Zolotye roga

GOLDEN HORNS, aka BABA YAGA, is a typical Russian children's fantasy film that brings in various myths and legends associated with the woods, in particular the famous witch herself. This one begins with a magical deer being hunted by the usual unscrupulous robbers, but coming to its aid are a family of gentle folk living in the woods. The amount of animals in this film makes you think of DR DOOLITTLE because their presence is continual. There's a magical witch's cat, a friendly and goofy bear, a dog and of course the deer themselves. The camera trickery is often basic and amusing but the whole thing does have a cheap and occasional pantomime feel to it.

It seems that throughout the '60s and '70s, a number of the movies targeted at tykes ended up pretty bizarre, even demented. A number of the ones that came from the Soviet Union have to get seen to be believed. I had previously seen the Soviet TV adaptations of "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Pinocchio" - that one was basically "The Partridge Family" on steroids and acid - but Aleksandr Rou's "Zolotye roga" ("The Golden Horns" in English) is a more sedate one. True, the musical scenes look as if they're trying to make kids need psychiatric help, but it's an enjoyable movie. People familiar with Russian fairy tales will know who Baba Yaga is. If not, you'll get an idea while watching the movie. Another interesting depiction of her is the Italian movie "Baba Yaga" in which Carroll Baker starred during the years when she worked in Italy.

Yes, it's one of the weirder movies out there, but you're sure to love it. Another WTF children's movie from the Soviet Union is a 1983 adaptation of "Mary Poppins" containing 1980s pop music (I spent the whole movie wondering how the Soviet Union got its hands on 1980s pop music). Bert - played by Dick Van Dyke in the more famous version - looks like a cross between Elliott Gould and Keith Richards.

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 has even been an education, getting acquainted with these stories and making one interested in learning Russian (a lovely language, though not easy to learn).

'Baba Yaga' is not one of the standouts of the "re-visiting" period and it is not one of my favourite Russian fantasies. It is still very entertaining and charming and with a lot in its favour. 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).

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

Plus some of the story is disjointed at times and not always as focused as it could.

On the other hand, enough of 'Baba Yaga' is colourful and nicely designed with a good deal of atmosphere. The special effects, while not what one calls special, 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, with the story actually pretty simple even with a good deal thrown in.

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, Baba Yaga is played very memorably with a mix of theatrical and sinister.

In conclusion, very nice. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I stumbled across this DVD at my local library so I took it home and watched it -- I'm glad I did! It appears to be a theatrical adaptation of a Russian fairytale -- goblins, witches, children disobeying their parents and learning a lesson from it, etc. It's very colorful and bizarre and though a little surreal/disjointed at times, it is competently made and would certainly delight children between ages 5-10 I'd say. Actually, it is very very similar to another Russian film -- "Morozko" (Jack Frost), which was featured on Mystery Science Theater. It's so familiar in fact that the witch character of Baba Yaga was played by the same actor in both films! And the witch lives in the same house -- a cabin that walks around with the aid of chicken legs! If you come across it and want to expose your kids to something culturally different that they won't get bored of or if you just are a fan of colorful, strange Russian cinema, definitely watch it!