The graphics are beautiful, the animation of the characters is at a good level. That is, the technical component, though not Hollywood, but very decent, better than many European cartoons. But with the creative part, everything is very sad. The script was based on Pushkin’s fairy tale “Ruslan and Lyudmila” and spoiled it with innovations. The cartoon is focused on the Western market, so all the inserts are from Hollywood cartoons. In principle, this is not bad, but not always in place. But the main thing is not even that, but that directing and editing are absent as a class. The scenes jump to each other without any connection. A lot of absolutely unnecessary scenes and characters that for a few seconds for some reason flash on the screen and then do not participate in the plot. The main characters do not know what to do on the screen, just stand and clap their eyes. And since they have nothing to say, they communicate mainly interjections. Most of the dialogue is a meaningless mooing: aaa, er, mm, ooh. And I'm not figuratively expressing it, but just as it is, the characters most of the time moo like dumb, or stupid. It's very infuriating.
Cartoon due to the beauty and brightness can appeal to young children who have meaning is not yet important. Older children and adults do not recommend watching it because of the characters communicating as oligophren and the complete lack of directing and normal editing.
"Risk is a noble cause," they said. He who does not take risks does not drink champagne. However, I do not drink champagne, but still took a chance and decided to join the modern Russian 3D animation. There are several reasons for this questionable decision. Some time ago I had to start reviewing the attitude to both Russian cinema and TV series, and therefore, what the hell is not kidding, suddenly things went well with cartoons? Second: Modern Russian filmmakers are trying very hard to impress the children's and youth audience, and it became interesting, and what, in fact, are now trying to put in the minds of the younger generation. Third: It was just curious what has changed in terms of 3D animation since the days of the night be mentioned.
Well, let's get straight.
The first thing to decide on is the question: what is in front of us? A Russian cartoon? History, mastering the rich material of folk culture? Rethinking or, sorry Hospadi, developing a classic? Let’s be frank – all this has nothing to do with Ruslan and Lyudmila. Yes, nominally a Russian cartoon, a story based on a classic fairy tale, but all this is only nominal. The case when I really wanted to do, as they had there, but needed money, and therefore on the "pitching" had to issue an idea for which the state represented by the Cinema Foundation will allocate money. Well, that's it. Money was given, and then the creators turned to the full extent.
So what's in front of us? No, Pushkin's out of business. Popular motives, too. Something original flew by. All that remained was dull copying and borrowing, multiplied by an absolutely undisguised infatuation with the West. Actually, the whole cartoon is made as if it was made not for the viewer, but for export. And, it is worth noting, I would not be surprised if in the West it was accepted, maybe not with enthusiasm, but in the general trend of this cartoon very much falls. Here you and racial diversity, and the trend for strong and independent girls, who find spineless men, and an endless series of gags for gags and hochm for hochm. In general, for the Western viewer, this cartoon, it seems to me, will become quite normal in the host of regular Disney and other similar half-tale stories with some original specifics from the series "about the Indians - Pocahontas", "about Maori - Moana", "about the Chinese - Mulan" ... well, now "about the Russians - Ruslan and Lyudmila".
Actually, this orientation of the authors to the Western market directly follows even from the visual style and direct homages. Here you and the castle with a twist under the Disney, and the design of the witch-dragon-snake, echoing the "How to tame the dragon" and Jafar from Aladdin. References to Disney princesses. This is the first place to go.
No problem. The authors see this, why not? It is unclear why the state allocates money for this.
But what the authors do not see is that in their imitation they completely forgot that in addition to homages, their work must also be filled with history. Disney princesses are popular not because of design or jokes, but because there are qualitatively thought out, although not necessarily some outstanding stories. In Ruslan and Lyudmila there is a magnificent classical source, which was pushed not even on the second, but on the third or fourth planes. Something is taken from there, but the main part of the narrative is composed from scratch and, it feels, on the knee. In any case, only this can explain the number of plot holes, shoals and frankly weak moments. Endless clowning in the bad sense of the word, pervasive pattern, outright mediocrity in terms of ideas and meanings. All this drowns the project, makes it completely passable, to say the least.
Except for the graphics. With her, yes, at least relatively good, especially when you remember what happened before. The picture in its embodiment, we can say, pleasantly pleased. If you leave behind the design literally everything, which is almost entirely worn out from Western projects. Are there no ideas or concepts? Is there such a lack of imagination and desire to step back from the legislators in 3D animation? As much as you can scold the same "Mill", but they at least the design of the characters does not try to repeat Western samples. There is a lot of copypaste here.
Separately, I will pay attention to both the sound component in general and separately to the voiceover. With the sound is not to say that trouble, but in this regard, the cartoon feels torn. Somewhere there is background music or ambient, and somewhere suddenly there is a silence that just tears the narrative. The voiceover is worse. Not only are the actors not really trying, and the characters communicate with absolutely stereotyped phrases, but also the ubiquitous love of our dubbers to voice any action of the character with some kind of ohmy-sighs, grunting, etc. Do you remember Schwartz's ridiculous smile in the 'Terminator Genesis', which for some reason we had the dubbing sound of the kringe-like 'Gyi'? Well, in "Ruslan and Lyudmila" these "Gyyy" literally everywhere.
Unprofessionalism is noticeable in many places and literally in every aspect.
No, if you throw aside claims about the lack of at least some originality, we can say that the cartoon came out tolerable. Lacking stars from the sky, not pretending to become a trendsetter, or at least to stand on a par with Disney counterparts, but at least Spanish shame from watching it does not feel. The only question is, why even try to do what they have, if you need to do what we have? It is a shame that the authors had both potential and opportunity, but did not find the desire to offer something of their own.
In general, you can see it all once. There are funny moments, there is a nice picture, there is an interesting story. But nothing more. But what about Ruslan and Lyudmila can not be said for sure, is that the cartoon looks in one breath. It doesn’t look like there’s room to grow... to grow long and long. First of all, at least some originality. Another attempt to do like Disney hardly anyone needs. And certainly no one needs flirting with Western trends, which even Western filmmakers themselves are beginning to understand. The question is how long will it take to reach our filmmakers.
The Ruslan and the Ludmila. The bolshe chem the skazka
“Ruslan and Lyudmila” is a very ambiguous creation, the creators of which, such an impression, until the very end could not decide for whom they make the cartoon. Taking as the main characters of well-known characters of Slavic folklore, they not only placed them in a world that looks more like an oriental fairy tale, but also Lyudmila herself was portrayed as a girl of not Slavic appearance (the closest analogue is Jasmine from "Aladdin").
Trying to do “like in Hollywood”, Russian filmmakers were so carried away that even the articulation of the characters was sharpened to English. You do not need to be an outstanding linguist to notice that the Russian voiceover is very crooked on the movements of the lips, but English is perfect. And this fact is doubly funny, given that foreigners rated the cartoon much lower than the Russians: with some completely insane score of 8.2 points on Kinopoisk (at the moment, Ruslan and Lyudmila are two steps away from getting into the Top 250) on IMDB, the picture barely crawled to 6 points. In my opinion, even this estimate is overstated.
“Ruslana and Lyudmila” can not be called hopeless or frankly bad: thanks to the more or less interesting first third. But the fuse of writers quickly fades, and the further - the mediocre becomes what is happening on the screen. Not bringing anything new to the genre, the cartoon even old, a hundredfold proven techniques are not able to pull at least to the mark of “good”. At some point, he goes into an exclusively physical comedy, where humor is based on the fact that someone somehow fell/hit and made a supposedly hilarious grimace. But such techniques are good in a strictly defined dosage or at least with an outstanding drawing. Neither those nor the other "Ruslan and Lyudmila" can boast.
If you try to disassemble the film into components, then there is absolutely nothing to note with the plus sign.
Drawing. It's nice, but nothing more. In some places, there is a lack of detail and elaboration, and the design of the characters is not much different from dozens of others seen in other - more successful - cartoons.
Music. It is not remembered at all, and the song that sounds in the second half of the film, and at all seems tortured and simply superfluous.
Characters. The main characters do not have their own distinctive feature, the secondary ones succeeded better, but also clearly will not be the reason for the cartoon to want to reconsider. And watching them, it's very hard to get rid of the thought, "I've seen this before somewhere." However, if you think a little, you can even remember where exactly.
As a result, we have a picture with an obvious crisis of self-identification, when the desire to do “as in the West” climbs from all the cracks, but the skills for this, alas, are not enough.
4.5 out of 10
The moral of the cartoon is simple: “Love inspires and gives strength to exploits”
It's a very funny cartoon. I laughed at the jokes. Especially over the last talking bear (voiced by Sergeev). This is the project of producer Sergey Selyanov. His production instincts again showed high-class animation. I love the Snow Queen series. There is the main character Lyudmila (it is voiced by Obreskova). She is emancipated, she is strong, she is beautiful, she chooses her own suitor. There are jokes about nerds and books. They just want to sit at home and read books. In the cartoon there is a mixture of cultures: “It seems to be ancient Russia, and people swim on boats, as immediately noticed the guns of the Peter’s era with fireworks and fountains of French palaces.” It didn't put me off. It just serves to amplify jokes and gags that are understandable all over the world. In the cartoon there is a Grand Duke who loves his daughter immensely. The moral of the cartoon is simple: “Love inspires and gives strength to exploits.”
The counterweight to the sorcerer Chernomor is put to the mind of a simple young man Ruslan. The cartoon has fairy tale characters and jokes based on world cultures. It's funny in cartoons. Producer Selyanov is betting on 4K quality. The graphics are great. I'll give artists 5 with three pluses. Everything is funny and the adventures of Ruslan are a sea of gags. 5 writers. Scenario moves are fresh and taken from world culture. If I didn't know it was a Russian project, I thought, "The real Hollywood." This is a family tale about Ruslan’s love for Lyudmila. Love gives strength to the most fearless feats. Love is understandable to children and adults. Therefore, the cartoon is interesting for its traditional values. Thanks to the directors Tsitsilin, Nikolaev, Zamyslov. The cartoon is very juicy and dynamic.
Lyudmila, who will not give herself offense, is a bow to emancipated persons. Feminists would love to see such a girl. And girls 6+ will be pleased to see such dexterity, cunning Lyudmila. Jokes and gags in a world-class cartoon.
This is a fairy tale converted into a modern way of thinking. There is love, witchcraft and the main characters are the heroes of all screen time. This is a gorgeous Russian animation. I really liked the cartoon.
What interested me in this animated film, however paradoxical it may sound in view of the further text of the review, is the striking similarity with the foreign feature-length animated film \\\\\\\\\\' Rapunzel. It’s a complicated story that we all know and love.39 In the trailer for \\\\' Ruslan and Lyudmila\\' I saw, in fact, something with a temper for the sequel, and I was curious: are Russian filmmakers able to pull out a cartoon with such a statement?
I was not surprised by the answer.
Well. The style of drawing, the faces of the heroes (especially the soldiers and the prince), the facial expressions of Rapu ... that is, Lyudmila, Ruslan's crooked smile, the scene in the bar at the beginning of the cartoon, the horse, even the music - all are a direct reference (copy) to Rapunzel. The market, on which Lyudmila jumps, is also almost completely painted under a carbon copy. Basically, if we see it as a sequel, and if we miss Rapunzel, but want a new story with similar characters (Flynn dyed blonde), why not? (Let’s take a moment from the idea that it’s better to do your own.)
Nevertheless, everyday situations are completely unrealistic (I’m not talking about the Pushkin story right now); playful, stupid dialogues from the first minutes of the film give the picture an awkwardness. It feels like \\\\\' that could be better \\\\', and although the drawing is quite high-quality, but the embodiment of the plot is a blunder. And the voiceover is limping: the actors seem to just read the text, but do not experience what is happening on the screen. This attitude to his work gives the picture an unbalanced, unsightly look (beautiful picture, zero content).
As I understand it, the director conceived a cross between Rapunzel and all the beloved Bogatyrs. The theme of feminism and a strong-independent woman next to the bookworm 39, such a cute and sincere infantil in his love, is simply boring. Gender inequality was worse than in Alyosha Popovich (at least it was funny there). To be honest, I already got this topic in cartoons (as in life).
In the same Rapunzel, the main characters were uniformly strong, a little stupid (although here Lyudmila, apparently, not a little, since the Arab decor takes for China), naive, but bright. In this cartoon, Ruslan turned out to be quite nothing (a pretty face is not the best method of calling sympathy for GG), although with a claim to Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi, who voiced the main character in Rapunzel) - a geek in the series of the same name, who became a spy at the expense of ingenuity. But if Chuck had charisma, due to which the viewer sympathized with him more than beautiful and professional spies, then Ruslan completely lacks it. It's not pleasant to see such a male hero. However, as well as his rivals (mother's son, narcissist and voivode without a king in his head - a typical gathering, also designed to cause tenderness of the GG).
It seemed to me that Russian cinema wanted to go its own way and get as far away from foreign fashion as possible. Continuation of the theme of incapable men throughout the film (it is constantly present there in various situations) frankly not very pleasant laugh, as if in this cartoon only women are capable of something.
I'll refrain from evaluating.
A fairy tale of a courageous princess and a feminine book
Local bookmaker Ruslan does not have enough to be a real man, but he knows that he loves Lyudmila very much. He is willing to propose to her. On the eve of the wedding, Lyudmila is kidnapped by a dragon and finds herself in the kingdom of Chernomor. Ruslan will have to go a hard way, meet friends and become courageous. And at this time, the princess is not wasting time planning an escape.
Everything else: I rarely watch cartoons of Russian production, but I was impressed by the advertising trailer. I’ll tell you right away when you go to the cartoon from the authors 'Hansel and Gretel' or the last parts of 'The Snow Queen' never count on an identical plot with a book by a famous writer/writers. Turn off your head and you’ll see a familiar story, but in a new way. The authors at the beginning of the tape bribe Disney leitmotif. A stunning kingdom that looks like an alternative ancient Russia, but it is also a mixture of other cultures. Central Asian, Egypt and especially in the cinemas of cartoons of Russian production, therefore tired of Western. But this is even good, because the audience’s tastes will be taken into account in this funny film. At the very beginning of the tape, we are introduced to ' fairy tale' which is read by the father of his daughter. There is a small window in ' Magical World' princesses, and not ours, but it pleases. The viewer understands that the images of Disney princesses exploit, but in favor. This was in 'The Prince Charming' and in other cartoons that don't belong to Disney. On the contrary, it is interesting to watch the Russian princess liberate the West. There's a modern subtext to this. But we came to watch a movie, not to condemn for the transfer of famous personalities of girls in distress or stuck in the castle.
The cartoon is charming, and in some ways progressive. He shows modern values and without offense gives each of the heroes their own happiness. There are three princes who claim one love, but each finds his own way. Someone's fate is quickly decided, and sees love not in beauty, but in the actions of a woman. It's more complicated with the others. One of them is a mother’s son who finally decided to come out of the shell. Some people follow their stubbornness and do not want to see the obvious. It is typical of hetero-men with a sense of superiority.
Loved the heroes. That Ruslan is a walking Flynn Ryder and a mix of Nikolai Baskov. Unlike the latter, he is not a narcissistic youngster, but knows what he wants in life. Success can be achieved not only with the help of the head, but the masculinity that he finds closer to the climax. And Lyudmila herself is not from the timid ten and can stand up for herself. Apparently, this cartoon promotes the themes of the feminist movement.
The humor is pretty good. A samovar peeing with boiling water, a wonderful old man Finn with his cockroaches in his head, and other gags with respect. By the way, the topic of unrequited love on the part of Finn is also shown interestingly. There is something to think about, because you can not make someone fall in love with you. It is painful to realize, but if you love, you must let go. Maybe someone really cared about you, but not in the way you expected.
Among all voices, the voices of the bear Burn (Sergeev) and the antagonist, who was wonderfully voiced by Valentin Morozov, stand out. The actor is remembered by all of us for the role of King Caramel from 'Ralph' and his voice cannot but delight.
Speaking of 'Ralph', I immediately recall the sequel. There are classic princesses in it, which is similar in this cartoon. Thank you for not forgetting about
There are quite noticeable disadvantages, for example, the straightforwardness of some events, that for adults this fact is noticeable, and children will rejoice with humor and a beautiful picture.
High-quality graphics look great, what are the horses of the main characters. The knights are well designed. I wonder how the authors paid attention to the details of the cloven-hoofed. Each of the funny horses looks great, but not only them, but the rest of them paid attention. Each character is an unforgettable holiday. He only gave them little attention to strange beasts (like a rabbit bear). You could add more, as in 'The Croods Family' Since they added a bunch of princesses, it may be necessary to diversify the animals.
Impressions: When you watch this cartoon, you forget about Pushkin. I'm sorry, Alexander Sergeevich. The tape gives cheerfulness and fun. He also says that if there is love in the world, it will come to you.