Mavka - Hüterin des Waldes

Being mostly raised on Disney's cartoon in a post soviet Ukraine I must admit, that this is the first cartoon of its kind(made in Ukraine) that deeply touched my stale, selfish ego.

Even though the film was in production for something like 3 years, and was postponed for release several times (the last, probably due to the war), I like to admit that the final result is remarkably good.

Needless to say, that international viewers will miss some real fun & insights related to local (modern) Ukrainian culture, due to translation(as this always happens), but I hope, that the most important senses will get positive acclaim.

P.s. The movie is based off a classic poetic play, called "The Forest Song" by Lesya Ukrainka, which all Ukrainian kids study in mid-school.

As a Ukrainian, I have seen many bad films and cartoons, and it was hard for me to leave the cinema every time after watching some bs. It was like that every time. Till this moment.

Beautiful. Funny. Positive. Instructive.

That's all about this cartoon.

This is a very very Ukrainian cartoon based on the work of a Ukrainian writer, and it is amazing to see the culture of your country in such a high-quality film.

I was amazed that in Ukraine they were able to create such a masterpiece. Really. Without such budgets as in Disney, without such specialists, but it is clear that it is made with soul. And even with the smaller capabilities, it still looks great.

You can learn something about the culture of Ukraine, and if you don't care about that - you'll just have a good time with a very... unusual but good cartoon. Even if you are 3 years old, even if you are 33.

Foreign viewers, fans of fantasy, may involuntarily compare this cartoon with Princess Mononoke, but all the responsibility here lies solely with the screenwriters, who probably wanted to add or even replace the depressive texts of the Ukrainian poetess with a more joyful and childlike naivety, where good triumphs over evil, and there is a happy ending at the end of the movie. The cartoon is really high-quality and interesting for both children and adults. I would like to single out interesting secondary characters, such as Frol, Erek and Derek (which are very reminiscent of the Klitschko brothers) , and the forest character Hook, and of course the forest naiads. Musical compositions performed by Dakha Brakha (as well as their cartoon characters), Khrystyna Soloviy and Artem Pyvovarov fit very harmoniously into the feature film. It is very pleasant that animated films based on the works of Ukrainian poets, poetesses,writers began to appear on the big screens.

To start, I want to say that I'm from outside of the Ukraine, I know nothing about it or its culture, and I have no children. So I'm purely reviewing this with an outsiders perspective, compared with many of the other reviews so far.

Funnily enough, I found out about this movie just from seeing the poster. I LOVE all things nature and green, so I looked up the trailer, and it reminded me a lot of my favourite Disney movie 'Tangled' in many ways. So I decided to watch it. I knew nothing of the story or culture it was based on. I just thought 'Forest theme = Yes' and 'Tangled Vibes = Yes'. And I have to say, I really loved this movie.

It's not perfect by any means. There were a few moments I felt were a bit childish, but... It's a kids movie so I can't really fault it for that. Some of the dialogue is a bit clunky, and the editing and placement of scenes sometimes doesn't quite fit. The story is quite thin too. Also, the animation isn't going to be as good as that from the major studios, as its a low budget movie.

And yet, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie: Everything about it. I enjoyed the humorous moments, the weird and over the top characters. The scenery was GORGEOUS, and I just couldn't help but have a smile on my face a lot of the time. The music was beautiful. And I LOVED the design of Mavka. Considering this wasn't a big budget movie, the animation was incredible too.

I think there's a few things mentioned above that should go against it, but they don't. Because it's just too darn charming. I love this movie and I'd definitely watch it again.

Watched this cartoon in the cinema in Odesa. The impressions are great, beautiful graphics, a wonderful story based on ukrainian legends, cool songs. I really liked how the cartoon characters were drawn, the characters are very beautiful, the scenery is mesmerizing, the nature is incredible! Very funny jokes, several times we couldn't hold back and laughed for the whole hall. It's nice to hear the voices of ukrainian stars. In a word, my daughter was impressed! I recommend watch this cartoon, if you want to have a good time with your child, get aesthetic pleasure and touch to ukrainian legends and folklore.