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.
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.