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Trumpet of the Swan, The
Columbia/Tri-Star // G // July 31, 2001
List Price: $24.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Life is tough for a trumpeter swan who can't find his voice... but for the resourceful Louie, nothing will stop him from somehow finding a way to trumpet his love for the beautiful swan Serena. Loosely based on E.B. White's classic children's book, this animated version of The Trumpet of the Swan is cute but not particularly substantial.
The animations for this feature-length children's film are fairly simple but energetic, with lively motion for the highly anthropomorphized animals and liberal use of bright colors for the backgrounds. Voice talent is provided by a handful of relatively well-known actors, including Jason Alexander (Seinfeld's George Costanza) as an amusing choice for the excessively eloquent father swan.
For some reason, it seems like makers of children's animated movies feel obligated to insert musical numbers, however out of place. The Trumpet of the Swan is not a musical per se, but several times the story grinds to a halt while the characters do an obligatory song-and-dance number. Especially since the songs aren't particularly outstanding, it really would have been better if they'd left them out entirely.
The film may be based on E.B. White's best-selling book, but the screenplay by Judy Rothman Rofé doesn't do justice to the original story. E.B. White's story is sweet and charming without being in the least sappy, and keeps the reader involved in Louie's adventures as he "finds his voice" and saves his father's honor. The movie adopts the major initial plot points, but then for some reason invents a largely different plot for the latter half of the movie. To be clear, I'm not talking about streamlining the story to accommodate the film's running time, but about the wholesale invention of a different (and inferior) ending. White's story is a classic and a favorite with parents and children alike, so I'm really not clear on why the filmmakers decided to "fix" something that was far from broken in the first place.
The revised storyline lacks much of the charm of the original, in fact. To begin with, two of the most important plot elements in the book are illogically reversed in sequence in the film. The second half of the movie feels rushed, with the competing storylines of Serena's wedding (invented for the movie) and Louie's music career making for a hurried pace that leaves some plot threads dangling.
Some of the changes in the original story affect not just the pacing, but the overall tone of the story as well. The general message of "accepting differences" is presented in a harsher manner: in the film, Louie is ostracized by the other swans because he cannot speak; similarly, Louie's human friend Sam endures teasing from another boy for his interest in birds. In contrast, the book is gentler in tone while conveying the same essential message about how Louie must deal with the pain of being different.
Lastly, Louie the swan is far more anthropomorphized in the film than in the book; while in the book he writes holding his chalk in his beak, and plays his trumpet by holding in one webbed foot, in the movie he picks up objects with his wings, which amazingly enough appear to end in prehensile, finger-like feathers. The swans are also depicted with neon-colored thatches of feathers on their heads (a different color for each one), and the cygnets hatch from their eggs with their adult plumage, not the realistic fuzzy gray that White describes in the book. Insignificant? Maybe. However, in my opinion one of the charms of the book is the contrast between the realism of the trumpeter swan and the cheerful absurdity of the swan going to school, learning to play the trumpet, and so on, not to mention the fact that the book actually provides a child-level insight into the lives of a beautiful species of wild creature.
Picture
TriStar deserves high marks for their excellent transfer of the film. The Trumpet of the Swan is presented in anamorphic widescreen, preserving the original 1.78:1 aspect ratio of the original. From surrealistic pinks and blues in the sky to dazzling orange in sunset-reflecting water, the bright colors of the film show up vibrantly in this transfer. The image is very clear and sharp. There's an occasional fleck from the print, but basically no noise. In short, it looks great.
Sound
The Trumpet of the Swan has Dolby 5.1 sound, but it doesn't use much more than the center channels. Voices, sound effects, and music come across clearly, but except for one or two moments in the film, there's hardly any use of surround sound at all.
Extras
There's not much on the special features front. Other than the usual trailers, there's a clunky "Can You Guess the Sound" game for the kids which looks to have limited entertainment value. A pan and scan version of the film is also included.
Final thoughts
Don't expect a faithful adaptation of the children's book from this movie. It's not bad for one afternoon's light entertainment for the kids (especially if you can pique their interest in the original book afterwards), but it doesn't have the substance or the charm to become a family favorite.
The animations for this feature-length children's film are fairly simple but energetic, with lively motion for the highly anthropomorphized animals and liberal use of bright colors for the backgrounds. Voice talent is provided by a handful of relatively well-known actors, including Jason Alexander (Seinfeld's George Costanza) as an amusing choice for the excessively eloquent father swan.
For some reason, it seems like makers of children's animated movies feel obligated to insert musical numbers, however out of place. The Trumpet of the Swan is not a musical per se, but several times the story grinds to a halt while the characters do an obligatory song-and-dance number. Especially since the songs aren't particularly outstanding, it really would have been better if they'd left them out entirely.
The film may be based on E.B. White's best-selling book, but the screenplay by Judy Rothman Rofé doesn't do justice to the original story. E.B. White's story is sweet and charming without being in the least sappy, and keeps the reader involved in Louie's adventures as he "finds his voice" and saves his father's honor. The movie adopts the major initial plot points, but then for some reason invents a largely different plot for the latter half of the movie. To be clear, I'm not talking about streamlining the story to accommodate the film's running time, but about the wholesale invention of a different (and inferior) ending. White's story is a classic and a favorite with parents and children alike, so I'm really not clear on why the filmmakers decided to "fix" something that was far from broken in the first place.
The revised storyline lacks much of the charm of the original, in fact. To begin with, two of the most important plot elements in the book are illogically reversed in sequence in the film. The second half of the movie feels rushed, with the competing storylines of Serena's wedding (invented for the movie) and Louie's music career making for a hurried pace that leaves some plot threads dangling.
Some of the changes in the original story affect not just the pacing, but the overall tone of the story as well. The general message of "accepting differences" is presented in a harsher manner: in the film, Louie is ostracized by the other swans because he cannot speak; similarly, Louie's human friend Sam endures teasing from another boy for his interest in birds. In contrast, the book is gentler in tone while conveying the same essential message about how Louie must deal with the pain of being different.
Lastly, Louie the swan is far more anthropomorphized in the film than in the book; while in the book he writes holding his chalk in his beak, and plays his trumpet by holding in one webbed foot, in the movie he picks up objects with his wings, which amazingly enough appear to end in prehensile, finger-like feathers. The swans are also depicted with neon-colored thatches of feathers on their heads (a different color for each one), and the cygnets hatch from their eggs with their adult plumage, not the realistic fuzzy gray that White describes in the book. Insignificant? Maybe. However, in my opinion one of the charms of the book is the contrast between the realism of the trumpeter swan and the cheerful absurdity of the swan going to school, learning to play the trumpet, and so on, not to mention the fact that the book actually provides a child-level insight into the lives of a beautiful species of wild creature.
Picture
TriStar deserves high marks for their excellent transfer of the film. The Trumpet of the Swan is presented in anamorphic widescreen, preserving the original 1.78:1 aspect ratio of the original. From surrealistic pinks and blues in the sky to dazzling orange in sunset-reflecting water, the bright colors of the film show up vibrantly in this transfer. The image is very clear and sharp. There's an occasional fleck from the print, but basically no noise. In short, it looks great.
Sound
The Trumpet of the Swan has Dolby 5.1 sound, but it doesn't use much more than the center channels. Voices, sound effects, and music come across clearly, but except for one or two moments in the film, there's hardly any use of surround sound at all.
Extras
There's not much on the special features front. Other than the usual trailers, there's a clunky "Can You Guess the Sound" game for the kids which looks to have limited entertainment value. A pan and scan version of the film is also included.
Final thoughts
Don't expect a faithful adaptation of the children's book from this movie. It's not bad for one afternoon's light entertainment for the kids (especially if you can pique their interest in the original book afterwards), but it doesn't have the substance or the charm to become a family favorite.
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