La principessa incantata

Some of the best animation I have seen, sadly it stops there. If there is such a thing as sliders to regulate things like characters, stereotypes, hand gestures while creating the rest of the film everyone is set to max! Every personality is massively overdone. Every character type is the same, so much so I got to halfway through and left. Honestly, I only stayed that long as I was with someone and was far to embarrassed I dragged them along to this utter pile of whatever. So disappointed with themakers they seemed to have lost the plot. I wonder if they employed a bucket load of millennials a while ago and this is the result?

I for one welcome smaller companies (or at least lesser known ones) to produce animated films. Despite the main female being obviously modeled after Anna from Frozen (with a hint of Shrek's Fiona) the character designs are unique and very cute- let you're children decide for themselves if they like this movie.

This little gem, by Animagrad, an animation studio based in Kiev, requires a multi-region player to watch in the US, but is well worth it. The Stolen Princess is very loosely based on Pushkin's early poem Ruslan and Ludmila, itself based on Russian folklore about Kievan Rus. Its visuals draw on Disney films of the past decade, in a light-hearted, hilarious way, with its humor rooted more in character buffoonery than satire. It also depicts plenty of Eastern European/Orthodox themes, giving it a distinctive feel. The animation is a bit clunky and exaggerated at times, but this may be part of a strange effect I hadn't seen before (except in Pinocchio, I guess!)-the characters move like puppets. Despite the war, Animagrad released another movie this year, Mavka: The Forest Song, but unfortunately this doesn't look like it's available in English or released on DVD or blu ray.

This movie is underrated. My 5 yo enjoyed it and laughed out loud, and me with him. It's witty, easy going and graphically beautiful. Perfect for a kid, as it should be. Not every movie for kids should be highly educational. Sometimes it's enough just to be fun. Let the kids be kids.

The plot is quite cliche for fairy tale movies and it reminds me of Disney's Brave and Rapunzel. However, I'm pretty much impressed by its breathtaking animation (having said that this is the very first Ukrainian animated movie that I've ever watched).