Novye Bremenskiye

The first thing you need to know about this cartoon is that it is VERY dated.

From start to finish, this is a satire on 1990s Russia, in every possible aspect. If you haven't been around then, or have never been interested in the period from a historical perspective, this movie will look like 56 minutes of WTF.

As a kid, I watched this movie without understanding the context, and it burned in my mind for years because of some very controversial (and pretty crazy) scenes. After a few years I re-watched it, with its historical context in my mind, and it all made sense. It turned out to be an honest, smart, sad movie.

The animation, as mentioned here, isn't really great. The whole thing was made in a budget shortage and this is evident. The cast members, for the most part, fail to reinvent the characters and make them "theirs". The music (Gennady Gladkov), though, is as beautiful as ever, with some tunes that really brought tears to my eyes.

If you want to approach it with an open mind, this movie will at the very least give you some material for thought. Which is quite a bit.