The Trumpet of the Swan (movie)

The Trumpet of the Swan is a 2001 animated drama movie released on June 22, 2001. The movie follows over a mute swan named Louie, who is given a trumpet to express his voice. It is based on the 1970 book of the same name by E.B. White. After being released, it was received poorly by critics who didn’t like it for being too dark for children, and it was a box office bomb.

 Plot 

Louie is a swan born on Cripplecorn Lake and is considered mute, and has an estranged relationship with his mallard brother, Greenie and his mother Leafie, his only friend being Mr. Otter, an accident prone otter. Louie also does not know what happened to his father, Wanderer.

Sam Beaver goes on a fishing camping trip with his father,  who he also has a troubled relationship with. Louie expresses the desire to go get his trumpet,  much to his mother’s disapproval. After Sam gets into an argument with his little sister CeCe, he throws pebbles to express his frustration. Louie and Mr. Otto sneak in to retrieve the trumpet, but are caught by Sam’s father, who throws Mr. otter into a pond guarding with a sharp fence and sells Louie to a chicken farm.

At the chicken farm, Louie sees an unconscious chicken, carried away by the farmer and plays dead, getting the farmer’s attention who throws him into a pit with other dead hens. Later at night time, Louie regain consciousness, and is encountered by a tiger, named One Eye, who attempts to eat him. Mr. Otter arrives to save him, having dug through the water and carries him to safety, but not before Louie nearly gets his head bitten off. They return home where leafy scolds Lewis for endangering himself.

Louie  later, try again to get the trumpet without getting caught, but now before witnessing the argument that Sam has with his father over taking Louie. Louie meets Sam,  who snatches away the trumpet, but gives it back to him, and Louie plays the trumpet. Soon, they begin to bond and Louie helps Sam reconnect with his father over an old fishing trick.

Leafie  grows exasperated over spending too much time with Sam and sends him and Greenie to the duck club, a place for troublesome ducks. Louie plays his trumpet, but is teased, forcing Greenie to stand up to him. After Lewis loses his trumpet, he attempts to go retrieve, only to get attacked by a piranha. Greenie attempts to save him, only to end up in quicksand and start sinking. As Louie begins to drown, he is saved by his mother and Greenie is rescued by being pulled out. On the way home, they get into a heated argument that leads to Leafie snapping and revealing about Wanderer, saying that he saved her life from one eye and they began to bond and planned over their two sons, only for one eye to attack them one night, causing Wanderer to sacrifice his life for Leafie, much to her grief, and the moon that was symbolizing their love to melt and turn into sand over Leafie’s heartbreak. She tearfully promised she would take care of her two sons to honor him, only for them to grow into a troubled relationship.

Louie decides to run away,  despite intervention from Greenie. Mr. Otter is sent as a watchdog, and Louie is adopted by Sam, who has finally reconnected with his father, where he is told of an upcoming trumpet competition. The two of them begin to bond and Louie shows Sam his world. That night, Louie is attacked by one eye, but is saved by Mr. Otto, who sprays her with moss. They find One Eye’s babies, discovering that they are starving and take care of them by feeding them milk. On the day of the competition, Louie plays the trumpet rehearsal and reunite with greeny. Granny tries to take him back home, but Lewis refuses, unable to leave Sam behind. He plays the trumpet during the competition and he is marveled by everyone, especially the mirage of his father in the audience. Greenie flies back home and explains to his worried, sick mother that Louie is staying with Sam.

Sam‘s parents allowed him to keep Louie and Louie flies back home to say goodbye to his former companions. Leafy‘s mother reunites with him and tries to get him to stay calm but Lewis refuses. Angry, she throws his trumpet over a waterfall and Louie go to retrieve it. Leafy shout that she’s not losing him like she lost wanderer and chases after him. They are ambushed by one eye who knocks Lewis unconscious and breaks Leafy‘s leg, leaving them tied up against a rock before ambushing greeny and Mr. otter, knocking greeny off a cliff and leaving Mr. otter tied up against a tree. Leafy tearfully reveals to Lewis that losing Wanderer was all her fault and that she accidentally dropped the second egg while running away from one eye to safety, causing Louie to be mute. She said she didn’t want the same thing to happen to him, and the two of them reconcile at last. Louie plays the trumpet after reuniting with it at the bank of the creek. They are freed by Mr. otter and Sam, who had came to rescue them, and they reunite with greeny, who has survived the fall down the cliff. 

After reaching One Eye’s den, they start taking care of her babies. One eye appears and ambushes them, pinning down greenie who struggles to get free, but it is no use. The two of them go over a crevice, but they hang on tight. Sam grabs Leafie who cannot walk due to her broken leg, but it chased by one eye up a tree. Louie defends them speaking for the first time, threatening to harm One Eye’s babies if she doesn’t let them go. The shocked one eye runs away, and the danger is over. Greenie becomes the leader of his flock and sadly flies away, and Sam promises to take Louie with him back home before going with his relieved family. A sad and melancholic Louie plays the trumpet one last time before flying off, leaving his stunned mother behind.

 Dark and depressing moments 
Despite being a children’s movie, it is surprisingly dark. As well as dealing with Louie’s muteness, it includes scenes of severe danger and peril, such as when Louie nearly drowns underwater and loses his breath, only to be saved just in time by Greenie, who has been pulled out of the quicksand. It deals with Leafie having grief over losing Wanderer, and believing his death was her own fault for causing Louie to go mute. It also shows Greenie nearly drowning in quicksand and nearly ignoring the duck’s crying out for him to hold his breath, and it also shows him falling to his seemingly death down the cliff. The ending is also sad instead of happy and upbeat, as it ends with sad music of Louie flying away and Mr Otter being sad for the first time.

Just like The Mouse and His Child, it was rated PG on the back of its VHS tape when it was released on VHS in September 2001 because of the dark material in the movie. It contained only one bonus feature, showing the sketching of the characters.

Category:2001 animated movies
Category:2001 American fantasy movies
Category:2001 musical movies
Category:2000s English-language movies
Category:American animated musical movies
Category:American independent movies
Category:Movies based on books
Category:Movies about birds
Category:Animated movies about friendship
Category:Movies set in Boston
Category:Movies set in Montana