I watched it twice on the first day!
Honestly, I’m an enthusiastic fan of beautiful perfect works. For example, as a child, I watched the Lion King almost every day with excitement, to which my grandmother told me that this was my prayer. And such masterpieces for me were not a particularly private phenomenon. I’ve seen it often and it’s a good idea to revisit something I love. But with many of our Russian cartoons, I did not have this. I don’t like the voiceover, the songs are not the same, then they are painted somehow ugly. I didn’t have my favorite Russian cartoons. But for some time I began to notice that our just talents, the film will sound amazing, the songs are sung, all thinking when all this will come together and a masterpiece will be born in our country. And it happened!!!
I believe that our art on the screen just blossoms with a stormy color! And I wish all our creative people further success, I am very happy!!
The cartoon has an amazing drawing. I was just enjoying it all the time.
What lyrics, these humors and turns, I even laughed even more cheerfully on the second round.
What songs! So sensual that I have never let down a tear from overwhelming feelings!
Heroes, plots, here you will not be bored in any place, you just immediately give some new detail or detail. And it's an exuberant variety, oh how I love it! A huge fabulous world, OUR, familiar and so wildly beautiful!!!
God, I love this cartoon! It's a masterpiece! This is a purely sensual way out of my soul, because I just fell in love with this miracle!!
This is my new prayer.
I summoned my whole family to watch it and everyone liked it from little to big and laughed. Mom, as a teacher, appreciated the plot as very witty.
So I personally advise you to at least look at everyone.
To say that I liked it very much is to say nothing.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the creation! This is a real art that brought me a happy feeling of peace!
I want more!
I am a big fan of the Fantasy Patrol franchise. I do not understand why the studio “Parovoz” can not overtake the “Mill” with their “Bogatyrs” and “Ivan Tsareviches”. But now I get it. Now I will tell you about the pros and cons of the cartoon “Koshchey”. Start. Let's go.
Pros:
1 Graphics. For a Russian cartoon, the graphics are very cool. Even better than Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks.
2 Songs. The songs are very beautiful. Especially "Fly with me." Although, performed by Daria Stavrovich everything is cool.
3 Fantastic patrol, Yadwiga Petrovna, Vasilisa Vasilievna, Thomas and Erema and Cat Scientist. Glad they weren't forgotten. Although they appear there as background characters.
Cons:
1 Story. The plot is completely stupid. Koschei is just a handsome guy on a bike, who has only the name Koschei, and in the end the title of immortal appeared. I thought Koschei had a very different, interesting story. And I thought he was a wizard, and he only had a magic chain and a chatty Sword of the Claden.
2 Characters. They're stupid and ill-conceived. They don't have the charisma that almost everyone has in "Fairytale Patrol." May didn't like it very much. There's almost no antagonist here. Just some monster that needs to be defeated. He's an antagonist without motivation. The girls from "Fairytale Patrol" lost their character from the series. Now they're just background helper characters. The only good character is Baba Yaga.
3 Timekeeping. The movie was too long and too long. Instead of properly revealing the characters, the creators devoted almost all the time to running. Because of this, I really wanted the cartoon to end soon.
4 Humor. There's not a lot of jokes in the cartoon. They're almost absent. I can't even remember one.
5 THE LAST OF THE MOROK! That's the biggest drawback. They took and removed my favorite character. (Not just me, but a lot of people are crazy.) I thought he was going to be the main antagonist there, like in the first season of Fairytale Patrol, and instead they took him and put some Ice Monster on this role, which you can say did not appear there. Or at least Moroc could be a secondary character. Just flash in the frame.
Bottom line:
The cartoon was boring, the characters were not revealed properly, my beloved Morok was removed altogether. It would be better to make a full-length film about Morok, so I want to know more about him. I didn’t want to know about Koschei at all.
3 out of 10
(for graphics, songs and Babu Yagu)
P. S. It seems like the cartoon is planned to continue (and this is not recently released “Koshchey”. Bride Snatcher, as well as a feature-length film about Fairytale Patrol (which I'm more looking forward to, because there's a better chance of Morok appearing there). I hope the continuation will be more interesting. I’ll watch Koschei 2 just out of curiosity to see what the creators have come up with.
Roads in the country are like cars in the country and, of course, movies. . .
Everyone probably remembers this number of KVN Soyuz team?
For those who have not seen or remember, look. This is the best epigraph.
I have one question. What the creators of this used... I don’t even know what to call it. In the cartoon, the tongue won't turn.
This is not just bad, but very bad.
Apparently, the ratio 'Piple all apprehends' was the basic concept.
Everything mixed ... people, horses, sick imagination of the authors, unwillingness to invest at least a little work in the creation of something worthwhile.
I didn’t expect much from a movie with such poor graphics. Level ' made on the knee'
And, in fact, you can close your eyes to the graphics, if there was a normal plot and at least some thought-out concept of the cartoon.
But what is not there is not.
The creators could not decide what they run, bath or airport. And what they want on the way out.
As in the fable of Krylov 'Swan, cancer and pike'.
And here it is a clutter under Russian folklore, modernity and surrealism.
From folklore by and large, only the names of the heroes. Let the people go.
From sticky references to modernity - delivery, lasers, a motorcycle and a bunch of stuff like that. The authors did not even try to justify it with a plot and fit it into the reality of their creation. It's not funny. Even on ' funny' not pulling. It's inorganic and ridiculous. It was funny, but not here.
Example: Just a tablecloth with a carpet function delivers food. And in the delivery - steamed turnips. And the check is written in strange symbols. And that's how it's all over the cartoon.
Surs are everywhere. Animals, plants, the whole entourage of the cartoon cause complete bewilderment.
We see anthropomorphic animals, incomprehensible creatures, a surreal city, a strange psychedelic nature.
Humor. Clearly tried in the voice of Rodriguez, his experience in this field affects. I even smiled a few times. We had a good time playing with sword lines. And Timur was able to make these phrases work correctly.
There is nothing better to say than that.
I am afraid of such prospects in domestic animation. . .
How many of us have already had all sorts of “Beginnings”? Beginning," "Smeshariki. Beginning, Golem, Beginning, and now Koschei. The beginning, the ubiquitous advertising of which in 2021 is sure to envy every marketer. Colorful and bright, this cartoon is an addition to the rather popular among certain circles series "Fairytale Patrol", simultaneously competing with other Russian projects based on Russian fairy tales, whether it is "The Last Bogatyr" or n-e in a row "Three heroes". Competition, in theory, should contribute to some progress, but in fact the situation is strange: for some reason Russian projects in terms of scenarios are moving backwards and not forwards.
The main emphasis in the creation of this cartoon was taken, of course, on visual, the quality of which in Russian animation only in 2012 touched a decent level. If you at least partially watched the “Fairytale Patrol”, you have a clear idea of its graphic features – three-dimensional graphics with an emphasis not on detail, but on objectivity, if I may say so. Something similar ( only much more sloppy) can be observed in the restart "Well, wait! Vacations" 2021. Realizing that on the big screen viewers will want something more attractive, the creators were not lazy to work on textures. And if bird feathers and human beards leave much to be desired, then wood, metal and urban buildings look good in principle. To the level "Snow Queen" do not reach, it is felt that they applied maximum effort.
But the script will not be praised, because it is literally woven from clichés that had time to become obsolete ten years ago. Pretentious phrases like “I must stay with my people!” and “I will have unlimited power!” are already so boring that they begin to cut the ear. The actions of the characters are also not the first freshness: love attachments arise out of nowhere, the theatrically noble character predictably turns out to be a traitor, and the true hero is necessarily led to a deceptive offer to exchange value for a hostage. Add another cliché like “girls think about romance day and night,” and here’s “Koshchei.” There are not even hints of aspiration to something new, continuous retreats to the level of 2000-2005
Another aspect that is very perplexing is the reinvention of fairy-tale characters. Since the cartoon is based on "Fairytale Patrol", the claim is directed towards the series: "Why is everything so twisted?" In an effort to show as much of the unusual as possible, the authors of the franchise storm the horizons of the permissible, and as a result we have cats-stickers, elves with deer horns, anthropomorphic pink foxes and... Koschei in the plot only becomes Immortal, so his appearance is not surprising, but a fantasy motorcycle is clearly superfluous. Very strange look flora and fauna of distant lands. I appreciate and respect the imagination of artists, but the world they created is more like a different planet than a fairy tale. Perhaps the only character whose appearance and character are completely approved is Water. Giving it the features of a deep-sea angler was a very interesting decision. I like the younger version of Baba Yaga. Rather just Yagi, because it is difficult not to fall in love with such a girl.
Thus, the main problem of this cartoon is its very narrow specialization. Those who are not enthusiastic about the “Fairytale Patrol” after watching will remain perplexed and will ask the question “Why is everything so strange?” Trying to fit the pattern of a typical blockbuster, the finale throws the rod on the sequel, but I can hardly imagine what could come out of it.
6 out of 10
Russian folk tales in this cartoon are inspired only by the names of some heroes and some artifacts. Externally, this cartoon has nothing to do with anything Russian: a mixture of anime style and European / Scandinavian medieval aesthetics in clothes, buildings, symbols and various objects. You can also see the strong influence of games for modern smartphones, and maybe even games about the Witcher. In addition, the dive is hampered by a mixture of technologies from different eras. We see motorcycles, and magic resembling laser beams, and alarms with flashing light bulbs, devices from the arsenal of Spider-Man, etc. It is obvious that these are jokes, but in my opinion they are attracted by the ears. As a person who has read our classic fairy tales and seen our classic films and cartoons, this creates an additional feeling that events are developing in the future, relative to the events of the classic tales with a catfish.
If we abstract from the lack of Russianness and distortions of the space-time continuum, then a quite funny cartoon with not the worst animation, I would allow it to watch from the age of 4.
In the cartoon, fairy-tale heroes appear in a modern, glamorous image.
I really liked the cartoon. I liked it with the fresh scripts. Artists of Petrovsk, Osadchikh, Romashikhin painted (created) very beautiful, juicy images. All the characters are very glamorous, chaste and very spectacular. What can I say about this cartoon? That love is eternal. That love gives you the strength to live, to achieve goals. The world without love is very monotonous and very uncomfortable. The plot of the cartoon is very unpredictable. And most importantly, it has a pure, inspiring love and affection that 6+ children will understand. It's not just a children's cartoon. It's a family project. Sword Cladenets (voiced by Timur Rodriguez) is responsible for all the humor in the cartoon. All funny jokes are from the sword.
Galtsev perfectly voices Water. In the cartoon there is humor, there is adventure, there is mystery, there is a fairy-tale world and the world of people, there is eternal love. Without all this it is impossible to imagine such a colorful and dynamic cartoon. Director Andrey Kolpin made a gorgeous project. The plot is very fresh and extraordinary scenario. I am absolutely delighted with this cartoon. He's perfect. Learned to shoot interesting cartoons in Russia. It's a family project. 6+ children and their parents will be delighted with this project. There are interesting adventures in this cartoon. In this project, familiar fairy-tale heroes appear in a modern, glamorous image. Koschei (voiced by Volkov) is full of strength and courage.
It's a trend of world cinema to have bad characters reimagined and not so creepy presented. Koschei is a true hero. He is young, strong, handsome and drives a motorcycle. Koschei is a real positive hero.
The script was made for all 5 plus. Screenwriters are good. Koschei they turned out to be an interesting hero in whom a fairy-tale queen can fall in love.
Both 'Fairy Patrol' and 'Koschei' have the same advantages and disadvantages. Charming characters, a lot of action, medium voice acting and an absolute mess instead of the plot. Neither I nor my daughter can remember most of the storylines, and the plot moves cause misunderstanding and surprise even in an eight-year-old child. The whole plot 'Kashcheya' sucked out of a finger - for three hundred years all fairy-tale characters should have known about the problem of Kaschei, and certainly not Vasilisa should interfere with him! I remember the ban on spoilers, so I will not list the sea of questions that exist for the series and the film. And if in the series the writers can hope that the seasons ' Mysteries ' will be forgotten, then with the film so for what? Screenwriters are like an aunt who talks about children 'a, they'll forget everything tomorrow!' - but it's so unfair to hold children for fools. And in adults doomed to family viewing, there is heartburn and the desire to swear on the whole Internet.
In memory there are only chases, epic battles for nothing ... well, and cute magic animals.
Fellow writers, please start reading stories on logic!
This creation is the first attempt of the studio Locomotive to shoot a full-length. The locomotive is a studio specializing in animated series. And to be honest, the series are pretty good. The Fairytale Patrol is undoubtedly the studio’s most successful project to date. No wonder the third season comes out and it seems that the company is not going to stop there. So it is not surprising that it was about the heroes of this series that it was decided to make the first full-length film. Unfortunately, the film turned out to be a bit short (nowadays you rarely see a full-length film shorter than 2 hours), say many scenes were deliberately thrown out to shorten the time. I don't know why.
Be that as it may, the film came out worthy, although designed for a specific audience: fans of the series ' Fairytale Patrol'. Yes, acquaintance with the lore of the series, although not necessary, but extremely desirable. Without it, the impression of the film will not be the one that the creators expected and, accordingly, you should not expect a good reaction from such a viewer.
Unfortunately, Koschei, as a character, is practically not revealed in the series. We only know about him that he is the mayor of Myshkin and is a member of the top management of the organization 'Fairytale' as they call themselves, along with Yadviga Petrovna, Santa Claus and the GDP of AKA Vas-Vas. In the series, he appears only occasionally and practically does not affect the plot. So making a series about him to reveal him as a character and tell his story was the right decision. I will not hide, I expected that the authors would pay tribute to the Russian fairy-tale tradition and at first Koshchei would be evil and only in the course of the play will move to ' the bright side of the force', but ... no. Here Koschei is initially not immortal and quite positive character. He doesn't even try to get angry. However, between the events of the film and the series there is still a big time gap: Morok has not yet appeared, he has not unleashed a war, the transition between the world of fairy tales and people is not yet closed, the organization of fairy tales on this side of the portal has not yet been created. Koschei still has enough time to succumb to the temptation to take advantage of the immortality that has fallen on him, in order to, according to tradition ' try to take over the world', arrange a big butch and eventually re-educate. The creators of the series and the film still have enough space for maneuver and for the flight of fantasy.
Unfortunately, the series began to be created even before the release of the second season, so many characters (for example, Alice) were not included in the plot. Nevertheless, the existing characters (four girls from the Fairytale Patrol, Kot, Water, Yadwiga Petrovna, Thomas with Yeroma and Vasilisa Vasilyevna) are enough to cause warm feelings among the viewers of the series.
In general, I recommend the film to all fans (or just viewers) of the series - pleasure is guaranteed. You can enjoy a cool graphon (not serial, but full-length detailing of models), cool special effects and pleasant music, and at the same time reveal the image of Koschei.
I wish the studio Locomotive creative success and look forward to new feature films.
If you cut most of the cartoon - it is quite lookable.
Especially all the musical scenes that annoy with their meaninglessness and inorganic sound. In addition, they do not work on the plot, so they can be easily removed.
The sound in the cartoon is generally a separate story and it is made out of hand bad. When watching, you almost constantly feel discomfort from the annoying voices of doubles, sound cacophony of the background and sudden and sharp sounds that arise and disappear for some reason and for what. The ear almost does not rest, only loud and sharp sounds work, so there is no sense of volume and you do not penetrate the soul to the story because of the feeling of a wall between yourself and what is happening on the screen. This is a great way to get rid of it.
Our animators have already learned how to draw, but it is embarrassing that they shove everything together just because they can. There is no clearly calibrated line and work on the plot, on the disclosure of the character of the characters. As a result, an incomprehensible pile of different styles, absurd situations, unnecessary jokes and replicas, musical inserts and alien images and heroes. Therefore, from time to time there is an impression of delusionality of what is happening and lack of meaning.
To release this child on the screens I would not and sent for revision. I would also refuse to show the children. But as an example of a bad cartoon would still leave, provided that they have already seen better material. Let them compare and decide.
As in the 90s - 'piple scoops' everything that glitters.
Have you guys tasted bad? Have you ever seen a normal cartoon? Whole and deep, with a bright aftertaste of catharsis?
This cartoon resembled a garbage can where all uneaten food was dumped in a restaurant. All in one pile: jam and herring under a fur coat and cake and meat - all stirred with a large spoon and served on a beautiful dish. A dish uncooked for those who know the taste of normal and healthy food
Plot: Writer, have you read anything about the competent destruction of character stereotypes? This is not a breakdown of stereotypes, but just a stupid substitution of concepts. There's no Koschei here. It's just a stupid substitution of one character for another. Insert here not Koschei and the meaning of the cartoon will not change. Name 'Vasya Pupkin: the beginning'... and nothing will change. In a good film, everything is so whole and harmonious that no detail can be replaced. And here they just collected pieces from other people's cartoons and decided that this Frankenstein would come to life. No, it's just a rotten corpse without life.
Art Director's job is 2. Couldn't you draw something unusual? Should I have blatantly blown off the Internet references? Russia is full of great artists who will give a head start in fantasy to the whole world, don’t you believe in them? Or is it a shame to show that we are Russian and we have our own awesome style?
The sound director did the same thing, Frankenstein. Replace the soundtracks with others and no one will notice that something has happened.
Everything is foreign. There's no integrity, just ripples of pieces. Even a patchwork blanket or vinaigrette does not pull, simply because of the complete incompatibility and inconsistency of many moments in this work.
It hurts me that we have so many people willing to eat garbage instead of normal food.
The main principle that determines whether a cartoon is interesting for children or not is the attention of the children themselves. When I watched it (ages 8 and 6) I did anything but watch it. It has a bunch of disparate plans, unexpected decisions for the sake of decisions, without elaboration, without “clingers” for attention.
Music. It's a total failure. None of the family members during the viewing did not remember a single motive - they are complex, unprofessional, boring, about this below.
Separate greetings to the composer Bogolyubsky and vocalist Stavrovich.
. . . This is the first time I have encountered such a weak production of all components.
If Sergei Bogolyubsky works in the style of heavy rock, it does not mean that he can do for children, it means rather the opposite. It's a different mindset to do for children. You have to be a child yourself while writing. You need to sincerely love children, and not stupidly and untalentedly lick the musical style of “Frozen”. Especially in order to lick it well, you need to have this talent.
- The arranger, apparently, also acted Bogolyubsky. You can hear plastic tools, weak production and lack of elaboration of the timbres of tools. What should sound modern, juicy and tasty sounds like polyphony.
- vocals, mixing - just no words. Everywhere you can see the handwriting of another style, the one in which the singer Daria Stavrovich used to sing and in which other participants of the tandem used to work. Daria couldn't sing for the kids. There is no directing of the vocals, its plasticity, softness, lightness, child groove and mood, no lived image, no smile in the vocals, there is no mystery in it and no dream, it can not be trusted. The vocals are reduced in the way they did on our stage 20 years ago - rude, condo. If the mix engineer took as a basis any successful Western mix and tried to do on this reference, the non-setting is doubly: it means he has a problem with the ears.
It remains to be hoped that everything was done not to “cut costs” and withdraw money where necessary, but because the team was recruited incorrectly.
Bottom Line: If I wasn’t from this industry, I’d just say I didn’t like it and walk past it. And so - sorry for the honest review, I honestly watched with the children and expected a fairy tale, but got the story.
Perhaps I should stop hoping for anything from our 'creators'. So here the studio 'Parovoz', which had previously made a cloud of animated series, mainly focused on infants, decided that money can still be rowed in cinemas, so we had something called 'Koshchey. Beginning'.
It so happened that I could not discard all prejudices, because I was familiar with the work of this studio and among all its works are worthy of attention only ' Evel's Heroes', for a very good attempt in a cross-cutting plot and respect for my viewer, which is now rare. But that's what I've moved away from.
My first concern is looking at the poster. Why does Koschei look like a man from stock photos? Let’s move on to the movie itself.
It was worse than I thought. There is nothing original in the plot, but there is a full set of clichés of cartoons of category B: the main character is a single, a character who should laugh, but in fact only always infuriates, a love line from an empty place, an obvious villain-traitor, a cute character (irritating) and of course rap in the middle. And also heroic self-sacrifice, which we have not seen anywhere.
Also, the cartoon is a spin-off of the animated series 'Fairy Patrol' from the same studio, but you do not need to watch it to understand it, at least thank you.
Songs in the movie do not catch on at all. In addition to the aforementioned rap, there are two more depressing, albeit with good vocals. The picture may be beautiful, but constantly the eyes cut outdated textures from 2001.
And the most important question is: what does Koschei have to do with this??? That is, apart from him and a couple of other characters (Fashionly one-eyed and Yaga), Slavic mythology is not used in any way. I understand that the universe of the series, there this hero already has everything else, but why even call him that and provoke people?
As a result: absolutely secondary rubbish, not worthy of attention.
But of course, there are cartoons much worse, the picture is still quite pleasant, so
4 out of 10
I wonder when our filmmakers and animators will realize that the picture is not enough and the film still needs a good story.
Were there any fans or developers of Allods involved?
Bright locations, characters, magic and crazy technology reminded me of the popular games of the 2000s, like allods and warcraft. Representing our level of technology and seeing the budget (33 lama rubles), the graphics as a whole are simply beyond praise. The budget 3D cartoon turned out to be extremely spectacular.
The script is bad, the jokes are not funny, the vocal moment made one superfluous and very inappropriate - the eternal mistake of Russian studios, the children we so learn the concept of Spanish shame.
But the average viewer, who is 0-11 years old, will certainly be satisfied. The boys will imagine themselves as an insanely cool Kashchey, will appreciate the moments of the fight, and the girls of course will like the love branch, surprisingly good, cool female characters. Boys and girls will find a hundred percent of them.
I'm 19 years old, but I liked it. Because I saw a glimmer of hope in domestic cartoons. I saw something completely new. I'm proud of the number of TV shows, movies, cartoons and cartoons I've watched, and that's why I'm surprised to be hooked. In the cartoon, I see an amazingly cool video realization of the universe, where magic and fiction syncretize. It's like a brutal-mimish manapunk. Clinging to this very implementation and working on errors, one could claim to dictate a new world trend.
In other words, the money was used with a clear sense of purpose, and the cartoon has the right to exist and even to be recognized, and I'm even sorry, to be honest, that this is probably the first and last film in the universe of Fairytale Patrol, because in this personally I saw an unexpectedly great potential.
I have never seen such a complete set of stamps and outright plagiarism. What kind of May, such a fabulous patrol and what does it have to do with Yadwiga Petrovna and other princes? Is that a Russian movie? And the panda on which side?
Even to disassemble all the hunt is not, to shoot such a movie the height of indecency and complete contempt for the viewer, will swallow everything, as long as there are more flights with screams 'A-a-a-a...', fluorescence and pathetic attempts of the Sword to bring a bit of humor, one 'My mother is an anvil' what is worth. The plot is flat, none of the characters has their own face, all are static, and Koschei is permanently frozen.
In short, a deviation from the logic and tradition of the Russian in particular, and in general a fairy tale, stupid, without delving into its essence, an attempt to urbanize and modernize it (smartphone, motorcycle), led to a complete failure.
Sadly.
Want Slavic motifs and fairy tales in the cartoon? Yes, and here you are... a lollipop on a stick.
Cartoon 'Koschei: Beginning', one of its title has to the fact that it will contain a huge cultural layer of Slavic culture. If someone does not know, then Koschei is a negative character of Slavic, and in particular Russian folklore. The authors of the cartoon, apparently, decided to look at the mouse animation studio ' Disney' and whitewash the negative character, from the category: ' Not him, life is like'. But in addition to this juicy spit in the face of the cultural heritage of our people, there is a spit in the form of the absence of any Slavic manifestations in the film, except for the actual names of the characters, and even then, not all. At the very beginning of the cartoon, we see a lot of references to the cultures of the peoples of Europe and immediately the frame changes and we are shown the cultural values of the peoples of Asia, a little later and from Arab culture flew into the screen. When I decided to continue watching this... ' I am an artist - I see it so' my mind was subjected to merciless torture by the authors of the picture. Not only did they mix the core mixture of cultures and folklore of the peoples of the world, they decided that this was not enough and a character from Greek mythology was shoved into Chinese scenery with a light hand. It seems that writers are familiar with fairy-tale creatures only through fantasy games. But even in them there is no such boron sodium.
The cartoon is full of an abundance of bright colors, a rapid change of active action frames, which immediately suggests that the cartoon relied exclusively on cheap entertainment. Although moments the picture is very pleasant to the eye, even with all the acidity of the color scheme, and the action scene in places look very organic.
Despite the fact that I am quite loyal and respect any creativity and work, and if I start to watch something, I look to the end, 'Koshchei: Beginning & #39; was one of the few pictures that I could not see, interrupting the viewing about in the middle.
I would recommend this cartoon only to those people who need to understand how not to do.
0 out of 10
. There the king of Kaschei over the gold withers;
There's a Russian spirit... there's Rus smell!
And there I was, and I drank honey;
I saw green oak by the sea;
Underneath him sat a cat scientist.
He told me his stories.
I remember one thing: this story.
Effort
Things of the past few days,
Old traditions are deep. . .
A. S. Pushkin could appreciate this 'opus'? I don't know, I don't know. I'm not sure.
I didn't get it. Tired of the beauty... Not food, but chewing gum in the mouth. Here are the impressions formed by the middle of this magical 'film'. The colorful shots are pleasing to the eye, the chaff of characters moving back and forth, flashes, lights, tinsel confetti, and underfoot like flabby, floundering, unstable soil. Where you knit. Good? Evil? It's blurry, it's blurry. Where is who? The audience invited to view is 6+. Understand? Will they? Can I get you something useful? Of course, I’m a little more than these – 6+, but I seem stiffened from the stupidity of the script.
Was the Russian Folk Tale, the old, good one, laid out in such mosaics? Or different times, different fashion locations in trend? Need to keep up, need to hurry, need to conform? And copy, copy, copy. And repeat, repeat, repeat? The game in 'Guessing' with the theme Walt Disney started the creators 'Koshchey. Beginning & #39; as if... Well, ' tinkered' beyond any reasonable measure now. Over! Over!
Dropped it. I didn't. Is Koschei a positive hero? Weird! But it's weird! Why? How so? Or are we dealing with ' same-families'? But the great Russian writer is talking about the Tsar! And besides, Kaschei, this is through A spelling in the centuries. Immediately, someone ' adjoining' to the bad fame of the Evil Old Man - Koschei. And through O - in explanation, self-explanation. But why? But why was this city 'town ' for the creators? Aren't names enough for fiction? Or should that be the focus of attention? Oh, leave all logic in the world of animation while immersing... That you're all burrowing, burrowing, burrowing... How long is it?
Really. The audience from 6+ is not yet able to critically approach such culinary delights of adult uncles and aunts that cooked this soup. It became all attention - exclusively ' coloring '. And in 2021, she's pretty good. There is a young man with a sword, a girl with a waist is present. He has a flat beard emphasizing masculinity, she has a shining cape of eyes in a crucifix from the nose almost to the ears. Nice ones. Here add the One-Eyed Dyho, here add the Monster named the White Ghost, to the Marvelous Earth Cemetery, oh, forgive me - of course, the principality-principality, and no cemetery, let's dip the heroes and the story is gaining momentum ... Who 'Crack in Noodles'? Who and #39; ears & #39; need a kick? Let's get our sides...
The XXI century lays such turns that Ivan Andreevich Krylov would marvel. This and Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin could not dream, what to say about Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. However, among the scriptwriters-co-authors of these names are not, so it is necessary to blush for the child. As for the current 'fablewriters' - they are no stranger. A new era and not so blobs surprising.
Bring the kids to the show by all means. In the cafeteria, sit down to the credits.
The cartoon about Koshchei Immortal, who assumed the role of a positive hero in the universe of the children's series ' Fairytale Patrol' in the beginning, he applied for full-length entertainment for the whole family and even for something more significant for the adult viewer - for a meaningful and, finally, thought-out plot. The introduction of the cartoon attracted my attention with quite high-quality animation and style.
At first.
However, little by little, this project began to irritate with fragments and episodes, the footage of which crashed into my eyes because of its screaming hack, expressed in a kind of flaw in individual character models (both main characters and secondary ones). That is, the hoax, which is often forced to resort to developers of computer games. And I'm not talking about styling this creation, but about the approach of developers to optimize individual scenes and models, which helps save the budget and computing power of computer systems. It would seem that you do not create a game, but no - the hair of the characters is either wooden or sausages similar, as if the hair of the characters was prepared for a second-rate AA project. And the conversation is not only about the hair of the characters, but also about the individual details of the scenes or their absence where, it would seem, they might be necessary.
I would certainly like to support the studio 'Parovoz' but at high speeds they eventually created a product of medium quality, stylized to such an extent that it began to level its artistic potential and quite much did not reach the quality of the world's animation studios. In ' Koshchey' there are many borrowings from the cartoons Pixar and Disney: ' Kung Fu Panda' (The design of the big one-eyed gorilla is very similar to the design of many evil characters of this cartoon and even the animation seems the same); ' Shrek' (Antourage of a bright fairy-tale town with all sorts of strange creatures); ' Cold Heart' (Musical accompaniment with special visual effects and magic) and others. It is clear that no one forbids to be inspired by the creations of masters, but it should be done so that the final result is not immediately associated with all the above creations. I want some solid and unlike other cartoons project. Yes, the creators are trying to do this, but they have not yet succeeded.
The only advantage of this cartoon is to try to do well. But, unfortunately, it did not work well.
The main failure of their project is uninteresting, unsuccessful, incoherent, meaningless, boring, banal, mediocre plot and unsuccessful directorial work with the characters.
The drama of collisions and vicissitudes, conflicts and collisions is leveled by attempts to powder the viewer’s brain and spray his attention with an abundance of unnecessary (in many scenes) and even unnecessary (in tragic scenes) animated skirmishes of small characters and untimely jokes and gags of secondary heroes. Just as you focused on the dialogue of Koschei and his companion to understand their motives and goals in life, as on the screen once again the director shows some event with bugs and cockroaches. It is as if he admires modern technology and special effects, forgetting what he was going to tell us.
Children will enjoy the abundance of bright pictures and the unchanging sunny landscape outside the window in ' Koshchey' as well as the inexperienced viewer too. Although I note that in a good work, nature often helps in the development of conflict and events occurring with the characters, than this cartoon can not boast. . .
Probably, the team got so tired of doing their job for 3 years (and the money was running out) that they decided to release it as it is. Again, of course, there are a lot of advantages in the cartoon, but in terms of the quality of implementation it is far from such recent creations of Pixar as ' Soul', ' The Mystery of Coco', ' Luke' in which everything is still thought out to the smallest detail and you follow the plot and do not look for shortcomings, like a picky critic.
We wish the studio ' Steamboat' success and hope that their next projects will be more meaningful and technically flawless, like Dreamworks, Pixar and Disney.
5 out of 10
I really want Russian cartoons to break all records at the box office due to the quality. ' Koshchei' had every chance of success: here you have impressive graphics, and relevant folklore, and even some kind of cultural code of Russia. But I didn’t have a good story.
In fact, during the first scene, I wanted to stand in the middle of the cinema and exclaim: ' It's fucking plagiarism on Rapunzel!' But then the creators showed that they can do graphics, and I decided to give Koschey another chance. Looking ahead, this will not be his last chance.
But... copy scenes from a relatively recent Disney cartoon? A cartoon that collected huge sums at the box office and is still loved? This could have been an accident, if not for the image of Koschei in the cartoon. He's not a burglar, but he's robbing. Not a heartthrob, but he steals hearts. I think it’s like a squirrel, you know.
Then we went to the flashback. I'm good with flashbacks. But they have to be justified, after all. Here was 5 minutes of history, and then with the words ' well, I'll tell you now why Koschei did so' we were sent to the distant past. As a result, the intrigue was destroyed immediately. And we could guess for a long time what led Koschey to this decision, whether he was bad or good. In general, an incomprehensible scenario decision.
When we got to the exhibition at some point, I wanted to jump up again. Seriously, Russia has a great script school. There are many ways to present information creatively and tastefully. However, Russian filmmakers prefer to use verbal exposure, as in cheap TV series. '. But that was before! And now I'm good because...' It's boring. I know it's a cartoon for kids, but by the time they're 6, they can think figuratively, guys. Don't do that.
But the biggest disappointment is the music. I remember the soundtracks for Rapunzel, both parts of Frozen, Mulan, Cinderella and so on. I forgot the songs from this movie right away. They barely sounded, that's all. Not a single note in my head. I was surprised to learn that the composer of many songs was Stavrovich. It's beautiful, but maybe it wasn't the right place in a children's cartoon? Yet her music is a deep meaning and melody. For the cartoon, you had to choose something easy and memorable.
But there's a spoonful of honey. Lots of spoons. Anyway, the glass is half full. I really liked the way folklore was played. No, well, have you seen the delivery of food with a samograda tablecloth? Yandex. Take the food! Heroes are familiar, archetypes are understandable. My niece liked the cameo 'Fairy Patrol'. I, although I did not watch the cartoon, immediately realized, huh out of huh - such characters do not need much introduction. Their images are read instantly.
A special respect for those people who were responsible for animation. It was beautiful. I enjoyed every minute.
Koschei is gorgeous. The creators perfectly picked up the trend of rethinking villains. I was embarrassed by his scar on his eyebrows. He could have been beaten, but unfortunately.
Yuri Galtsev as Water... Could it have been better? Experienced, cool, talented and funny. It was fascinating.
All in all, it would be great if we finally got serious about scripting. I was waiting for a tear to come out of me, but alas. I hope it gets better. For the start of the franchise - worthy.
Honestly, I, as an adult uncle, was brought into the auditorium purely for the sake of curiosity. I wanted to find out what our filmmakers did there with a bright, oops, dark image of one of the most famous characters of our fairy tales - with Koschya the Immortal. What did this ancient, almost chthonic image turn into? What happened to any hero of our folk tales (and some novels by Andrei Belyanin)?
And it's all right. Very good. The cartoon was a success!
Yes, it is, especially at the beginning, quite childish. But apart from the clearly designed for the kids substrate a la faeches fixe that fairy patrol, otherwise it is quite normal fantasy. And the closest here will be our recent cartoons about the Snow Queen. Only there was a brave teenage girl Gerda, and here we see the main character in the face of a kind of metrosexual with a well-groomed beard and stylish hairstyle. And yes, Koscheyu's tail and haer is quite fitting here! Fashionable warrior. With a talking sword behind his back. Well, this MC is talkative, like a horse Julius from another of our cartoon series.
Of course, there will be a romantic line. Driada. And love, and tragedy, and overcoming. In short, the standard quest of becoming a hero. Everything is absolutely standard. There will be Ancient Evil. There will also be good magicians. By the way, some characters can very strongly remind you of the heroes of the famous Disney and especially Pixar cartoons. I'll tell you what! It was fun and fun! And the number of common plots is finite and quite limited, as smart people found out a long time ago.
Of the pluses, I note still beautiful locations - a city inhabited by fantasy creatures and mountains with valleys behind it.
The hero himself, the warrior Koschei, is quite sympathetic. So is his favorite. And even a talkative sword sometimes jokes quite in the subject. Well, the local versa of Baba Yaga, or rather, while still a young Yadwiga ... Oh!
It's an amateur soundtrack. Well, the cartoon was pretty good. This is a good movie for family viewing. Morning. You can watch with small and not so much.
I highly recommend it!
// I wonder if there will be a sequel. With the Snow Queen, our animators were able to give off the heat. I would have made another story about Koschei. To understand how he eventually came to live like this...
The film begins with a “standard chase” with standard parkour elements. Koschei runs somewhere, but at the same time the guards seem to be able to teleport and now and then lean out of the windows of houses, past which Koschei flies.
Next episode. Koschei with his sword walks through the city. Sword -
“Standard chatter”, which is depressing from the beginning, as it is clear that by the laws of the genre he will humor the whole film. And these "jokes" are clearly aimed behind the scenes, at the viewer. Heroes do not live in peace, they just say some funny phrases using a play on words.
You want to immerse yourself in history, but you just look and don’t believe it.
What else was there... A performance in which the camera 3 times intrusively directed at one of the spectators, who looked like Shrek. Why did you need that reference? For gag. "Oh, look, there's Shrek!"
And yes, why is the main character Koschei?
This is an absolutely positive character. Why did he become the immortal in the future? There's no premise. Where was his immortality mentioned, and how did he get it?
Or is it some alternative Koschei who has never been and will never be a villain?
The plot is standard (some traitor tries to free Evil + a love line). Characters are standard, according to the Disney scheme. Conversations, behavior, reactions are clichés. No empathy. No funny joke. In addition, there is a perfect graphics.
Emptiness.
Nothing to cling to. There is nothing new, interesting or just funny in this cartoon.
And the fact that the cartoon is still for young children is not an excuse. There are really good untwisted half-forgotten cartoons with meaning, to which children simply do not get because of a heap of such products. "Three heroes and [someone there] & #34; and so on."
And what will a little child understand by watching this? That evil Koschei is good? Angry, but also good...
Before I start, I want to note that I am not familiar with the universe of the cartoon Fairy Patrol, so the review about Koshchei is the first impression of what I saw.
It was expected that fascinated by the title of the cartoon, I was ready to once again watch the cartoon about the archaic history of the struggle of heroes with Koshchey, his background, but I saw something else ... I would say quite unexpected, and in some places breaking my stereotypes, which in the end was more happy than disappointed.
Since I am not familiar with history in general, there is certainly some misunderstanding. In particular, the images are not quite clear, and the plot lines of secondary characters - the sword, Baba Yaga, etc., and their understatement within the full meter, perishes the plot in terms of the narrative. For example, why Baba Yaga has such a costume, and even an old woman can not be called.
And in general, the topic of age and time in the cartoon raises many questions. So, many years have passed, but no one has changed, not even the brother of the Dryads, etc., and they did not come across similar apples on the way.
I do not argue, perhaps in the animated series these questions are somehow played out or revealed, but within a full meter - there were no answers to them.
Next, I would like to see whether Koschei became an immortal hero or an immortal villain? Or the prehistory of Yaga and the sword.
I would like to thank the authors for their unconventional approach to Russian folklore. The cartoon really broke my template.
After the famous heroes from the "Mill" Koshchey from the "Steamer" looking quite unusual. There are plans for Ancient Russia, but with some intersperses of the Middle Ages and steampunk. On the other hand, it's a separate universe - "Fairytale Patrol." Therefore, patriotic education here, unlike heroes, is not so active. But the flirtation in China is quite good.
I didn’t know there was such a universe. And it is worth saying that everything is fine in this cartoon, except for the “Fairytale Patrol”. Is it pure plagiarism of foreign witches Winx or who are they - fairies, sorceresses?
Koschei himself is charming and brutal. This is how I imagined the main character from “Hard to be a god” Strugatsky. In general, this cartoon reminded me a little of Arcanar - in its positive form, of course.
The boy panda remained a mystery to us, but I assume that then he became the same Kung Fu panda. I'm kidding, but that would be fun. May is a beauty, does not cause negativity, but you do not particularly imbue with sympathy.
But what really catches is the hut on chicken legs and Jadwig in the form of a captain. The sword is a separate character, although it cannot but resemble the horse Julia. Carpets in the form of taxis and this kind of symbolism also give the cartoon charm.
The cartoon is good. However, the creators seemed very in a hurry to squeeze everything in there. You can take your time, obviously there will be a second part.
The Russian fairy tale has undergone many interpretations over the years of its existence. Familiar images are found here and there: whether it is Baba Yaga, Water, or Koschei the Immortal.
'Koshchey. Beginning' is a spin-off, that is, an offshoot from the Russian animated series 'Fairytale Patrol'. I strongly recommend at least basic familiarization with it before watching a full-length work.
We are told the prehistory of Koschei the Immortal precisely within the world that the creators painted. Since they have a whole series about the city of Myshkin and its inhabitants, the viewer is not explained once again how it works. It is assumed that he already knows all these heroes. Of course, most of them are familiar to adults and children, but still in '. Beginning & #39; - their revised versions.
The main character is not a villain at all. He is a fearless warrior with a talking sword behind his back. He fights a certain White Ghost - a terrible monster, who raped Koschea as a child. On his way he will meet the same brave characters.
In general, we have a classic fantasy story. Absolutely colorful. Although the authors work with a somewhat simplified three-dimensional animation, they managed to get the most out of it. Very smooth movements, beautiful landscapes... But the story of Koschei and his friends moves extremely fast, so buckle up.
'Koshchey. Beginning & #39 is a confused, but pleasant fairy tale for the whole family. You will definitely like it, but do not be lazy to Google, and maybe watch a couple of episodes of the animated series ' Fairytale Patrol'. Then you will understand much more about the magical world in which not only Slavic folklore is mixed (it is worth noting) than I did when I watched it.
Of course, this work is mostly focused on children, and I'm not going to call it universal for any age. But, one way or another, it teaches the most good and important, and this is the task of such art - to direct and illuminate the path.
The big plus of this cartoon is that during viewing you can be distracted, and then still not lagging behind the course of events. True, this is because the plot is full of cliches, and the characters are slicked from Western franchises. The sword-plate so reminiscent of the donkey from Shrek that even awkward for the writers.
I'll mark the drawing separately. Half of the movie I couldn’t figure out who Koshchey reminded me so much. Painfully familiar features, something elusive... I get it! SIMS-2! They, birthmarks, eyes, eyebrows, the whole face were redrawn from the game, sorry, inspired by the game and ' creatively rethought', aha-aha. You can't just steal someone else's stuff, after all! As if in a painfully familiar from childhood editor drew a character.
But I won't just scold you. The cartoon is bright and colorful (albeit meaningless), with a good soundtrack. In general, it leaves a pleasant impression, and what is secondary to each of its frames is about any Russian film product of recent years.
It seems that scripting in Russia belongs to the category of long-lost arts. It is sad when there are two or four smart playwrights in the whole country, and all the rest settled, probably through connections and money. With animation studios, there is hardly any feedback in which viewers can express impressions or inquire about the work done. There are rare interviews of individual media personalities in the cinematic field who do not really talk about anything. Where will smart workers of the industry come from, if you can often get a job only by acquaintance. Moreover, many animation studios do not care about the opinion of the audience. Moreover, recent Russian years do not please the audience with new creative ideas. It seems that in industrial canned food there were people who have long lost their understanding of what is interesting to the audience, why there is animation and cinema in particular. When there is a government order for a particular product, fertilized studios easily allocate budgets. They stay at a profit because the movie pays off at the production stage (due to the amount of advertising and public funds), and the little people responsible for the work process are left out. Therefore, is it any wonder that in our country there are no high-quality, talented cartoons?
Naturally, the studio Parovoz differs for the better from Russian colleagues in the workshop. There is no feedback, social networks, interviews with their own employees. Products of this young studio, you can say, thundered throughout the country thanks to breakthrough visual effects and good commercial component. However, there is something that this studio does not paint at all. In their works, there is some impoverishment of creative ideas, one can say, a lack of artistic comprehension. Studio Locomotive focused primarily on fantastic stories, for example, the universe of the fairytale patrol. That fairy-tale world is the dominance of foreign heroes with individual elements of domestic folklore and modern technologies. Sounds promising, but in fact, most of the creatures and rules of the fictional world are taken from Western franchises. Some characters are directly drawn from the characters of famous American cartoons or very strongly inspired by them. Which, of course, is depressing. If you go back to the first lines of the review, it is worth mentioning that the Fantasy Patrol (as in this cartoon) incredibly superficially thought out characters, locations, conflicts and interaction of the characters in general. Western projects not only created interesting worlds, but also managed them expediently. Remember the same universe of Despicable Me, where every detail of the interior (I take the first part of the franchise) told us about the preferences, habits, temperament of a certain character. Visual part in 'Koshchey. The beginning & #39 seems to be a breakthrough for our market, but its beauty is thoughtless. Even if you look at the original storyboards of the characters, it will be obvious that no one really understood why the characters should wear these clothes, look a certain way. Moreover, no one really thought about how one handsome hero differs from another.
If the plot cannot be formulated by an adult, then even a child with such a task will not cope. Heroes wander for no reason, swear and reconcile (hello to the Last hero), only in their relationship, motivation and logic of actions there is no sense. To be honest, there is nothing dramatic about this story. It's sad too.
And yet, this cartoon can be praised. I liked that the creators of 'Koshcheya' a couple of details showed well-known characters. Really pleases the fleeting appearance of the Fairytale Patrol, Kota, Vasilisa Vasilyevna, Toma and Erema, Yadwiga Petrova. Thank you so much for not forgetting them. Moreover, the artistic work was done well. The cartoon turned out bright, with good songs (thanks to the great performer Daria Stavrovich for the brilliant performance of musical numbers).
Please support the people working on this film. I believe that this talented young studio is still ahead of us.
Koschei, a new story - it would seem, could the title be more intriguing and curious? A story about the events of the life of one of the most famous heroes of folklore before his final image, and not about a simple Koshchey, but about one who lives and lives in the universe of the Fairytale Patrol. A promising studio, famous people in the credits, a trailer that does not reveal the plot - is this enough to pay for the delight and admiration?
Let's start with the pros.
Private visual moments. Certain effects are pleasant to watch: snow, sparks of ice, lights of magic, landscapes, appearance of Koschei and princes. The ending is well done, but the chronological transfers are slightly embarrassing. Music was not distinguished by anything special, bad, not good.
Let's get to the minuses.
Let’s take a simple list of signs of a good movie. Interesting lore? Missing. Disclosure of heroes or dialogue? Past. Humor? Nope. Story or conflict? Yes, you guys are joking, we do a fairytale patrol for children under the age of zero, not a full-fledged good project.
Massage is not full of beauty and uniqueness, there are some plasticine orcs and monsters, multi-eyed monsters; the graphics and characters in general sometimes seem unfinished, as if at the penultimate stage, but I will try not to be categorical, after all, the first full meter.
The transitions are strange, the songs are strange, an abundance of unnecessary scenes that clog the narrative. Instead of clearly explaining the motivations of each of the characters, the writers chose to leave the dubious (because there is almost nothing besides them) action scenes and incomprehensible creatures, although in the video on their channel it was said how difficult it is to choose one thing and throw out other options because of the inability to leave everything. They probably chose with the thought: 'hmm, to make huge pauses in the dialogue and show how the chicken eats the pearl and later returns it, or to demonstrate how Koschie ten minutes chooses the scabbard for the sword and at the same time juggles burning torches? How hard...' Conversations with the characters last no more than a few minutes, the information content in them is slightly more than in the screensaver “Chronicles of Miracles”. The heroes and the world themselves, by the way, are very convenient to sort: May and Koschey - into cardboard, the universe - into plastic, the heroes of the original universe (who received episodic roles, but have no more depth than the main ones) - into organics.
Here gathered the most selective clichés: and the villain who is simply because I am a thirst for power, and the main hero-avenger with a biography of the past (which should have been given the main attention in the whole film) in two minutes maximum, and love at first sight, and annoying comic-relief, and victory with the help of self-belief – here you go.
It seemed to me that Lanshakov meant something to the writers, because Envell’s Heroes is an amazing project in the best sense, but as it turned out, it was much less than my expectations. Perhaps he was tied up or severely punished to create an exclusively childish boring story, and cut most of his ideas.
Speaking of humor: there are eternal references to modernity, which are boring and generally meaningless in the framework of that time, stupid inserts of the Cladentz, which are embarrassed instead of calling comic, a wild song (in general there is something funny in it) Water, and (attention!) Cats in a dress for a few seconds. That's it, go laugh somewhere else, you're not in the circus.
I also have questions about the time:
Where did this technology come from in the past? Why does he look the same when he meets a patrol and when he travels without changing his age? Why didn't May ask questions near the end? And so on.
To sum up.
Of course, my assumptions were not the highest, but Koschei is frankly "not very", because he scored popular tricks and "#39" that is in every film & #39; without adding anything special when he had excellent opportunities for this and already ready universe. Roughly speaking, neither to the SP, nor to Koschei himself, this work has no special relation. Just a fabulous city, just fabulous heroes, and that's all. He could have been cool, he could have been brutal, and he could have done his koszyka dangerous things on a bike, but he liked the prospect of emptiness inside. Maybe at least the dolls will sell well.
We laugh, cry and get excited for this movie 100%.
The cartoon is simply unreal - kind, beautiful, witty. One of the best cartoons not only Russian, but in general. Clearly, the authors were inspired by the best of such cult games as Asassin Creed and Thief, the cartoon Winx. But we're not talking about tracing. Nice familiar moments, played in new ways. The world in the cartoon is not just some magical, but the theme of the high-tech Middle Ages is played, as in Dune or Game of Thrones. I was pleased with the really beautiful graphics and not flat characters of the characters. You can watch with young children - no ambiguous jokes and excessive cruelty. There is also a talkative hero-companion of the main character. But unlike many Disney cartoons, he can learn wit. I want to see it again in the cinema. This cartoon is definitely worth it.
Frankenstein's Cattle or What's Wrong in the Thirty Kingdom
In anticipation of something really new and fresh in Russian cinema, I went to Koschei Beginning. Yes, I already knew from the trailer that the graphics and animation lagged behind the world trends for many years. But I do not go to movies for the sake of a juicy picture, but for the sake of a plot that carries away imagination on a horse of imagination, for the sake of emotions and living everything good and bad that happens to heroes. I already imagined the classic story of a brave knight fighting evil and confronting the danger of becoming a monster himself. I imagined Koschei sinking more and more into evil, but at the end of the film repenting and finding forgiveness and redemption.
It is unlikely that such stories will be understood by children from 6 years old, for whom the cartoon is intended, but on the other hand, for some reason, many great cartoons are not afraid to raise topics that are still inaccessible to children, and it may be due to this that they catch, and may be forced to think not only adults. However, they still manage to avoid flat or vulgar humor.
And all this, alas, is not about Koschei ...
The main problem of the work is the incredible plane of everything from the characters who, according to the level of development of their personality, are somewhere between a rock drawing and a Neanderthal, and a plot in which no problems are raised, to absolutely terrible and terribly unfunny jokes that will be understood only by the audience of 18+. In general, jokes are often used in films as a way to relieve the tension of the situation or the tension between the characters - this does not work here both due to the weakness of jokes and due to the absence of any tension. Characters cannot be sympathetic, they cannot experience pain or joy with them, because they do not experience them themselves. Instead of a cliché in general, a dummy without a single replica, they do not even try to reveal the motives of the muzzle. Willy-nilly recalled: ' And so it goes!'
What about the music? The cartoon seems to be trying to flirt with Disney musicals and it fails. The most beautiful song was ' Terrible' Watery's song due to the fact that only it had rhyme and rhythm (although only verbs on verbs rhymed). The rest of the songs decided to do without rhymes, and some even without the Russian language, so in one case the girl sings in imaginary Chinese with a voiceover translation into Russian, especially interesting in the moment when she sings ' hulala hulala', and translate it every time differently. That’s what you really expect from Russian cinema.
Yes, not always well-developed characters or a deep plot are ' a feature' paintings, sometimes a picture pleases with juicy colors, beautiful graphics, flight of imagination of animators and designers. The picture can cause only visual delight ... and this is not about Kaschei either. The graphics are slightly worse than in the Monsters Corporation (2001) - there are monsters, but their facial animation is better than the people from Koschei. And yet Koschei has one single (but what!) his own 'trick'.
I don’t know what to call it, maybe plagiarism?
The borrowings are already visible in the title of the painting. Judge for yourself - the main character is Sinbad, who since 2003 has developed parkour skills to incredible heights, and at the same time learned from the Scorpion from the Mortal Battle to release a chain from the palm of his hand. Accompanying him is an anti-charismatic Donkey from Shrek, turned into a sword-grave. Koschei collects 5 infinity stones to insert them into the amulet of infinity. He is assisted by Triss Merrigold as Baba Yaga and Kung Fu Panda as Panda. They are trying to put something in between Mike Wazowski and Sally. Umpa loompus in high caps do not cause tenderness. So the appearance in the frame of the Cat in boots or a couple of pirates-losers from the Pirates of the Caribbean I perceive as Easter eggs.
So what did you do? First of all, the Snake Gorynych was successful - a classy person, stylish, but bad in character. The guards succeeded – the depth of their disclosure is completely complementary to the airtime they spent, and the first two minutes of the film had the potential of some Terripratchettoshchina, unfortunately, not disclosed.
The most important thing for which I want to praise the cartoon is the idea to recreate Koschei Immortal, and new ideas in cinema are always needed. But the implementation has undoubtedly ratcheted up. I wish the creators to continue to fill their hand in this difficult matter, not to be afraid to risk making the plot deep, as well as the characters - do not be afraid that children will not understand, children will understand at an accessible level, and the good ideas themselves will be laid subconsciously.
5.5 out of 10
"Kotchie. The real story... no, Koschei. “So pretentious, make the font more epic, you know,” – Kino Foundation, 2020
Preface.
Parovoz animation studio was founded in 2015 and was engaged in creating content for children's TV channels from VGTRK (in particular, for the TV channel "Mult", for which at that time there was a catastrophic lack of various Russian children's content). Animated series were produced a whole lot, the studio is actively growing and developing, for sure many new projects are planned for the future, but I want to note the first attempt in an animated series with any global plot and more or less prescribed universe - "Fairytale Patrol". It is noteworthy that, while still in an embryonic state, it was destined to turn into a major franchise. And this is not bad, everything could be well developed and thought out, but this is clearly not about the Parovoz studio. Initially, the full meter could be about the Patrol himself, his adventures, but at the pitching of the Kino Foundation in 2016, the creators were denied funding. And after that, it was decided to take up the creation of a full meter seriously, the authors decided to sit on two chairs and tell the story about Koschei, who in the animated series as a secondary (faceless, but it does not matter) character acts, but at the same time in the history and the heroines of the animated series are present - where without them? As the years passed, the story went through a lot of changes, the design of some characters also changed, something was cut out, something was added - and all by their own efforts, without the help of the state (as far as I understand), but for something it took the cartoon to show at the pitching of the Cinema Foundation in 2020 and get funding there. For what – it is unclear, but it is not so important, because FC clearly was not involved in the quality of the script of the cartoon, which, by the way, is not so fabulous.
About the cartoon.
We all know Koschei as a malicious old man who is terribly rich, and kidnaps beautiful girls, oh yes, he is also immortal. In the cartoon, he is a beautiful, young, and powerful warrior, with whom fate cruelly treated - all his relatives were killed by the White Ghost, Koschei and is looking for all over the world to take revenge. At the end of his journey, the young man attains immortality, but this gift has a price. What's next? Is Koshchei becoming as we know it? But somehow no, it has not changed even externally for many centuries, and the payment for immortality will eventually depreciate, because the cartoon is a children's (I would not even call it a family one).
So what about Koschei? From the usual we have nothing, but the creators wanted to reveal another meaning of the word 'koshchi' - a more pompous and beautiful version.
However, this is simply not in the cartoon. Love after the only normal conversation between Koschei and May? Where did the character disclosure go? Koschey is called unsociable, but in history this is not shown. And this applies to all the characters in the cartoon, each one could be revealed in these unfortunate hour and a half, and in the end we know more about Kladenets, Waterman and Yaga than about the main characters. The more you watch the cartoon, the more you notice that a whole piece of the script was cut out of the middle of the cartoon, in which the relationships of the main characters developed, and they would learn a lot about each other. But the timekeeping is spent on jokes with the cat, which creates stupidity for the entertainment of very young children - this is a maveton, but the creators, of course, have their own understanding of what is important for the story. Apart from these gags, the cartoon is full of drawn-out spectacular or amusing scenes, but because of so much action, the thread of the narrative is lost.
With logic in the cartoon, too, some trouble, the antagonist revealed closer to the end, but his becoming a villain was not shown, and his motivation is generally taken from one character from the animated series itself. The heroine May also behaves strangely throughout the film: at first she is shown as a powerful sorceress, a fighting and brave girl, but in the second half of the film she turns into a typical “girl in trouble”, which somehow easily falls into the trap of the villain and does not fight back, although it may well. In general, there are quite a lot of examples, and you can find some explanation for everything - but in the cartoon these explanations are not, time is wasted on unnecessary scenes. We have a story that has not reached its full potential and has not shown its depth, which the creators wanted to put into it initially.
As for the visual, it can be seen that this is a titanic work of a huge number of talented people, the cartoon has its own handwriting, even despite the divisiveness of the stylization of the characters (although the artists managed to avoid the syndrome of the same faces in heroines, what modern cartoons usually sin, although even despite the “commercial” appearance of the characters, each heroine has its own features – for this low bow including). Everything in the cartoon – though characters, though objects, though locations – all models are painted as if real colors, there is deliberate negligence in brushstrokes by the artist, a huge number of different shades are used, it looks new, bright and unusual. A similar technique was used in some short films on Riot games and in the animated series Arcane, but in Koshchei it looks different, which undoubtedly pleases the eye. However, despite the clutter under 2d, there is inherent detail - both the detailing of materials and the detailing of designs absolutely everything in the cartoon. The characters have complex asymmetrical clothes with a huge number of details, the female characters have unrealistic, but very beautiful hairstyles, a lot of thought out to the smallest detail and beautiful locations. The animation is expressive, each character has a special gait and manner of movement, facial expressions and lipsinc are alive, emotions are bright - there is nothing to find fault with. Special effects, lighting and other visual charms – everything works as it should, it really looks unique. Praise applies to music, soundtrack, songs, the work of actors – emotionally, with its own handwriting, everything sounds nice, and on especially emotional scenes you could even cry, but the script failed such a good scene.
As a result, we get a children’s (not a family, not for all ages) fairy tale about eternal values (nothing new) with a weak script. However, this is a beautiful cartoon, on all fronts, there is a lot to see.
Sadly, the promises of a good family story, in which everyone sees something for themselves, turned out to be empty.
From a man who waited 4 years for the cartoon and hoped for the revival of Russian animation
6 out of 10
I’ve been waiting for this movie to come out, and I’ve been watching it progress for two years, and my friends have been doing it for even longer. And I am immensely glad that the studio 'Parovoz' was able to fight back all these covids and finally bring their project to the movie distribution.
The artistic solutions in the film are incredible, a huge thank you to the team of artists for the painstaking work in working out the design of the characters and the world around them. I really enjoyed watching mostly because of the colorful, juicy picture. I wanted to consider landscapes, details on the clothes of the heroes, and to draw them is a pleasure. Every time I am amazed by the incredible patience and attention to detail of the artists of the studio, the guys are truly masters of their craft.
I would also like to mention humor. Honestly, I didn’t expect much from this aspect of the cartoon and thought that the sword Kladenets in the company of Water will annoy me, but, as it turned out, they cope with their role as a comedian relief more than. I laughed a few times during the session.
Yes, the plot can not be called perfect, yet the stories about the hero and his beloved are quite clichéd, but this does not mean that you will be bored while watching. On the contrary, ' Koschei' able to entertain and, most importantly, attract a new audience to the world 'Fairytale Patrol' I hope that in the future the studio will be fine and no lockdown will not prevent them from continuing to please fans with good, quality films.