Im Königreich der Zauberspiegel

Well, I watched this movie many times so I think I can better explain what it is all about. Olya the girl in the beginning of the movie features her personal weaknesses, or bad habits, or let's call it sins. She is craving for grandma's jam so much, that she discards grandma's word no to touch the jam, and breaks the can as she tries to eat some. Also Olya is recreant, lazy, irresponsible, sweet-tooth to the extent of forgetting about more important things. In other words Olya features a number of bad habits typical for children of her age. And through possession of these bad habits she becomes attracted to the fairy-tale surreal world of "Kingdom of crooked mirrors" which in fact is some kind of anti-world where all inhabitants bear reversed names to be read backwards to understand the true nature of the character. The kingdom is ruled by bizarre and evil characters featuring different animals like Parrot, Adder, Falcon, Toad (all shall be read backwards), and in fact represent a fake and gullish monarch Parrot, and three ruthless, cunning and power loathing tycoons: Toad, Adder and Falcon, who really rule the Kingdom. Played by people dressed and made up accordingly. In order to cement their power over the Kingdom they lean upon what probably should be described as total and systematic lying, or people's mass misinformation, by producing and disseminating only crooked mirrors. For this end they arrested the mirror-maker Friend who refused to produce crooked mirrors. So the CMK world represents where do Olya's weaknesses or bad habits would finally take her if not eradicated timely and properly. During her trip in the Kingdom Olya is accompanied by her mirror twin Yalio, who has no bad habits, but acts accordingly to her age. The main goal is to free the mirror-maker Friend from the Death Tower, which means the end of the Kingdom of Crooked mirrors. Olya has to overcome her own weaknesses and bad habits on her way to the goal, otherwise the ruling of Adder, Falcon, and Toad will never end. It is important to understand that in the USSR production of movies was controlled by Art councils, so the final product is kinda a balance between the movie director and Art council, therefore something resembling propaganda can sometimes be expected. But if you understand the entire story and the plot, you will see that Kingdom is a materialization of one's bad habits taken to the logical absolute to show to kids how important is to take an active and firm position in life and to stick to the truth, that in adult life you will have to take an active position, you will have to distinguish your friends from enemies, and you will have to act accordingly. Well, from the point of view of Adder, Falcon, and Toad this must be a very dangerous propaganda.

This is a very fun and quirky Russian children's movie done in the vain of Alice In Wondeland.

Olia, a young girl who is always losing things breaks a jar of jam, at which point a mirror begins to talk to her. She climbs inside, where she meets her reflection Ailo (The backwards spelling of her own name.)

The mirror was crooked however, and they are actually within the most crooked of all crooked mirrors.

They meet a host of characters, ranging from the Tattletales, King Tarrop (Parrot backwards, you get the point, the spellings are backwards.), Leasew the chef and many others.

There dilemma begins when Dneirf is taken to the Tower of Death for breaking a crooked mirror. Olia and Ailo set out to try and save him, meeting this bulk of interesting characters along the way.

The film is very sweet and innocent, a slight bit of Russian propaganda if you can call it that, i think of it more as a little bit of patriotism, is thrown in, but that's pushed far back. This film is more a fairytale than anything else.

I won't lie, the production isn't superb. The fantasy sets are very dated and remind me of many other very cheap 60's films, and it is very childish too. But it is very enjoyable, and that's all that matters.

If you want a little bit of harmless entertainment, or you have some young-ones you'd like to show something too, then maybe this is a good option.

The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors uses the rather over-used mirror portal to a different world, but adds it's own idea to it with using it to show the other side of the human character. Furthermore it gives children a simple insight into the backstabby ways of politics too.

Obviously there will always be some little plot holes in a movie like this, or other story related things that could've done with a little more explanation, but overall it's a movie with a very nice flow to it that keeps you entertained until the end. And that, compared to similar movies from the same era, features a surprisingly low amount of in-the-face soviet propaganda.

Certain films leave a lasting impression, even though you cannot explain why. This film is dated and the quality of the special effects is questionable. Nonetheless, this movie has a lot of charm. It is actually quite exciting (my little cousins love it) and fun to watch.

Have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of watching Russian films, especially fantasy. Both five years ago, when going on a bit of a quest to help me through an intensive period of studying, and now when re-visiting the fond happy memories during a much calmer period. Watching the films has given me great pleasure and it is somewhat too an education, getting acquainted with these stories and making one interested in learning Russian (a lovely language, though not easy to learn).

'Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors' is not one of the standouts of the "re-visiting" period and it is not one of my favourite Russian fantasies. It is still a lovely film, very entertaining and charming and with a lot in its favour. As noted, there is a 'Alice in Wonderland' influence to the story and atmosphere, but it is hardly derivative. There are enough imaginative touches to set it apart and the atmosphere has a sense of wonder, the surrealism being a big part of the appeal. It is another winner from Alexandr Rou, have not seen all his films but have liked all that have been seen. It will be a shame though that some viewers will be most familiar with him from 'Frosty' (or 'Morozko'), riffed on MST3K, which to me is not near as bad as indicated and not done justice by its dubbed version (like all the Russian fantasy films riffed).

The production values are not always mind-blowing. The costumes are over-saturated and some of the special effects do look rushed and not very special.

Some of the acting is a touch on the broad side.

On the other hand, enough of 'Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors' is colourful and nicely designed with a good deal of atmosphere. Other special effects have a charm to them and are quite imaginatively used. The music is lush and atmospheric and Rou directs with an assured touch that never gets too serious or farcical. The writing flowed enough and made enough sense, some of it is on the cheesy side but again not in a way that was distracting as it didn't feel over-the-top and it certainly doesn't complicate the storytelling which is actually pretty simple.

Liked the storytelling, which was fun and amiable with a sense of wonder and endearing quirkiness, and the viewer is fully immersed into a wonderfully bizarre world. The surrealism is done inventively and even though strange (in a captivating way) didn't to me become incoherent. The characters are immensely colourful in personality and it is difficult to not remember them. The acting is not the greatest but there was something oddly likeable in this respect.

In conclusion, very nice. 8/10 Bethany Cox