Kuky se vrací

Kooky's Return (Kuky se vrací) is a story about children's imagination - we don't know if everything happens only in Ondra's fantasy or if it's for real. Jan Svěrák won't tell you which one of these two options is right. YOU - the viewer - have to decide. Most of the characters are moving puppets and they are... well, they are quite ugly but very charming. They are little forest gods or tiny monsters made of garbage (ecology is one of the topics in this movie but don't worry, it won't bother you). And Kooky. Kooky is a cult toy in the Czech Republic right know because he's old-fashioned, pink and plain but sooo cute at the same time. I didn't mention the story so far because it's not the most important thing in Kooky's return. It's adequate: story of a lost toy that wants to come back to its owner and experience some adventures in the forest with picturesque characters. It's the good old manual work with puppets and imagination the the scriptwriter and director Jan Svěrák.

Sweet, imaginative, emotional, thought provoking, sublime, creepy, lovable, sad, colorful, forests, snow, sunshine, woodlands, magical places in forest, scary, friendship, loyalty, rubbish, recycling, childhood, teddy bears, illness, asthma, evil power hungry beings who betray, friends stick together, plastic bags who suffocate, potato looking beings who are friendly to lost teddy bears, who race speedily, wildly and fast across the stream and forest, in a homage to star wars, who outwit the bad guys, who save the bird eggs and who eventually save the little sick boy who eventually lives up to realizing he has grown up and no longer needs his Kooky, the most dramatic peril I have ever seen and the most kind hearted moment when the birds stuff kooky with feathers - if you want a magical adventure without a Disney feel then watch Kooky - And just like the wizard of oz local homeless man is the real character - excellent. Young Ondra has asthma and so his mom throws away his favorite toy: a musty old stuffed bear named Kooky. That night Ondra dreams that Kooky is determined to find his way back home from the dump. In the boy's fantasy, the bear gets lost in a forest occupied by strange animals and remarkable beings that he never heard of while living on the toy shelf in Ondra's room. And of course even in this small imaginary world, true good exists as does real evil, which Kooky must face up to in order to become a real hero.

I had a chance to see this beautifully simple yet very inspiring fairy tale like movie during annual film festival in Vilnius, and after the viewing came out with my spirits soaring and a huge grin of satisfaction firmly planted on my face. The plot of this puppet movie is rather simple. A kid named Ondra, who is suffering from severe asthma, has to let go of his favorite toy - a stuffed toy named Kooky. But he isn't giving up on his favorite toy easily. Instead all the viewers are brought into his world of fairy tale like childish imagination/dream, where Kooky comes alive and tries to find his way back to Ondra. The story follows Kooky's adventures and misadventures on his journey back home as seen through the eyes of Ondra. And that childish perspective is what gives the magical feeling to this story - a child is telling the story and all the reasoning behind everything that happens to Kooky is limited to child's imagination, which is rather simple yet fascinating.

There are many children's movies with well-worn plots. "Kuky se vrací" is about how to be a hero in the middle of the most difficult situations. Kuky never gave up on every obstacle that came his way, and everything is resolved almost in a stoic or quite realistic way despite being a magical world in the forest. That's a great credit to the screenwriter, because there are no absurd twists from the sleeve. Kuky knew how to solve each moment of intensity and adventure in the best way. This film is to be seen in silence and without any distraction. If you see it with commercials in between, it will surely spoil your concentration. I love films about innocent characters, and Kuky will not disappoint you. Guaranteed. Regards from El Salvador.

Lets start with the easy thing: the visual aspect of the movie is simply brilliant! No one can deny this. And one more easy thing: the music is brilliant as well! OK, some people over the net do deny this... but honestly, we don't believe them. I've bought the soundtrack and since then I've listened to it like million times. Whenever I'm feeling blue, this soundtrack is right at hand. And it actually works for any other colour too. Now the screenplay: fine, there could be a thing or two (or twelve or something) deserving some improvement, we must admit that... this is why I just can't give the movie all 10 stars. It's because when you watch the movie, you will simply realise that there are couple of moments when you feel the pleasant and fluent story unwinding sways a bit. But not much. And you'll get over it, I promise. Because no matter what, the story is so touching, full of gentle and incredibly clever and funny and truthful dialogs between the two main characters (in Czech dubbed by the grandfather Zdenek and the grandson Ondra Sverak), which make me watch the movie over and over again. I've heard many people complaining about the prosody (or other suprasegmental voice features) of these dialogues: that they are flat, like being simply read, without proper emotions and intonation, blah blah blah. As a matter of fact, this is one of the mostly criticised things about the movie. But I think these people haven't recognised the most important thing about the movie: it is a Dream Story! It is a story where reality and dreams melt together in the very natural way, where you can hear the forest gods and a pink teddy bear talking to each other without even opening their mouths (often they even don't have any mouth) - because you simply can hear their thoughts! They live in a different dimension with different rules and laws (such as when they drive their cars very fast, it suddenly starts to snow) and they are created (or at least supported) by the mind and dreams of an ordinary, but kind of melancholic and clever (and asthmatic) little boy. And the way the main characters talk to each other, is just the right way you'd expect when listening to someone's mind and its imagination and dreams.