It's more like 'A Lukewarm Stone', at best. That's not trying to be horrible, which is never my intent when reviewing films, television, cartoons, productions etc. On here, just frustrating when one sees the second underwhelming Soviet animation in a row immediately after being pleasantly surprised by another Soviet animation of that type. The concept actually did sound intriguing and initially quite different from the usual Soviet animated political short film and despite what one might think most Soviet/Russian animation is fantastic.
Which is why it is a shame that to me 'A Hot Stone' is not one of those fantastic ones. A case of starting off well but going downhill too early and never recovering. Is it bad or unwatchable? No. Could 'A Hot Stone' have been a lot better? Absolutely. Soviet animated political short films could be good, 'It's in Our Power' being a prime example, but most didn't do it for me and 'A Hot Stone' is another one of the ones that didn't work for me while appreciating its intentions.
'A Hot Stone' is beautifully animated at least though. Really liked the heroic storybook style and there was some very bold imagery, such as breaking of chains and the slaying of the double headed eagle. The background art is very rich in detail, colourful and atmospheric too and the ink strikes stick out. The music was both haunting and lively, without sounding too heroic.
Like what was said above, 'A Hot Stone' started off with a lot of promise, with a very neat set up that had the makings of something quite movingly profound and thought-provoking.
Shame though that it felt like something else once "the most wonderful revolution in the world" storytelling was brought in, and an inferior something else. With content that would have struggled to fill 8 minutes worth of animation, stretching it out to over twice that length felt unnecessary and overdone. The story is next to plotless apart from the beginning and goes at a very dull pace. While without complaints in style, the substance is not there.
There is not enough tension or emotion, 'A Hot Stone' is very heavy handed in what it is trying to say (which doesn't really feel like much or ring true) and it could have been a lot more subtle in its portrayal of the revolution, don't think many people would have seen the revolution and civil war the way it's described here. Despite being done in the 60s, the attitude towards the subject feels very 40s, which was a common problem had personally with most similar short films.
Overall, starts promising but quickly becomes dull. 4/10.
