Any fairy tale by Brothers Grimm, in my mind the joint most quintessential fairy tale authors along with Hans Christian Andersen, is well worth the read or getting acquainted with. Their best work being timeless, obvious in how often they are adapted even when without the more gruesome bits as some of Brothers Grimm's tales can get dark. Though some other fairy tales of theirs deserve to be better known and have very few adaptations, when they are adapted not many people know about them.
'The Four Skillful Brothers' is one such story. 'Grimm Masterpiece Theater', known to most as 'Grimm Fairy Tale Classics', as an overall series deserves to be more widely known. It has its flaws and not every episode works, but most do and it is a great way of watching old favourites, getting acquainted with new ones and getting acquainted with those rarely adapted. Their version of 'The Four Skillful Brothers' adapts the original story very well on the most part and it is not always easy making Brothers Grimm accessible and whole family-friendly (especially the darker ones), without over-simplifying the stories.
Other episodes of 'Grimm Masterpiece Theater' are better animated. Some of the drawing looks a bit scrappy and the colours are not as vibrant as they tend to be. The backgrounds are nice though.
Music is one of the most inconsistent components in the series, sometimes there is no problem but in other episodes it sounds too recycled, too stuck-in-the-80s and doesn't always fit. Found the latter to at times be the case with 'The Four Skillful Brothers'.
However, the other component that can be inconsistent is done well. That being the voice acting. The narration is especially good and avoids over-explanation, just love the soothing and expressive approach that evokes fond memories of being read a bedtime story before going to sleep when little. The writing never really descends into awkwardness or cheese and does just about the right things to make the story accessible without falling in either extreme of juvenile or too mature. Do wish the lip synchronisation was better, because once again they and the dialogue don't always match.
In terms of storytelling, 'The Four Skillful Brothers' is always compelling and is one of the more faithful adaptations in the series, a good thing as the original story is thankfully one of the "lighter" Grimm stories while plot elements-wise still being distinctive Brothers Grimm. Everything is resolved very nicely without being too pat and the chemistry between the characters is engaging. The characters are all well done, with Wilhelm being the most likeable (the most likeable character/brother in the original story by quite some way) and a great job is done giving the brothers distinct personalities different from one another.
Summing up, very well done. 8/10
'The Four Skillful Brothers' is one such story. 'Grimm Masterpiece Theater', known to most as 'Grimm Fairy Tale Classics', as an overall series deserves to be more widely known. It has its flaws and not every episode works, but most do and it is a great way of watching old favourites, getting acquainted with new ones and getting acquainted with those rarely adapted. Their version of 'The Four Skillful Brothers' adapts the original story very well on the most part and it is not always easy making Brothers Grimm accessible and whole family-friendly (especially the darker ones), without over-simplifying the stories.
Other episodes of 'Grimm Masterpiece Theater' are better animated. Some of the drawing looks a bit scrappy and the colours are not as vibrant as they tend to be. The backgrounds are nice though.
Music is one of the most inconsistent components in the series, sometimes there is no problem but in other episodes it sounds too recycled, too stuck-in-the-80s and doesn't always fit. Found the latter to at times be the case with 'The Four Skillful Brothers'.
However, the other component that can be inconsistent is done well. That being the voice acting. The narration is especially good and avoids over-explanation, just love the soothing and expressive approach that evokes fond memories of being read a bedtime story before going to sleep when little. The writing never really descends into awkwardness or cheese and does just about the right things to make the story accessible without falling in either extreme of juvenile or too mature. Do wish the lip synchronisation was better, because once again they and the dialogue don't always match.
In terms of storytelling, 'The Four Skillful Brothers' is always compelling and is one of the more faithful adaptations in the series, a good thing as the original story is thankfully one of the "lighter" Grimm stories while plot elements-wise still being distinctive Brothers Grimm. Everything is resolved very nicely without being too pat and the chemistry between the characters is engaging. The characters are all well done, with Wilhelm being the most likeable (the most likeable character/brother in the original story by quite some way) and a great job is done giving the brothers distinct personalities different from one another.
Summing up, very well done. 8/10