloway (the voice of Winnie the Pooh) narrating. First, he explains how each character in the story is represented by different musical instruments and then he narrates the story itself as the animation is presented. For the most part, it's great for kids who can tolerate classical and neo-classical music---others might be a bit bored. However, the animation is nice and there is a sweet charm to the story.

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.

This is definitely an underrated short movie, that I haven't seen around for ages. Though when I was a kid, I was absolutely terrified of the wolf, and his music, provided by three french horns. My younger sister is still terrified of this movie, and she still refuses to see it. What makes it memorable, is the music by Prokoviev. I loved it how he used a different instrument for each character, such as the flute for the bird and the clarinet for the cat. Actually, contrary to another review, I liked Sterling Holloway's narration. Sure it got a little distracting, but it is a kids movie, and Peter and the Wolf is one of those works where a narrator is obligatory. The animation is spot on, but it is easy to get frightened by the wolf. All in all, a memorable and underrated musical memory. Before I round off, I once had the video where it had two other shorts, the land of symphony and Isle of Jazz short and the one with Mickey Mouse conducting the orchestra. I'm just wondering if I'm the only one who remembers them. 9/10 Bethany Cox

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