Branca de Neve e os Sete Cavaleiros

Watching Soyuzmultfilm's output has given me great pleasure for nearly a decade now and it is a shame that a lot of their output is worthy of more credit than it gets. It is very rare to find a studio where what has been seen of theirs, which is a vast majority in my case, has never been less than decent. With their best work being as good as Russian animation gets. That's refreshing when one sees at least one misfire with most studios and some studios that don't have a single good effort and their best being average at least.

'The Story of the Dead Princess and a Brave Family' is one of Soyuzmultfilm's best in my view, one of the standouts definitely of my "re-visiting of their output" begun recently, very high praise for the amount of very good to classic works that the studio has. Their distinctive style is all over it and the story is an interesting one. Rading of a Soviet version of 'Snow White' (or at least influenced by that story) but is based on one of Russian's most influential and finest writers Alexander Pushkin's fairy tale poem 'The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights'.

Absolutely loved the animation, which did make me pine for the return of traditional animation. As great as the rich colours and distinctive character designs are it's those pretty incredible-looking backgrounds and landscapes that are especially good here and that is the case of a lot of their work this decade.

Music, an important thing for me to talk about when reviewing, is lush and atmospheric, stirring sometimes as well. The writing is sensitive and doesn't try to either over-complicate or dumb down, while the story fills the short length well without over-stretching or cramming too much in.

Characters are similarly well realised, with an easy to identify with protagonist showing lovely chemistry with the well differentiated, in personality, seven knights. The tsarina is suitably wicked.

Summarising, wonderfully done. 10/10

Aleksandr Pushkin's 1833 poem, a fairytale in verse, here is masterly adapted to the screen by revered Soviet animation director Ivan Petrovich Ivanov. Derived from Russian folklore, this is one of the many versions of a story that tells the tale of a beautiful princess cast out by her jealous and wicked stepmother.

Ivanov's animation stylistics are inspired by traditional Russian art, his bewitching film a culmination of many artistic collaborators, is absolutely enchanting throughout.

Composed with captivating animation in which a magical imaginary realm is visualized. The thoughtful tale is told in rhyming verse; an outstanding emotionally charged musical accompaniment enriches this wonderful classic film experience...