Bremenskie muzykanty

The thing that will surprise you most about Bremenskie Muzykanty is how such amazing music and voice work can be accompanied by such slipshod animation. There is no question, here is probably the best soundtrack in Soviet cartoons. All the songs are witty, masterful, fun, emotionally stirring, and life-affirming, and Oleg Anofriev's character work is unforgettable. Meanwhile the animation is amateurish and unsophisticated at best. It's flat, there's no personality or engaging style, and it really looks like a bad afterthought, the creators rushing to showcase the songs without giving due consideration to the visuals. So sit back, close your eyes, and enjoy the magic. Or better yet, get your hands on the soundtrack with Anofriev doing additional narration, which is a truly wonderful recording.

Bremenskiye Muzykanty is an excellent children's/family animation story. The characters are universal and endearing, instilling a sense of diversity (a young man, a rooster, a cat, a dog and an ass) and cooperation. The story is universal, playing on a theme of its time: Freedom from rule by authority; And existentialism.

Artistically drawn. Set in Victorian Europe (Bremen is in Germany).

In the Soviet Union, where I grew up, this story was widely available on records and extremely popular with children and adults alike. It was occasionally shown on state run television. It was so loved that the toys of the characters appeared in toy store windows after its release.

I always loved it, but thought I would never see it again. A few years ago I found a video tape version and a CD of the story in New York. I now play it for my new-born.

I recommend it very highly.

This is one of the greatest cartoons that i watched when i was a kid. It was very popular in Soviet Union at that time, and was shown on TV very often. Even now I still enjoy this cartoon, it has wonderful and memorable music, characters are so lovable and the plot is great (well, it's based on the story of brothers' Grimm). It has great deal of humor and romance and it's done so nicely. Characters are dressed in the style of 70's which gives the cartoon that special 70's touch. It is a musical cartoon, even if you don't know Russian, you will still understand what is going on. I highly recommend it not only to kids but also to adults who enjoy good and kind cartoons.

This is my favorite Russian cartoon. I don't understand very much Russian, but I do like Russian films. I have loaned my DVD copy of this cartoon to some of my friends, and both families LOVED it! The first family was American, and they had a lot of trouble believing that the cartoon was made during Communism! They don't know any Russian, but they loved watching the cartoon. The lady told me that her husband saw the title for the second part of the cartoon, and claimed that the title meant, "They went that-away!!!" Their younger son thought it was very cool and wished his friends could have seen it.

The other family had adopted children from Russia, who are quite young, so I thought the kids might like to see it. They enjoyed it, but the little girl wondered why there weren't any words, and her daddy explained that the words were in the song.

What I like best about this movie is the fact that one of my very favorite Russian singers, Oleg Anofriev, is one of the principle voices. Overall, it is a very pretty movie. Anyone who likes a good cartoon or who is learning Russian, must watch this Soviet classic!

Despite the fact that the town in the film doesn't look like Bremen (since I live here now, I can compare ;-) ), this is a very nice cartoon, which I'd recommend to everyone. The music is superb! I wonder how it was allowed to be shown on Soviet TV in 1969, because the Donkey was always singing "Yeah! Yeah!... Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!", which is definitely an element of the western rock music banned in the Soviet Union. ;-)