sarahtipton-37544

I am an American and watched this movie with English subtitles today. I'm not normally a person who likes animated movies, but this was very well done. The characters had depth and the story was much more interesting than just Cheburashka himself. This was about a broken family that needed to be repaired and Chebi is just the creature needed to help the family with their unresolved problems. But of course, there's always villains to add a little tension to the movie and they were appropriately exaggerated and done well. It's hard not to be endeared to the relationship that develops between Chebi and Gena. I was told that Russian comedies have a little bit of funny and a little bit of sad.

It was almost painful to watch how jealous Karina became of her best friends' success. I just wanted to slap her for being so unsupportive and self-centered. But needless to say, people get jealous and try to push their friends down in life if they are too successful. This movie is a good reminder to be an empathetic and supportive friend, but also to find out what YOU personally are good at and to enjoy doing it as best you can. Sometimes there are no do-overs in friendships if jealousy becomes so bad that it destroys the unity. I would say this should be called An Unfriendly Tale.

Excellent character development and setting.

In a cinema world that is unfortunately filled with little to no real acting and over stimulated action and CG nightmares of the worst kind, I found this charming movie to be just the kind of feel good sports movie I wanted to watch with its beautiful acting, cinematography and directing. I love the setting; the Great Depression; the obvious struggle the main character had as an orphaned vagabond, to only then to try out for the Washington rowing team; and to rediscover a girl whom he had a crush on as a child. This is the best recipe that great movies are made of. I definitely recommend this one for your next movie night.