Cavalinho Mágico

I first saw this movie as a young child when TV was fairly new. The movie was in black and white and the voice track and music were completely different. I am going back at least 50 years so I know this is not the original since Erin Moran, one of the voices was not even born at the time.

I have always found this movie enchanting in spite of the new voices but it is not quite as good as the original. I have searched for an original copy but apparently it is no longer available. If you have young children, this is a must for your library of tapes. The animation is exceptional, the story line is a classic and children still seem to enjoy it very much as do adults.

What a lovely movie. I saw it as a child and I saw it as an adult and it is a perfect, emotional, sweet, tender and charming movie. It is the story of a prince who, challenged by fate, must go through a series of enormously risky situations to win love. The greed of the powerful is presented in all its splendor while our young hero has a great ability to calm horses and is accompanied by a pony with supernatural qualities. Events rush and our hero will be able to save his skin at the last second while he manages to captivate his romantic interest and the villain gets punished all at the same moment. This film is a magnificent spectacle, product of the best of Soviet animation. Beautifull.

Knowing that this is a remake or extended version of the wonderful 1947 classic is reason enough to check this out. It is definitely worth checking out and is not bad at all, just not as good as the 1947 version. The pacing was the biggest issue. The story follows the 1947 version's story closely but extends some scenes, I did feel in places it did seem too drawn out and like padding(maybe to make up for that the story originally is enough for 50 minutes really) and consequently the unique rhyming and rhythm was sapped of its wit and sharpness, there is clear evidence of it but not enough and needed a stronger pace for it to work a little more. There are a few additional scenes also that seemed rather pointless, especially the one with the fish. And the voices don't fit as well as they did in the 1947 version, I liked the nobility and charm of some but others jarred. The animation however is beautiful and just as detailed and charmingly coloured, while the music has a beautiful whimsy and melancholy to it. The characters engage and serve a point to the story, the story for its pacing issues and unneeded moments does have an appealing strangeness and charm to it and the dialogue does make an effort to maintain wit and sharpness- not always successful because of the pacing mind- and it keeps within the tone of the story. To conclude, a little lacking especially when the earlier version is as good as it is but still good. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This movie has a good story and stylish animation. However it is a clear downgrade compared to same director's original1947 movie. Especially in artistically stylish animation department. Since it is a direct remake I can't find a meaning to new iteration being clearly inferior.

Storywise, the single scene that doesn't exist in the original doesn't add anything to the new flick. English dubbing is serviceable but falters during songs. Also doesn't fit to characters very well but that's nitpicky for general audience. Original had better dubbing also.

My enjoyment of this movie was decimated by having seen the clearly superior original two days ago. Since two movies have almost identical stories watching one diminishes the other. So watch the original instead. Otherwise this one is a nice movie also.

This animated feature is a beautiful telling of a Russian fairytale. Ivan aquires a magic pony, and the story progresses in a similar manner to "Puss in Boots". Beautiful artwork, fantastic style, from an era where kids films weren't as ugly as they are now. Still entertaining at any age.