“At the Order of the Pike” is a film that children will definitely love

On October 26, the film “At the Command of the Pike” was released in Russia, a film by Alexander Voitinsky based on Russian folk tales. Unlike the famous "The last hero” or the instantly forgotten “Baba Yaga Saves the World”, this is not a reimagining of the classics from a modern point of view. The authors simply collected several stories familiar from childhood and transferred them to the screen.

That is why “At the Command of the Pike” can definitely be recommended for viewing by children. Those accompanying their parents are unlikely to be too captivated by the plot, but they will be able to laugh at the jokes.

The plot combines several familiar fairy tales

Lazy Emelya lives with his father, a blind blacksmith. A young man tricks himself into avoiding work in order to go downhill and fish for his own pleasure. One day he comes across a magical pike that promises to grant three wishes. Having wasted two of them, Emelya decides that she needs to go to the king and woo his daughter Anfisa.

But she wants to marry the English ambassador out of convenience. Therefore, Emelya is given dangerous tasks, which he, with the support of his supernatural companion, invariably completes.

Of course, the authors of the new film adaptation took the basis of the plot from the fairy tale of the same name: this is the story of the slacker Emelya, who rides on the stove and wants to marry the princess. But already in the beginning, references to other stories are added to the action. Pike promises to fulfill not all the hero’s wishes, but only three - like the genie in “Aladdin». Then she turns into Vasilisa.

And then, like Ivan in “The Little Humpbacked Horse” or Fedot from Leonid Filatov’s fairy tale, Emelya is forced to look for magical artifacts over and over again. So the king wants to impress an overseas guest, and Anfisa wants to get rid of an unwanted groom.

It cannot do without traditional fairy-tale characters: Koshchei, Kota-bayun, Vodyanoy and others. Alas, they appear only in episodes, although they look more interesting than many of the central characters.

Such freedom and compilation is rather a virtue of a fairy tale. Alexander Rowe, who directed the first film adaptation of “At the Pike’s Command”, did exactly the same (in his version the title was written using a soft sign). Each story individually has long been known, and their plots are as simple as possible. So why not mix a few familiar ideas to at least somehow surprise the viewer?

“At the behest of the pike” is a good and even too obvious story

“The Last Hero” was far from the first attempt to reimagine classic fairy tales. Surely many from childhood remember such films as “After the Rain on Thursday”, “We Sat on the Golden Porch” or “One, two - grief is not a problem,” which more often ironized the traditional moves of folklore than followed them. Suffice it to recall Oleg Tabakov in the role of the well-fed and smiling Kashchei.

Against their background, it may seem that ordinary fairy tales will no longer be able to hook viewers. But “At the Command of the Pike” attracts with its simplicity and obviousness. In fact, there are not even villains in the film, besides the selfish Anfisa. And Emelya himself was made more pleasant than in the original story, where he beat the guards with magic clubs.

Even all the dangerous creatures that the heroes meet turn out to be kind, but they find themselves in a difficult situation. The heroes do not need to defeat them, but find the right approach to each one.

A cat, even a magical one, remains a simple cat. And a couple of owners of a self-assembled tablecloth are completely neglected people suffering from overeating. The film reminds us that if you treat others with kindness, they will respond in kind, and then they will also come to your aid.

The only controversial character is the Tsar, played by Roman Madyanov. On the one hand, this is the opposite of the classic unpleasant rulers from fairy tales: he does not just sit on the throne, but he himself fussing about the housework - similar characters were in “Vovka in the Far Away Kingdom” and in the aforementioned “On the Golden Porch” sat."

On the other hand, the king still looks like such an arrogant braggart. He contrasts foreign mechanisms with domestic magical things that he invents on the fly. And where to get them is the concern of others.

Perhaps the only slightly more subtle subtext in the film is the love story with the princess, which Emelya invented for himself, not noticing her real relationship. But from the very beginning it is clear how it will end: what last wish the hero will make, who he will take as his wife, and who will be punished for bad behavior.

Alas, such straightforwardness can become a little boring by the middle of the film. The most interesting characters never get developed, and the pacing slows down too much towards the end. Therefore, adult viewers will have to rely only on humor.

The jokes are most often simple but funny

Like a typical fairy tale, the film “At the Command of the Pike” often entertains with very childish comic scenes. Either all the courtiers start dancing to the accordion, then the characters called Obzhiralo and Obzhiralo eat very quickly, or Yuri Kolokolnikov pretends to have an absurd English accent.

Only occasionally there are funny jokes with a hint of relevance and the modern world. They are constructed more successfully than in “The Last Hero,” where they simply tried to show that fairy-tale heroes do not understand why individual objects are needed. And in “At the Command of the Pike” there is a hint of fear of other countries, a gag about a “divorce” on the road, and even a joke about Moscow “prettier under the Tsar.”

But for the most part, humor is based on simply successful phrases. The simpleton Emelya played by Nikita Kologrivoy, who seems absolutely sincere in this role, does not understand either irony or hints and amuses with his straightforwardness. And right there next to you is Vasilisa, played by Mila Ershova, known for the TV series “Difficult Teenagers” and “Fandorin. Azazel». She is responsible for sarcasm and in the first half of the film constantly teases Emelya, and he falls for her jokes every time. This duet, built on contrast, is the most lively and charming part of the picture.

And there is also a wonderful Bayun Cat, voiced by Sergei Burunov. Unfortunately, he is given very little screen time. But it’s impossible not to fall in love with the scene where he performs criminal ditties to the accordion. And the king manages to make a couple of good puns.

It would be an exaggeration to say that quotes from “At the Command of the Pike” will go down among the people and be remembered for a long time. But it's quite pleasant to laugh at the first viewing.

The authors tried to shoot on location rather than draw on a computer

In 2021, the same Sergei Selyanov and Natalya Smirnova produced the fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse”. The plot of the film turned out to be quite good, but sometimes the picture was simply painful to look at - the skate itself, most of the background landscapes were simply drawn on the computer. And most often it’s very bad.

“At the behest of the pike” looks much better. First of all, the authors are saved by the move of turning the pike into Vasilisa - this not only gives the character more individuality, but also allows one to avoid making one of the main characters a bad cartoon.

Of the important characters, only the Bayun Cat is drawn. But he only flashes in a few scenes and does not have time to tire. The rest of the characters and even most of the scenery are real. This harkens back to the old movies. Let the Tsar's mansion and Koshchei's monastery look as popular as possible, and let the costumes look grotesque. But there is a feeling of a familiar fairy tale, and not soulless graphics. Part of the action was filmed on location. And what could be better than beautiful landscapes to complement an adventure story?

For complete pleasure, there is only one thing left to do:

Ban our directors from filming action and comic scenes in slowmo.

Then we'll live.

The main advantage of the film “At the Pike’s Command” is that the film does not try to be “our answer” to anything, does not go beyond the traditional narrative and does not complicate the plot. This is a real fairy tale, the kind we watched as children. This approach may disappoint viewers who would like more wit and dynamism. But sometimes it’s just these simple stories without subtext that are missing.