It would be fine, but why so sophisticated with animation? This cartoon had every chance to become a masterpiece, and it would have been if it had come out ten years earlier. But in the 1970s, the directors of Soviet animated films embarked on unnecessary experiments with style, as a result of which “Young Apples” look like animated lubricated pictures or even icons. Of course, a certain category of viewers will find such a solution interesting, but most still like the classic hand-drawn animation, at least as in the 1970 cartoon "Fairy tale affects". These works, by the way, have something in common: both are based on Russian fairy tales, in both there is Koschei the Immortal with the voice George Millyar, and also ...
No, it requires a little retreat. The view that cinema has captured clichés already in the XXI century is probably wrong, since even in Soviet films and cartoons we constantly see recurring elements. And since we are talking about the film adaptation of fairy tales, the claim to the fairy tales themselves: Why is the main character necessarily called Ivan? Ivan-tsarevich, Ivan-fool, Ivan-peasant son. Did the Russian storytellers know any other names? Such frequent use of the same name creates a limited horizon, and the term cliché fits like nothing else. But here's another recurring element, the Soviet era. Not that I was dissatisfied with it, but ... "Tails", "Well, wait!", "Alien footprints", "Bag of apples", "Grandfather Frost and Grey Wolf". Do you know what these cartoons have in common? In each of them there is a wolf with the voice Anatolia Papanov. And apparently, the actor is so connected in the minds of the directors with Canis lupus that in "Young Apples" also voices this beast. Probably, Papanov was bribed by the fact that this wolf does not look like his cartoon relatives, and this is true. In “Young Apples”, the wolf appears as a wise and even supernatural assistant to the protagonist, who travels to other worlds. These worlds are the main advantage of the cartoon, allowing you to put a positive assessment.
Shimmering stars and surreal towers accompanies specific music, unlike that usually used in Soviet cartoons. The cruel warrior and greedy Koschei are painted with close attention. The first has armor and thorns, the second has a crown and a mantle. But even more interesting are the monsters, which we quickly show at the wedding. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but among them there is a red dragon, which corresponds exactly to the description of the biblical apocalyptic monster. That's a surprise, isn't it? It is a pity that all this splendor is very poorly animated. The cartoon is full of moments when the characters’ movements are twitched, as if with a reduced frame rate. Why, one asks, is it so much more pleasant to look at smooth movements? Another disadvantage is the appearance of the brothers Ivan. They are so hyperbolized that one of them resembles a walking dead man because of the gray skin.
I do not want to put “Young Apples” negative assessment, but the desire to show a special visual led the director too far.
6 out of 10