Peter & the Wolf

MAGNOLIA
Street: Dec. 9
Prebook: Nov. 11
> Highly stylized, animated film of Sergei Prokofiev’s musical fairy tale.

Sergei Prokofiev’s musical fable is strikingly re-imagined in a short film that combines traditional stop-motion animation with current CGI technology. The story will be familiar to adults: Peter is a lonely boy who comes to grips with his fears in order to defeat the wolf that threatens him. Set against the backdrop of a stark Eastern European landscape, this version boasts an imaginative design. The animation is on par with the likes of Wallace & Gromit, and Peter & the Wolf will admirably introduce younger viewers to Prokofiev’s haunting music.

Shelf Talk: Perhaps the most lavishly feted cinematic version of this oft-filmed fable, Suzie Templeton’s Peter won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. It also snagged the Annecy International Animated Film Festival’s Grand Prix as well as a special audience award, and it picked up a British Animation Award. Magnolia is justifiably proud of this release and is supporting it with national print, radio, online and publicity campaigns. Although the fable itself runs barely a half-hour, Magnolia has fleshed out the disc with bonus features that cumulatively are twice that long.