Lawrence.com

"The Trumpet of the Swan," an animated movie based on the E.B. White classic, isn't much to trumpet about.

There's very little to like here. The animation is unimaginative and uninspiring. Songs are just dropped into the movie like ads for a soundtrack CD, and only one of them � performed by Little Richard � is catchy.

The movie probably will amuse toddlers or young children, anybody not bothered by incongruities such as a road sign in Montana that simply points the way to Boston. But adults who remember the book fondly will only shake their heads sadly at what happens on screen.

The basic story is the same: A young swan is born mute, and gains a voice only by playing a trumpet his desperate father has stolen from a music store. His musical talent brings him fame, and he performs to earn money to repay the store.

In the meantime, he also learns to read and write with the help of a young boy who befriends him, and he captures the heart of the lovely swan Serena.

That was the gentle story White told in 1970. But hey, it's 2001. Louis the young swan is now Louie (voiced by Dee Baker). The boy, Sam (Sam Gifaldi), is a cool kid who wears his baseball cap backward and sports the standard cartoon adolescent-hero face. Serena (Reese Witherspoon) is Louie's giggly pal, rather than a graceful and distant object of yearning.

And the movie version introduces a swan named Boyd (Seth Green), a sort of Fonzie of the flock, who casually asks Serena to marry him. When she reluctantly agrees, he replies, "Good call, babe."

Boyd is meant to be obnoxious, of course, and his presence gives Louie a chance to race back home to break up the wedding and confront this rival suitor. More action for the kiddies.

But Boyd sticks out as a symbol of how this movie has failed to improve on, or even keep pace with, the original book.

Updating the book in an age of car alarms, boom boxes and TV remotes could have brought out some cleverness. But there's no cleverness here. This show trades on the name of a classic children's story but presents just another forgettable kids' movie.