Savva y el dragón de fuego

This is the first animation that was imported to Ukraine from Russia AND fully voiced in Ukrainian. Before, we used to only get subtitled versions of Russian movies and TV-shows (though, one might wonder why are we importing anything at all, considering the war). So, despite being understandably cautious, I was expecting something at least half-decent. Russians aren't at all that bad at making animations and movies ― I've watched a lot of them and I've found some very worthy ones.

In "Savva", however, we can clearly see politics bleeding into the territory of art. The result of such process is a piece of not art, but barely concealed propaganda, a product of Russian brainwashing industry. The most prominent example of it is the animation's portrayal of villains ― hyenas, which were painted* in blue and yellow, Ukrainian national colors. Symbolism of this is beyond obvious, it's practically screaming 'Ukrainians are evil'. At this point I was surprised this was even allowed to reach theaters in my country.

Also, one of the voice-acting stars who voiced Ukrainian version of "Savva" was Vladimir Zelensky, an actor and a TV-series director known for his anti-Ukrainian attitude and offensive statements. His photo was even featured on this animation's posters. I hope you can imagine in which way this fact influenced my impressions of the title.

The parts of it that are not trying to plant a toxic idea in your subconscious aren't good either. A pile of random ideas crumpled together, the execution of which is pathetic. Some people might like background music, but to me it seemed like a wasted effort. The story is not interesting, in fact, it's barely even there.

All in all, I'd say "Savva" is just bad. It's poorly made, and it's harmful to your mental health, unless you count brainwashed as a natural state of mind (you WILL get brainwashed, eventually, if you subsequently watch this, or the likes of it). So, please, do yourself a favor and stay away from this atrocity. You'll thank me later.

* ― there's this speculation that they weren't originally supposed to be like this. In the first teaser (03.03.2011) hyenas were shown to be green and yellow, instead of blue and yellow. However, we have to judge the product by its final state.

I was happy to find a russian animated movie. Russia has a wonderful heritage, as testified my Sky Arts having a Block in its programming dedicated to it for a time.

This is mostly likeable, though generic fantasy adventure which doesn't give us much in the way of charcterization but is fun nonetheless. There is at least one annoying (and flatulent) character who adds very little and the over all charm is as modest as its animation.

I didn't hate this but it's not something you should feel bad for missing.

Come on... it is a mess. Without any sense, no story-line, too much of everything... What is good for me in this animation is music - that's all. I think 5 is too much for such a non professional work. And it is not about that it is done by Russians - it as all about screenplay - bad. I saw this animation till the end to understand what is all about and if it is possible to show it to my 4 years kid - no way... Not very bad graphics with very bad story. And that's not counting the borrowings - in the beginning the monster comes into the hut - Brotherhood of the Wolf, the monkeys - The Jungle Book, hyenas - The Lion King. Characters looks like they came from the pen of the Japan-China animators. This eared Pokemon looks very strange? Shaman and knight from Ronal Barbaren was the cherry on the pie...

This is one of the worst movies ever rendered. The plot is a series of sections ripped from other stories, with jingoistic characters that have no consistency or growth arc, the animation is pretty average, looking more like something from the 1990's then from 2015.

New worst movie ever. OMG! What kind of drugs were these people on?!?! Holy crap. I've never heard so many horrific stereotypical accents/characters, ridiculous dialogue, trite plot, and totally incongruent story line. It's almost worth watching just to laugh till you cry at how seriously they appear to have taken them selves while making this utterly horrific trash. It's like a train wreck though... I can't stop watching. What the hell bizarre crap will they throw in the mix next? Aliens? Dinosaurs? Anyone's guess.