Decent fairy tales are really in scarcity on screens nowadays. When talking about Russian ones, there has even hardly been anything good enough lately. Though the movie Posledniy bogatyr as the last joint attempt of Russians and Disney seems to have finally born fruit.
The work, based on ancient Russian mythology, tries to muddle up some myths with the contemporary world. Even though it might be considered controversial at first, the approach is one of the main advantages of the film, since it by all means gives a new lease of life to the old stories and characters which are rather well-known, at least in the post-Soviet countries. The latter should definitely appeal to young generations of spectators.
Adding to that, the movie does not imply any political or social problematic context which is rarely absent in films produced nowadays. Thus, the product just does its job, concentrating on telling a fairy tale wittily and showing us marvelous scenes of another world.
Exploiting this mixture with the modern and ancient cultures, the film has some related downsides too. For instance, adding several pieces of popular music was rather a mistake, for they sound quite out of place. Generally hilarious atmosphere may also be slightly exaggerated at times and bear the perception of mocking renowned Russian characters. Apparently, it is not the major purpose of the creators, but merely a bid to attract international community that is hardly acquainted with this realm of Russian culture.
To summarize, the movie has a good chance to popularise some ancient Russian legends through giving them fresher modern guise. Despite being a light comedy, it would also be unfair to convict the work of being shallow, since it brings along a deep meaning of how changeable the human nature is and how strikingly unfeasible it is to differentiate precisely between good and evil.
