Name: Morozko
Genre: Musical
Released: 2010-12-31
Rating: 2.8
Cast: Giya Gagua, Nikolay Baskov, Aleksey Chumakov

This movie is a direct to tv 2010 musical based on both on the Jack Frost fairy tale and the 1964 movie of the same name. As a native Russian user, I can say that the tale is among the most popular ones along with 12 months and Snow Maiden. Now if you wonder what exactly it's about, then I'll retell the plot without it's spoilers. Anyways, there was a family with a father and stepmother, and each had a daughter. The girls were complete opposites. Nastya, who is on the father's side is kind, polite and shy. While Varvara, who is on the mother's side is spoiled and lazy. The step mom loved her daughter Varya, but hated Nastya and treated her poorly (like lady Tremaine did with Cinderella). On one day, the tsar wanted his son Ivan to marry a wealthy girl, but he hated every single one, until he saw Nastya and realized how wonderful she was. But the step mother was against the marriage, because she wanted Varya to marry the Tsarevich (russian equivalent to Prince, kind of like how Tsar is to the King). And as a punishment, she forced her husband to send Nastya far away into the woods. Where she meets Morozko or Jack Frost, an old man that can freeze anything and if you're nice enough, he may grant you with a gift like jewelry. So after a brief plot synopsis, I'll talk how the plot's executed in this particular film. Starting with it's musical aspect, there's a lot of songs. And I don't mean like in a classic Disney movie, there's just so many of them! And in every scene, there are dancers wearing specific costumes and the character or characters explaining what's going on. For example, when Varvara wanted to cook a Kulebyaka with tangerines for Ivan (Kulebyaka is a pie that is usually filled with meat, but since she can't cook, she had to come up with anything to please the royalty). And along with cook, they sing a song. Probably the most memorable ones are the second to last one which is a parody to "I will survive", the one with Fortune tellers grannies which is another parody to a soviet song from the "Diamond hand" movie "Help me!" And the one with twins from the treasure chest that can fix anything. Just to let you know, that it's not your typical fairy tale musical, it's a modenized one, kind of like Shrek or Enchanted, where characters know what a microwave oven or a plane is. And as for it's parody aspect, it didn't just parody some popular songs, it also did with tv programmes like a cooking show, a court order broadcast and a sports event with running and throwing snowballs. It's also very creative and has plenty of ideas. Like usually, Baba Yaga (the witch) is portrayed as the old lady villain who would make potions inside of a hut on chicken legs. But in this adaptation, she's a lot younger (let's say 25 years old instead of 60) who is the wife of Jack Frost. I must say that Christina Orbakatye looks beautiful in the role of Yaga, a cutie blonde wearing a bright costume, I liked that. But what exactly I disliked about the movie outside of it's big amount of songs? First of all, the characters don't have much development or personality throughout the film. They mostly stay the same from the beginning to end. Nastya is still the shy girl, Ivan is still an immature prince, Varya is still lazy, and that sadly applies to everyone. And most of the songs are very forgettable, they don't have a great melody that could be played more then once like let it go or we don't talk about Bruno, which is a shame for a musical like this one. But the costumes look decent enough, they are not distracting and stay true to it's source material. The decorations and effects are ok, a little bit cheap and they look more theatre like, but for a small budget tv production it's fine.

Crazy enough, I didn't hate or love this musical. I thought it was just an average time waster which made me laugh sometimes with it's crazy ideas and sometimes It made me say "how dumb this film is". As for my advice, then I would say that people who think that the more songs the musical has the better, then it's a good choice, because it will satisfy their needs. But if you care more about the plot, then I would suggest you to watch the 1964 movie instead, there no songs in it, but it tells the story better then it's modern counterpart. What's surprising is that it's not the only musical they made, there's also Snow Queen, Aladdin, Red riding hood, Cinderella and more, but I don't think I'll watch them anytime soon.

Russian cinema is distinguished by its epic scale, philosophical depth, and innovative visual language. It often explores history, ideology, and the human psyche, with a tradition of psychological realism and artistic experimentation. Russian cinema contributed revolutionary theories of editing and later a spiritual approach to film language. It remains known for combining formal experimentation with profound explorations of endurance and belief.

Nikolay Grinko, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, and Anatoliy Solonitsyn in Stalker (1979)

The musical genre features stories that combine music, singing, dancing, acting, and often spoken dialogue to tell a story or convey a narrative. Musicals incorporate various elements of drama, music, and choreography to create a cohesive theatrical experience that engages audiences on multiple levels.

Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)

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