Review of Wilde Stories

Introduction

In total contrast to the normal type of animation offered to the younger audience this is a series of gently told tales that some viewers may remember from their own childhood. The three tales are The Selfish Giant, The Nightingale and the Rose and `The Devoted Friend`.

The Selfish Giant

This familiar tale is told very simply as the children who are happily playing in the beautiful garden are thrown out by the return of the selfish giant he doesn`t want to share his flowers with anyone. But when winter comes it wraps itself around his stony heart and decides to stay. Although the spring comes all around him, his garden is the playground of frost, snow and the north wind. It is only the happy circumstance of the children finding a way in that brings a new spring.

The Nightingale and the Rose

A young student is in love and will do anything to get the professor`s daughter to dance with him at the Prince`s ball. She wants a red rose and the nightingale, devoted to the student who makes the ultimate sacrifice to attain the rose.

The Devoted Friend

Two neighbours offer two sides of the coin of friendship. Liam works hard and is used by his `friend` the miller who abuses his friendship. Only the miller`s son Michael sees the true worth of Liam. One night Michael falls ill and Liam is asked to go out in the storm to fetch the Doctor.


Wilde wrote these stories for his own children. Each tale looks at aspects of love and how it can be twisted to serve the means of individuals. On the surface they are simple tales but the core is bitter and it is easy to see the author in these stories.

Video

With different directors all the stories have an individual appearance.
The framing tales are live action that has been drawn over to give a distinctive appearance.

The Selfish Giant

The style is very modern with the director getting her inspiration from modern urban life.

The Nightingale and the Rose

The director takes his inspiration from art deco producing a stained glass look inspired by the paintings of Gustav Klimt

The Devoted Friend

Again the director changes the style with a black and white appearance with the colour limited to key characters -he wanted it to look like `film noir` itself influenced by German Expressionism. It is a very dark tale and will appeal more to adults than certainly younger children.

Audio

The stories benefit from a melodic soundtrack composed especially for the films by Debbie Wiseman. Recorded with a full orchestra this is a richly detailed interpretation of the stories each with its own signature.

The stories themselves are scripted from Wilde`s original tales with the additional framing stories added to pull the three tales together.

Features

A Making of Documentary
Three films look at the different aspects of pulling an animated film together using the key titles-animation, actors and music.

This is an enjoyable film about how these films came to be made. Although the making of documentary seems to be an obligatory extra these days this film defiantly adds to the richness of the films as the people taking part do convey their interest and passion on the subject matter.

Conclusion

For once this is an animated interpretation that lives up to the definition of animation-`the state of being full of life and vigour`. The passion and drama of the tales is given full reign in these quite short films. The joy of expressing tales through the words of Wilde with the new method of storytelling gives Wilde to the modern audience.

The richness of the actors` voice from the fruitiness of Pete Posthelwaite`s Uncle Arthur down to the whine of the daughter Ruth is again a superb addition to the films.

Watching these with the children was an unexpected treat as I had somehow missed them on Channel 4 .Lovers of animation will find much to study and for many the stories will be half hidden in memory. Reccomended for a wallow.