Peter and the Wolf

Peter and the Wolf (1995)

Sergei Prokofiev's symphonic masterpiece, first performed in Russia in 1936, has been lauded not only for the spectacular musical score, but also for the story itself--of a young boy who outwits a wily wolf. George Daugherty brings this timeless tale to modern audiences by seamlessly weaving live-action with animation and music by the RCA Symphony Orchestra. The story opens as a grandfather (Lloyd Bridges) hosts his daughter (Kirstie Alley) and grandson (Ross Malinger from Sleepless in Seattle) during a visit to his country cottage. After lunch, the trio settles in as grandfather recounts "The Story" of Peter's adventures with a bird, cat, and dizzy duck on the outskirts "of a very dark forest." The film morphs into a clever cartoon designed by the legendary Chuck Jones (of Wile E. Coyote fame). The "story within a story" leaps to life while the accompanying musical instruments also emerge as playful personalities.

Date of release
1995-12-08
TMDB
5.6 / 10 (14)
Runtime
46m
Genres
Family, Animation
Director
George Daugherty

Casting

Interesting facts

Peter and the Wolf is a 1995 live-action/animated television special based on the 1936 musical composition/fairy tale of the same name by Sergei Prokofiev, and directed by American conductor George Daugherty. It first aired Friday, December 8, 1995, on ABC in the United States. The music for this special was performed by the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daugherty.

Production

The initial development of the special can be traced back in 1992, when Chuck Jones and George Daugherty (who conducted Bugs Bunny on Broadway and composed several 90s Looney Tunes shorts) formed Impossible Productions, a studio based in Los Angeles, to create a special based on the Peter and the Wolf composition.

The final special was produced in association with Chuck Jones Enterprises, responsible for animation development and pre-production, and ITEL. IF/X Productions was responsible for the live-action and special effects production unit. The animation was produced at Cosgrove Hall Films. Daugherty said that "...

It's a story I always wanted to do. But I didn't do the animation for this one. I didn't direct it, either. Am I pleased? Well, I think it's very good. But I would have done it differently--every director has a different style.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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