On Sunday, January 1, the family comedy "Cheburashka" is released in wide release.
The director was Dmitry Dyachenko, who previously filmed the franchise "The Last Hero".
Anatoly Molchanov and Vyacheslav Zub joined the team of screenwriters - Vitaly Shlyappo and Vasily Kutsenko, who worked with the director on the trilogy, in Cheburashka.
The film is based on the fairy tale "Crocodile Gena and his friends" by Eduard Uspensky, as well as the Soviet cartoon of the same name.
However, the new "Cheburashka" is not a film adaptation of Uspensky's book and not a remake of the famous puppet animation film "Soyuzmultfilm", re-shot three times by Japanese directors.
Despite the fact that Cheburashka has both Gena and Shapoklyak, and even a rat, this is an independent story that tells about the problems of different families.
In the center of the plot is an eared beast Cheburashka, unknown to science.
He loves oranges and can quickly empty a huge basket filled with them.
At the same time, tangerines and lemons are completely uninteresting to him.
Cheburashka is a resident of a warm country full of orange plantations.
Running away from the fruit pickers, the animal falls into the epicenter of the windmill.
The tornado lifts him, along with oranges, into the air and takes him far, far away - to the south of Russia.
There, the hero first thinks about who he really is.
Cheburashka meets the local gardener Gena - he is not a crocodile here, but a man performed by Sergei Garmash.
This decision caused dissatisfaction among many users of social networks even at the time of the release of the first teaser, however, within the framework of this story, it turned out to be very advantageous.
© Frame from the film "Cheburashka"
Gena is a conscientious worker and an incredibly neat person, however, prickly as a hedgehog, gloomy and uncommunicative.
Even with his only friend Valera (Fyodor Dobronravov), a zoo employee, Gena is very reserved and strict.
During his life, Gena has experienced many serious shocks, one of the main ones is the loss of contact with his daughter Tanya (Polina Maksimova).
Despite the fact that they live close to each other, the girl does not want to communicate with her father.
Because of this, Gena has to use a telescope to be able to see her grandson and look after her daughter.
With the advent of Cheburashka, his life changes dramatically and takes on meaning again.
Cheburashka himself in the tape is endowed with the same good qualities and clumsiness as in the Soviet cartoon, but the modern character is more frisky, funny and unusually intellectually developed.
Gena behaves with him like a newly-born father: he takes care and teaches reading, and Cheburashka does not mind - being very capable, he learns everything at a great speed.
Questions like "who am I?"
appear quickly, but the term "big-eared shepherd of the Belarusian breed" does not satisfy the hero, so he continues to look for an answer and tries on the role of a "fat" and even a man.
However, Cheburashka is best defined by grandfather Valera - "a therapeutic beast."
Indeed, an alien from a distant country becomes a kind of bridge that unites people, a doctor who heals "ailments" and is able to melt any heart, whether it be the gloomy Gena or the eccentric Shapoklyak.
© Frame from the film "Cheburashka"
The latter in the film is called Rimma, and Elena Yakovleva brilliantly played her.
Her character is a cross between the cartoonish Shapoklyak and Baroness von Hellman, whose role was played by Emma Thompson in the film "Cruella", an eccentric, graceful and elegant business woman.
Cheburashka, who was previously proud of being spoken of as a person, after some events is disappointed in others and declares that "people are evil."
In search of his "I", he prefers to remain a toy, and only in the end he realizes who he really is.
As for the technical implementation, it is not flawless.
An attentive viewer will notice that the painted Cheburashka in some places seems to be hanging in the air.
However, against the background of the miracle happening on the screen, this oversight is easily forgiven.
Acting for both adults and children is top notch.
Eva Smirnova and Ilya Kondratenko very accurately got into the characters of their characters.
Sergey Garmash, Elena Yakovleva and Fedor Dobronravov are also convincing and beautiful, as always.
Dmitry Lysenkov, who played the rat Lariska, is especially memorable - when watching, the thought “what a rat” constantly arises.
The actor obviously enjoyed his role and savored every word he uttered.
"Cheburashka" is a kind and instructive picture that must be watched with the family.
It will bring the adult audience back decades, and it will arouse interest in the children's audience in the beloved character of the parents.
The tape, like its hero, also acts as a bridge that unites different generations.
The authors of the film convey an important idea to the audience - people need to learn to hear each other and show concern, and this must be done like Cheburashka, and not like Rimma-Shapoklyak.