MAVKA: El Espíritu Del Bosque

I am very very happy it's finally available to see. More than 7 years of work by animagrad is huge time and financial investment

It's amazing cartoon for babies.

However, by being adult and knowing the book, I have been expected more dynamics, much more energy, and main heroes appearance in absolutely different way, same as behavior, moves and of course different dramatic ending.

Book by Lesya Ukrainka is incredible rich and emotional, and unfortunately I could not feel anything even close related to the book, it s just a new cartoon that is good but about different mavka and different story.

But I think that it is also big success. Thank you for film! Hope for a new ones soon by animagrad and ukrainian animators. The more products will be done, more experience will bring better results..

This picture is a work of art in the field of animation. The team worked on the cartoon for about five years, which passed in vain. As a result, we have a quality Ukrainian product that can compete with the outstanding films of famous filmmakers. The voice actors were chosen very well, they seem to live the lives of their animated characters. And it is very nice to know that the basis of such a beautiful cartoon is the literary work of the Ukrainian writer Lesya Ukrainka. I am very happy and very proud that my country has such talented people who can satisfy my aesthetic needs as a film lover.

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.

The courage of the authors is to be commended. They chose a Slavic (Ukrainian) setting and guessed it. We hardly see it in cinemas.

This dynamic cartoon will not let you get bored or fall asleep. Your children will like it and Mavka will try very hard to please you too.

I liked the good visuals and fresh style. Of course you have to forgive the average animation of some human characters. But the inhabitants and spirits of the forest are excellent.

Also, this cartoon is worth watching to support young and talented authors. So that they can create very good product in the future.

And stay after the subtitles to see the important plot twist ;)

Wow, what an amazing film, to be able to put my review in such few words, is if you want to watch a great thought out film, with diverse colours, creative story line, musically and sound enhanced with character progression and a cartoony feel that leaves you wanting more, then give Mavka a watch!

I think the only thing letting it down would actually be some of the fighting scenes, I get its meant to be directed at all ages, actually unsure of the rating as I write this review but I would think its in the PG ball park, it would be good to actually see no. 2 of this if it ever goes ahead but from what I understand and the plot line they left that to interpretation. I think overall its a good film and well worth a watch if you have kids or you're into animation.