"Ruslan and Ludmila. More than a fairy tale "- a free adaptation of Pushkin will delight children, but adults will be bored
Miscellaneous / / August 25, 2023
The authors abandoned the original, but forgot to modernize the cartoon.
On August 24, the premiere of the cartoon “Ruslan and Lyudmila. More than a fairy tale."
The cartoon is based on Alexander Pushkin's poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila", but it is difficult to call it a film adaptation - rather, it is a project based on motives. The Voronezh animation studio, known for the films Wolves and Sheep, The Snow Queen, Hansel, Gretel and the Agency of Magic, worked on it.
Chernomor kidnaps Princess Lyudmila. Her father, Prince Vladimir, agrees to give the savior both the throne and Lyudmila herself. Ruslan, who is in love with a girl, as well as other men who want to receive a princely title, is sent to rescue the princess.
Universal Plot
The authors of the cartoon decided to use Pushkin's poem rather as a source of inspiration. The names of the characters and the general plot coincide, but the details have been changed. And this is a dubious idea.
On the one hand, the changes simplify the story - it becomes more direct and understandable. On the other hand, the details that make the fairy tale unique disappear. For example, Lukomorye and many epic heroes disappear.
Writers cut off the little things until they have only a common framework. As a result, the viewer gets a universal and familiar story about saving the princess and by the end you forget what Pushkin has to do with it at all.
The first half of the film even remindsShrek”, and Ruslan, who looks like Prince Charming, only strengthens the associations.
Questionable relevance
The scriptwriters promised to modernize the fairy tale, but it turned out to be rather universalization. Only Lyudmila seems really modern - an atypically strong girl for such a fairy tale. She is ready to rule the kingdom herself, and in one of the scenes she even raises a feminist revolt among the kidnapped princesses - unprecedented progressivism for Russian animation.
At the same time, the main ideas of the cartoon can hardly be called modern, they are classic: you need to fight for love, overcome your weaknesses, and friendship is better than rivalry. It's not bad. It's just in vain that the authors hinted at modernizing so much, since they did without it.
Standard animation
You can talk endlessly about "answer and replacement Pixar”, but this does not make the animation better. It is enough to watch five or six trailers of Russian cartoons released over the past couple of years to understand that they look more or less the same.
The authors of "Ruslan and Lyudmila" themselves do not really change the visual range from picture to picture, and it does not matter who the cartoon is about. Not surprisingly, their new work does not differ much from the previous ones, from the standard level of Russian animation.
In a sense, "Ruslan and Lyudmila" is the personification of the stagnation of domestic animation. Russian authors continue to look up to Western examples, but do not maintain the same level. That is why Ruslan looks like Prince Charming from the second Shrek, which was released 19 years ago. Ludmila is a classic Disney princess.
This is not a terrible animation, just average, standard, familiar. A six year old will love it.
Where over-patriotic critics want to see "Pixar's answer," there's just a bright picture. And despite the fact that there was a powerful Soviet animation with a lot of tricks and ideas.
"Ruslan and Lyudmila: more than a fairy tale" is not an outstanding, but not a bad cartoon for children's audience. It is simple and clear, colorful, dynamic. But go for it without high expectations. Fans of Pushkin's work will be disappointed by the superficial connection with the original source, and those who want to look at a "modernized" story will get a standard plot.
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Cover: frame from the cartoon “Ruslan and Lyudmila. More than a fairy tale"