La Bella y la Bestia

Other reviewers have already left excellent reviews. One thing I'd like to point out though is that this story is NOT based on Beauty and the Beast. Just like the story of Cinderella has various versions in folk cultures spanning from China to Iceland, the fable of Beauty and the Beast is also an ancient mythological storyline to which every nation eventually added its own twist.

In this case, the Russian folklorist Sergei Aksakov recorded The Scarlet Flower in mid-1850s "as told by my housekeeper Pelagea". Aksakov claimed he remembered her tale since his early childhood. This explains all the plot deviations from the version known to the Western reader as their own traditional fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast.

The animation does full justice to his story and still remains one of the most popular Soviet animation films today.

A very beautiful animated adaptation of the folktale "The Scarlet Flower", which is basically the Russian equivalent of The Beauty and the Beast, almost 40 years before Disney did their own version of said story.

The animation has aged phenomenally well, with a very elegant use of rotoscoping and gorgeous-looking backgrounds. All the sequences taking place in the enchanted island of the Beast are exquisitely made, being a wonderful pleasure to the eyes.

The plot is very simple, but charming, very close to the usual whimsical nature of old fairytales instead of trying to adjust them a more "logical", conventional narrative like modern Disney does. This adds to its charm in my opinion, and kinda wish other animated adapations of fairytales and legends from the last decades did a similar thing, instead of trying to imitate the Disney/Pixar formula.

Now let's clarify this! This is the original story that Disney has adopted to make the Beauty and The Beast movie they made it more cheesy dribbling of saliva. No offense, but this is the original B&B not the Disney one as everyone think it is.

Considering that Beauty and the Beast is such a timeless story and that Russian animation and film-making fascinates me, they were reasons enough to make me want to see The Scarlet Flower. I am so happy I did, because this was a truly beautiful animation and one of my favourites from Russia(and there are some great Russian animations). The animation is rich and elegant, I especially loved the colours and the wonders of the island which contrasted beautifully with the dark haunting colours of the first encounter with the monster. The music is both beautiful and stirring with somewhat at times a Rimsky-Korsakov influence. The dialogue is very literate and noble, the translation is not the best but it doesn't spoil the mood at all. The story is very true in detail and spirit to the Beauty and the Beast story while adding a distinctive Russian flavour to it, much of it was very moving too like the ending and the father's stay on the island/first encounter with the monster were remarkably mysterious. The characters are always engaging, Nastenka is very easy to relate to and I liked the sincerity of the father, and the voice acting is pitched perfectly, I did like that the monster was very foreboding but in an understated sort of way. In conclusion, a true beauty in every way. 10/10 Bethany Cox