This Movie SURVIVED A WAR (but kinda sucks...)
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
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Mavka might not be perfect but it's worth supporting and has a hell of an admirable production. Support the movie here! www.amazon.com...
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►Video Script and Research by Treceh
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Yeah sure but honestly i wouldn't mind if it was, im so incredibly lonely, any kind of recognition would be nice, have all my data please, look em thru
nah
Have you heard or seen Happy science anime it insanity.
@andr95739 because yes
So... I am from Ukraine. And let me just add a bit of context to the complicated story of Mavka.
First of all, it's not great. It's kinda ok, with a simple story, cartoonish characters (especially villains), and nice music. Nothing special.
Second, it was in production for waaaay too long. For 9 years, to be exact. And during these years there were a lot of promotion for this movie. Books, clothes, toys, school supplies, jewelry... Even the whole supermarket decorated in the theme of Mavka. But not an actual movie. We were introduced to so many characters (mostly forest creatures) that some wondered, if it was even possible to actually implement all these ideas. Also, people were sceptical about the original story being rewritten into a disney-like movie. But the longer the waiting was, the higher expectations we had.
The hype was HUGE. And when we got the first actual trailer people were... kinda disappointed. "Is this what we have been waiting for so long? Is this what is going to be made of the beautiful play of Lesya Ukrainka?" But then the war started, and people just needed something inspiring. Something to prove that we can make not amazing but at least decent movies. (Yeah, it was not the first Ukrainian animated movie, try reviewing «Микита Кожум'яка» also known as "The Dragon Spell", it sucks even more!)
So everybody went to the cinemas just to support the effort. We still have a lot to do to make our animation industry suck less. But it was important to show the creators that people do actually want to see our movies! And maybe one day Ukrainian movies will be known all over the world, as our culture is rich and beautiful and we can do better!
Sorry for the bad English. It's probably as bad as your attempt at pronouncing Ukrainian names 😏
Thanks for sharing! And your English is actually very good 👍.
The english was amazing. Thanks for sharing❤
Thank you for the info! This helps me understand a bit more. I’m wishing your country better luck and hoping that everyone can heal from what has happened, and don’t worry about your English! You sound fluent. I most definitely cannot pronounce Ukrainian names lol.
This is some fantastic insight. Thanks for sharing!
Hoi! Don’t worry, your English is perfect! AND YEAH, WWAAAAAAAAYYYY better than my attempt at pronunciation of Ukrainian names. 😂❤
I'm Ukrainian, and I think you're right! I think the biggest problem of this movie is that it is designed to be very marketable and therefore - very generic. The movie has a celebrity cast in Ukrainian, and I must say you are lucky English dub has the actual voice actors for the job.
Some things you've missed:
1. Lukas' friends are celebrity cameos: that is the real life band Dakhabrakha.
2. Frol's Ukrainian voice actor is Serhii Prytula, a famous comedian, politician and also the head of the Prytula Foundation, one of the biggest volunteer military funds that specialises in buying cars, drones and even a satellite (that one time) for the Ukrainian army. He's actually the decent voice actor with great comedic delivery, but I wish the screenplay was better. Animagrad had him in their previous film, and his character was also very annoying.
3. The strange finale monologue is taken word for word from the play. I think the assumption was that most people in (Ukrainian) audience would be familiar with the monologue (it's a compulsory part of the school curriculum), so there's no need to elaborate. However, I feel like the whiplash is even worse, when you know the context: in the original, Mavka delivers this monologue before dying and becoming once again one with nature, while Lukash is slowly freezing to death. There's no happy ending in the play, and using this monologue to literally defy death is... a strange choice, in my opinion.
Overall, thank you for your research. You did a far better job than with KyivNaukFilm's Return to Treasure Island. If you're looking for a Ukrainian animated film that has more edge to it, I'd recommend "Енеїда" (Aeneid, Eneida), the first animated film of independent Ukraine. It's officially on UA-cam (Ukrainian animation is a channel that is directly related to the Dovzhenko film archive, a very reputable archive in Ukraine), but I don't think there ever was an English release. If you are looking for something with more artistic vision, I can't recommend Victor_Robot (Віктор_Робот) hard enough. It has it's problems, but the art direction is delightful.
English is the original language of the movie. Ukrainian language was dubbed for it
@@artyman162 I know.
I'm sooo tired of celebrity voice actors. Hollywood actors are surprisingly shit at voice acting & they suck up budget that could go elsewhere.
What people really want is to hear the familiar voice actors they grew up with on TV.
Please, tell me that there's Zelensky in this movie! He can not have dubbed that..."ok it's good for families and London lovers" movie that is Paddington but not this one!
@@riccardoolago His voice sounds terrible.
Props to the studio for trying as hard as they did in spite of their terrible conditions
I wish they took notes from studio Ghibli rather than Disney.
A Ghibli esc story probably would have kept her markings very obvious like a princess mononoke type .
Also I don't know why she would just believe everyone without question , it would have been so cool to see the forest wilt as the more she becomes rooted in reality and less nice, and the plants wilt and die as she grows more distant from what she knew when she was naive
If you take notes from disney your basically screwed
@@scorpiovenator_4736 eh I suppose so especially the older stuff they did as it's very dry and generic , only reason it worked then is because there wasn't a lot of fairy tales animated but now that there is even their popular films that I like I can easily admit they sing to much and stick to the story without including the more serious interesting bits
@@ViktorErikFade People have done analyze how the older movies have been regarded unfairly. Generally however if you copy someone else it is gonna be worse as you miss some of the finer details of what made it work.
Studio just aimed movie for child audience
It’s impressive that this was able to make it out of Ukraine so it will get that accomplishment
Yeah, but it shouldn’t excuse the films poor writing.
Unlike Russian vehicles gotem
I'd say anything produced during wartime which isn't explicitly propaganda should get extra merit just for that.
That fact is very interesting, and would make a great "dvd extra." Like it might be worth to buy a psychical copy for a mini documentary on how the movie making progress survived the war.
KIRBUS MORBUS.
HOW MANY ARE THERE GONNA BE?
Im amazed Saber spent 11 years researching about all sorts of movies and didnt go insane, unless he's already insane.
Lol probably the latter
@@rat_dragon so basically we're just waiting for him to get cancelled for something. 'Insane Cartoon Reviewer' gonna be all over the headlines
@@doohickeyhandy758 lol
He's a furry, ofcourse he's insane
@@doohickeyhandy758Virtue signaling a little too hard with this one.
The characters don’t really look like they match with the world they are on. It’s a Disney like world, but the human characters look like video game pcs, not main characters
The male lead looks bland I do agree, but the other characters like the villains and the spirits look fine, great even. And the NPCs all generally look like pixar characters, not video game NPCs. There's not really an animated movie I can think of that uses videogame-like models for NPCs. Barbie and her Sisters Christmas Trip is the only one I can think of since that D2DVD movie was ACTUALLY MADE with a PS2 devkit. (no joke) No game to my knowledge faithfully recreates the pixar artstyle like this movie does, the only games that try to do so are lazy scam crypto games using an AI filter and unity store assets. Fortnite isn't Pixar as it has it's own artstyle for it's original stuff, and neither is Overwatch which is more anime inspired.
@@KrimsonKattYTyou should look at Kena: Bridge of Spirits
The original concept and trailer looked SO much more interesting. Like, maybe it still wasn't up to big studio standards but it had a look of it's own and Mavkas appearance was immediately eye catching. The end product is so much safer and thus boring for it, especially because it put it into direct comparison with the art of your more typical Disney film.
I have to wonder if input from financial help outside of the country was at work here. They clearly had a vision and then that vision was thrown out for Elsa-lite the moment they had to get outside funding? Yeah something about that is off.
Even if the story was the same I think it would have stood out in the over encumbered animation industry if they'd stuck with their gut.
@@Goldenkitten1 ooh i love that theory!! 💖
@@KrimsonKattYT Can you find somewhere it says that the Barbie Christmas trip movie was made with a PS2 devkit? I don't doubt you, I think that's really interesting! But I went to search for it and I can't really find any info online. Was it from a behind the scenes thing in the dvd content or something? Or perhaps the wrong movie you were thinking of, like a different Barbie movie? Thank you!
That's totally a fair review, as ukrainian myself, I'm super glad to see your review on it! Mavka is really a very blank movie that lost a lot from it's source, incorporating really early 2000's media choices, also even representation of the village and it's looks is straight up sharovarschyna (it's a basic and kinda stereotypical look onto Ukrainian culture), outfits are a mess, it doesn't represent any certain region and just not the best of our true culture. BUT this one is a VERY important one, it's first mass full length animated film that really showcases that we can do stuff and there's a huge way to catch up with modern standarts. russia really badly influenced and belittled our country and culture for VERY long time, but now we're growing stronger than ever, cherishing what ours and fnally feeling enough. Mavka is an amazing step into the bright future and I'm super proud of our animation studios.
Mavka looks so much better than that Pinocchio movie Russia released last year. Ukraine has some seriously talented artists and animators.
@@Serithe The film Pinocchio by Russians? Can you even call that a film? 😭 I don’t even think many people watched it. I’d argue most people only know about it from the memes making fun of it. There’s no way something so low quality could have been un-ironically popular. Mavka looks significantly better than Pinocchio, the artists knew what they were doing.
@@SeritheI doubt if I heard about this movie. Can you name the studio and director?
Legit after the war with foreign investment urkaine and if it deals with their corruption problems can become a economic powerhouse.
Honestly your animator guys did a fantastic job stepping into 3D animation without stumbling and falling flat on the ground, and I say that having seen a LOT of nations with a way bigger industry completely botch that side of making CGI animation.
And, as "pop culture generic" as this adaptation is? It's kind of great as a quick primer to Ukrainian folk legends for an international kid audience, you just needed to market that "based on the play by Leysa Ukrainka" a bit more for the adults.
The english is... well it's "so bad it's okay", is the best way I'd describe it, as a fan of really bad english dubs and a native french speaker who's seen the disasters french dubbing has usually been for us, we're still awful at it despite the decades of attempts.
So y'know what? You definitely deserve to be proud of this. It's charming, it's interesting enough that it's making people interested in the play, and I'll hunt down a version with a non-english vocal track and subs and enjoy it.
Wishing that animation studio a long and promising career!
The animation is really good. It's a shame that the writing, apparently, isn't. Dang. Still, a triumph for how much they went through to see this movie get released.
They tried at least
They hired a shitty specialist on "making movies scenarios less boring". His portfolio was mid. We (Ukrainians) considered before the movie aired that it's gonna be mid it's self. But I am at least thankful that it broke through Ukrainian media bubble. Sorry for my English (not my first language). Just wanted to say that for us it's clear as a day how mid movie is
@@amichachka Your English is good
The studio has a lot of potential and is admiring how they could finish the movie despite the hardships, while not a big fan of the human like characters designs, everything else looks beautiful
I really respect Saber's pronunciation of Ukrainian names, even if these weren't his first takes ;D Great video, very insightful and respectful. No bullshit.
And he didn't preemptively apologize for it! Just nailed it
he seems to have finally learnt to just put in the effort and not constantly go "omg i'm probably saying this wrong" "i'm going to butcher this i'm SUCH a white guy haha" every five seconds. i'm glad he's seemingly stopped doing that now because god it felt miles more disrespectful and annoying than just saying the names wrong
This is one of those moments where it's good to remember: Making a movie is an achievement in itself, and these friggen chads deserve all the props in the world.
The quality of the movie doesn't change that one iota.
The movie is good as animation is all that matters, and the animation and especially the character design in this is EXTREMELY good. I love the designs of the spirits. It's like Crash Bandicoot but actually good.
😍
@@KrimsonKattYTplease don't say that, Animation is important yes but so is the story, we can forgive this because its a start, added to the war, yeah you can absolutely forgive it. You saying that reminded me of frozen 2, good animations, absolutely stilted story. No one was happy.
making a movie isn't really hard. ever recorded a video? boom you made a movie. making a GOOD movie is an achievment
I can forgive the movie for being super basic in story and character writing, it seems to be the run of the mill for most international animated films especially if the industry is just starting out in that country. I'm just super impressed and proud of it for surpassing Avatar 2 in its country!
This!! A lot of people don't get it, you need something safe to keep the already iffy investors happy. Afterwards you can begin to experiment more. I'm so proud they made it ❤
This movie has been in development hell for almost 10 years. Producers were scraping all recourses to make it to the finish line. It had countless rewrites and reimaginings. The early concept art soaked unique designs, but alas, people behind the movie just wanted to finish it. The result is meh. Which is a shame. These concepts were really dope. Man, I wish they would stick to original vision.
It sounds a lot lik princess mononoke, isuspect did they try more a mature miyazakilike aproack than disney, it woul be standing out. Iknow miyaakiis a perfection is,i mean not afraid toe dark and bizarre and not cute.
And ukrainian of course , just there re so many parts that could be wondrfully deeper.
While it is heartbreaking to hear about how Mavka fell short, I'm not too surprised. The war didn't help things any.
The animation looks lovely, and the music is fun, but from what trailers I've seen, it felt like it relied too much on Disney influences. I wanted to see the film with my sisters, but life keeps getting in the way.
I may still try to do so, if an opportunity ever presents itself. And at the very least, I can appreciate how discovering this movie added more to my mental "compendium" of mythological creatures. I am just fascinated by mythical entities from across the world, and it's always a joy to learn about new ones! 🥰
Unlike a lot of other shit reviewed on this channel, this movie actually feels like genuine effort that just missed the mark.
THANK YOU FOR JUST SAYING THE NAMES AND NOT BUTCHERING THEM ON PURPOSE.
I LIKE TO SEE PROGRESS LIKE THAT.
so glad he's finally dropped the whole "well i'm going to BUTCHER this haha i'm soo sorry i'm such a white guy haha" weird over apologising thing too because god i can't think of anything more annoying
Welp, you still don't need to yell though
@@obbinss Ugh, no kidding. I love Saber but I can't stand when he did that.
Omg is this real? Mavka at Saberspark channel???
I am ukrainian, but I still haven't seen the whole movie and you motivated me to do it just now
We all waited for it for so long, there has been a huge advertising campaign with toys, food, books etc and they kept warming up our interest this way. Yeah, the movie is not perfect and there's a lot to learn. However, I was taking a 2D animation course with Oleg Malamuzh (Animagrad director) as the mentor of a course, and he told us a lot of nuances and problems they faced while creating Mavka, like why they decided to change her appearance totally. He's a cool guy
So I appreciate their work a lot and can't wait to see other projects! or even join their team someday haha
Thank you for the video and hello from Ukraine💙💛
I was curious and interested about that film too, when I saw some ads to cinemas. Having watched the review of it, I would feel the same thing as the not perfect movie, but it was a great challenge for them.
Stay strong, Ukraine!
Peace 🕊️
When mavka turned into a fire demon thing it looks like a cross between gloriosa and sunset shimmer both in their magical demon transformations.
I'm unsurprised the hero ended up being an unflappable figure that triumphs without fail. They clearly needed and projected into her.
Pride goeth before destruction...
Just saying...
Yea I was thinking about like Snow White or Cinderella or whoever being bashed for being so passive and just getting what they wanted for no reason, but the US was at war or in the great depression or something and just needed that representation of hope
yeah i suppose that does make sense. what with the whole "im going to live because I said so"
i like this interpretation of it. likely the correct explanation tbh
In Ukraine we know that the film is mid, but we support it nonetheless cuz we hope that its success will show the demand for animated film in Ukraine for other Ukrainian studios and eventually will create a market for animation films and encourages grows and better quality films.
Ukrainian is here!
I'm glad that you not only have reviewed this movie. The fact that you have decided to discover the whole story making me give you a giant respect to you.
First thing is a context. Ukrainian animation has a GIANT problem. After collapsing of USSR all animation studios have all lost money because they were getting them from the government. Ukraine had no possibility for normal financing the animation even before this war. And I'm really happy how good this movie looks like. For the whole world it's just good. But for Ukraine it's absolutely stuning. It's a giant step for animation in independent Ukraine.
Second thing is my opinion. I'm totally agree with you about this movie. I think making more interesting character and more detailed story could make this movie better. WAY BETTER (Of course I would like to see more unique art style because this art style looks too similar with Disney. I would like to see an art style that you can distinguish just by one frame. But my dream is too unrealistic, I know)
And the last thing is a question. The question is...
WAS YOU PLANNING TO POST THIS VIDEO JUST BEFORE UKRAINE INDEPENDENCE DAY?! 24th of August 😂
(BTW, Hush in original has a name "Гук" (Huk) wich means the loud call or the sound of human voice. I have no idea why his name was translated with absolutely opposite meaning)
On the final point, that's interesting. I'd assumed that name was an intentionally ironic joke, but perhaps it was just a lucky irony on the part of whoever renamed him a sound-alike. (I've never felt American filmmakers really put much thought into renaming foreign characters.)
Guy from Czechia here👋,
i can confirm the Translation should have been done better bcs the Names of some characters in our Voiced version just doesnt make sence: like Name of Hush or Swampie
but othervise,
i still have High HOPE for Improvment with the CONFIRMED SEQUEL (in wich, i hope they learn from what had been done worse in this first film)
its still one of the most Beautifull films i have seen in years.
As you were explaining the story, I got huge Tangled vibes. Not just from the dance scene, but also the villain that wants eternal youth, the two kinda dumb hired muscle minions, the music that causes the girl to glow, and the "magical life-giving tear" at the end.
I feel bad as I was excited for Mavka since I was a kid. I hate the animators and everyone on production have to deal with the war, nobody should have to suffer through that. I only hope Ukrainian or Russian animated movies improve to be better.
Especially with this movie, it has a lot of artistic potential for future work with some of its style in its scenes. I only hope we continue to get more from foreign countries to express their creativity. I do find it way better than movies like Pinocchio A True Story or My Sweet Monster, as I feel the people behind this movie tried their best and genuinely wanted this movie to succeed. I still appreciate that dedication, I hope to see more work from them in the future and I hope they all stay safe in these hard times. ❤
This movie is great as the animation is jaw dropping amazing and easily disney/pixar quality. Animation is the primary thing that matters in an animated movie. Unless the plot is god-awful, animation and/or humor (if its a comedy) is what carries an animated movie and no amount of generic/bland writing, characters, and worldbuilding can damage that,
@KrimsonKattYT To me, the animation doesn't matter as much compared to characters and plot tbh
@@mykaruest3620 Name one animated movie with a good plot, just one. And I mean a REALLY good plot, not something like Shrek that's good but definitely not peak fiction.
IMO it's impossible to tell a really great story within a 2 or so hour period. Not enough screentime. Maybe over a series of movies, but not just over one. Movie plots tend to be simplistic and easy to understand, especially animated movies since they're usually intended for all ages. The only movies with truely deep and complex plots are the 4+ hour "peak cinema" movies aimed exclusively at adults. The stuff that wins awards, the live action stuff.
The main appeal of animated movies is the animation. Walt Disney knew this and solely focused on making his movies visual feasts (for the time) rather than focusing on plot or characters, Fantasia being the epitomy of this mindset. There are only a few major mainstream animated movies that had good plots, two from Disney (Hunchback of Notre Dame & Lilo & Sitch) and two from DreamWorks. (Prince of Egypt and Megamind, and the former was heavily based on The Bible) And all those movies are flawed in some way, from Hutch back's tone ruining obnoxious gargoyles to Megamind's poor dated animation.
The main gist of it is, it's REALLY hard to tell a good story in 2 hours of runtime or less. You usually need around 8-12 hours for a fully fleshed out one, 4-6 hours at absolute minimum. If you take all the filler out of the MCU and make a definitive "director's cut" of the entire Infinity Saga (Iron Man 1, parts of Captain America and The Incredible Hulk, Avengers, parts of Iron Man 3, Winter Soldier, parts of Ant Man 1 & GotG 1&2, Age of Ultron, Civil War, Parts of Homecoming & Ant Man 2, Infinity War, and Endgame) you'll get a runtime of around 16 hours, the same runtime as the cutscene length of most cinematic games like Xenoblade or Metal Gear Solid. Even then it's not like the MCU is peak fiction or anything and it has A LOT of filler not important to the overall story if you include everything, but it's a complete, fully fleshed out story told through 2 dozen movies over a period of a decade. Therefore movies, especially animated movies which are usually shorter, cannot usually have good fleshed out stories. Spiderverse 2 is absolutely packed and yet it's only part 1 of 2 AND it's nearly 3 hours. Therefore, it's far better to focus on pretty graphics with an animated movie rather than story. Because as long as the story isn't boring (elemental) or filled with plotholes (Teenage Kraken) the movie can stand as an incredible work of art as long as the animation is up to snuff.
I don't know if my taste in animated stories is so refined by watching peak like Madoka Magica, Steins;Gate, and Evangelion and playing peak games like Xenogears, Persona 3, and Bravely Second, but I could care less about the stories of most animated films as long as it's passible. The animation is what really matters. A lot of media could be so much more, but instead most companies would rather play it safe. This movie's goal wasn't to tell an amazing story, it was Ukraine's showcase of animation talent and in that the movie succeeded. The story isn't even bad, just very tropey. It's mainly held up by the character designs and little else. However, it's definitely better than whatever crap Disney has been putting out lately ever since the cursed year of 2016 when they ruined their chances of a second renaissance with terrible live action "remakes" and sequels tok films no one asked for that were solely made for profit and little else, not to mention the crazy political stuff that happened that year, the psycho clown attacks, the death of vine and the viner invasion thar birthed monsters like the Paul Brothers, and the UA-cam adpocalypse caused directly by PewDiePie's "bridge incident." Every year since then has only gotten worse, especially 2020 with the pandemic and this year 2023 with the summer of doom and the DeviantArt purge, not to mention the Insurrection of 2021 or the 2022 Ukraine Invasion.
I really hope other countries stay away from the Disney formula.
lets see if they manage to suprise Us with the Sequel, i think they should definetly make it longer, bcs 100 minute is too mutch short for a film that har so mutch more to show, at least i think
the evanescence bit had me ugly laughing.
tbh if i were a kid, i would've loved this film. but as an adult, yeah, it's just kinda alright. i'd love to see the studio produce more films in the future.
I wish Saber saw more Eastern European animation because it's either great (Like Prince Vladimir) or terrible in every way (Children vs Wizards). Or Soviet versions of world classics like "The Jungle Book", "Pinocchio", "Winnie the Pooh"
Prince Vladimar is actually second-rate
I actually watched the Ukrainian version in a cinema in the UK, I enjoyed it but it’ll never be the best film I’ve seen. However the English version feels like it could be really rough.
However for all its faults, I was also joined with multiple Ukrainian families & their kids and they adored it, just seeing them happy made the entire experience awesome and so this film has provided what will be one of my favourite memories and probably for most of those kids too.
Just because it survived a war doesn’t mean that it’s gonna be good
True.
facts
Ainbo spirit of amazon did better fr
Nobody argues that. However, the fact that movie ended up releasing is a testament to a determination and tenacity.
True, but it is VERY impressive
I'm gonna say one thing, I'm half polish and I'd love to see more slavic culture based animations
I'm Ukrainian. And I have a really close connection to the original play.
It's one of my all time favorite books and was my first forray into fantasy growing up. There were several adaptations prior to this (two live-action films, an animated made for TV movie and a long running ballet). When I saw the first teasers for the film I was hyped!!!! I couldn't wait to see what they'll do with it because it looked exactly like I imagine a perfect adaptation of the story to look like.
And then there was silence... For a long time there was nothing...
And then the trailer dropped and I felt downright insulted. They took what's arguably one of the most timeless, well-known and influential pieces of Ukrainian literature and turned it into an average cliche kids film we've seen done a bajillion times before. Sure, I was still going to watch it, but my heart was simply utterly broken.
Sure, I understand why they choose to change the story's melancholic tone and take out some elements of Slavic folklore out of the picture (some creatures like the poterchata (literall dead children) and perelisnyk (Ukrainian incubus), naked mavkas and rusalkas etc.) if they wanted to keep the whole thing family friendly (this isn't the age of stuff like Watership Down and The Secret of NIMH anymore, after all), but if you're going to change virtually everything about the story (which they did) they could have easily made an original movie based on Slavic mythology instead of claiming to adapt the book.
They couldn't even include stuff like the fact that "mavka" isn't even her name, it's just the name of her species, given the fact that mavkas don't have names.
It's honestly heartbreaking to see it get so much recognition given how poorly it represents the book and ignores it's themes and was easily the biggest dissapointment of the year for me. I'll just stick with the 1970s movie version (definetely the most fiathful one).
I found the film impressive for what they were still able to do, though for the story itself I wish they stuck with the original telling with little twists. Also improve on the characters instead of sticking to a singular trait since that doesn't provide much for their development, and let the main characters be the one to pull comedic moments when needed instead of a side character. I heavily enjoyed the music and animation, though absolutely the pop music was out of place for moments. Overall, the determination to finish it is impressive, but the movie itself for writing was in the okay spectrum
Our animation industry is young and inexperienced. And our people have not yet developed the self-sufficiency in creating art (in modern times, that is, our past art was better in that regard).
Also, small note, it might have been the most profitable animation in Ukraine's history, but that really doesn't say much, considering its competition.
There is a million things that i would like to say, so why don't we do a short AMA here.
I am a Ukrainian and a long time fan of Saberspark, so please ask away
Looks more medicore than "bad" when put up to the lineup of bad you've reviewed before lol. The fact this movie was released tho regardless of quality I hope it's a success.
The movie has some cool visuals. Sort of uncanny, but I kind of dig it.
Fun fact: The folk band playing in the dance scene is the Ukrainian folk band DakhaBrakha. They recorded music for the film and the band is incredible. They tour the US, and I got to see them perform over a Ukrainian silent film at Artpark in Lewiston, NY. Definitely recommend checking them out because of their unique sound and tremendous talent.
There’s an alternate reality where Mavka is a part of Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons.
this is one of the comments of all time.
Honestly, just the fact that a film can come out of a country that is having as hard a time as Ukraine is commendable. I feel like a lot of people forget just how hard it can be to make a major feature length film, especially if you are in a country that is not known for its film industry.
It's like the movie Yeelen, an historical fantasy movie that was made in Mali of all places. I can acknowledge the movie isn't great, but the fact that a country as impoverished as Mali can produce ANY films is incredible.
Mavka literally went:
"Remember son, dying is gay."
"Yes, father."
as a slavic person i really really appreciate you putting in the effort of pronouncing the names instead of making fun of them :)
I really feel so bad for the creators. I just wonder if it would have been better without the war. The stress. The death.
Pole here. There was another animated production in development which was ukrainian-polish coproduction that I at the time worked on from time to time. 'Kazka', as the animated series is called, was meant to promote a Ukrainian band of the same name. I had quite high hopes for it, made storyboards for couple of the episodes. Three of them are here on youtube. I remember as I was finishing episode 6, the war started, and the project was paused indefinitely (I still finished the animatic and got paid, don't worry, I wasn't just dropped). Looking back at it, the story wasn't anything spectacular, really mediocre even if not bad at times, but I still am in love with the inclusion of our aesthetics in these projects. Did you know that the characteristic cross-stitch on slavic clothes is meant to represent aspects of life, nature and religion? That flowers have their own symbolism in our culture? Oh, there's a lot of other things and my heart just aches for the stories that, at the end of the day, weren't good.
Well, one day...
As someone from eastern Europe (the Balkans), a semi mainstream movie portraying even an ounce of eastern European culture and traditions means so much to me. No one knows jack shit about us. I've dreamed of something like this for years. Maybe one day my country will also get a proper animation studio...
Have you seen Shadows of forgotten ancestors? It's a fantastic Ukrainian movie from the 70s which does a great job of portraying their culture and beliefs.
Totally agree with the review, thank you for the great research effort and givi9ng it a fair shot! There's been lots of insight and interesting details added by other ukrainians int he comment section, so I'll just explain one tiny detail - the reason Mavka is able to escape the void and come back to the living world. It is not because of power of love, but because she has mingled so closely with humans she has fostered a soul.
In ukrainian folklore, people have souls, while forest spirits and mystical beings of all sorts don't. At the end of the original play by Lesya Ukrainka, Mavka says this line:
''You gave me a soul, as the sharp knife
Gives to the willow twig a tender voice''
(Referencing how Lukash carved his flute out of a twig at the beginning, and although it hurts the tree it gives that branch a tender voice indeed)
She says this as she has been turned into a tree and has burned down/was chopped down, and Lukash tells her he has destroyed her body, so what was it worth to give her a soul? Mavka then goes into a monologue, about the cycle of life, and how the ashes from her willow body will become food for new life, how she will be reborn and live on forever.
The original Forest Song is tragedy and a drama, it is a story of tragic love between a human and a spirit, with the spirit trying hard to follow human tradition even until her destruction, and with a man who loves her but cannot go against his nature. Mavka sacrifices a lot for him, but it is because he gave her something she never had. Because of him, she has known love, and feels she has gotten something akin to a soul. So she arrives as a shadow of her previous self to tell him so, and then disappears, to continue living as a spirit and indulging her true nature.
And Lukash and Kilina are left to live out their days, likely in utter misery. There's a lot more to the story, and it did not translate well into the movie at all. I'd argue there's very little of the play in the movie, not many characters, not many scenes or themes. I know this is what they were going for with Mavka coming back, but it makes no sense in this context and will not be obvious to anyone unfamiliar with the work it is based on.
A pity the movie was not so good, I myself was rather disappointed! It is more of a symbol to ukrainians, a sign of hope that we are able to produce movies that can be recognized abroad as well and be successful. We had certainly hoped it would be a good movie that can be appreciated for it's merits, but there's a long way to go.. I hope the studio will learn from this experience.
Here's some more interesing things I wanted to share c:
It might be a confusing read, but if anyone wants to check out the original play, there's a great translation into english here:
sites.utoronto.ca/elul/English/Ukrainka/Ukrainka-ForestSong.pdf
I had an illustrated book of the play growing up, and I supsect the designs were partially lifted from the cover. It looks like this: dspu.edu.ua/biblioteka/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/7ea220f367bf6a0c1e92d60d113bbe2e.jpg
Full of truly unique illustrations and style.
And one last thing, the band featured in the movie is actually a real one! It's called DakhaBrakha and if you look up their live performances or photos, you will see it's them xd
P.S: Thank you again for doing this review. It was fair, well-researched, and insightful. I felt like crying a little because war always weighs hard on our minds, and sometimes I forget people abroad actually do care and see what's happening. I wanted to share some of the things I know about the forest song, as it is a play I read early in my life and got that beautiful book from my grandma as a gift for starting my first school grade. Thank you for your efforts in pronouncing ukrainian names too!
I give respect to the hard work to that animation studio even during their hard times
I remember watching this movie awhile ago, I thought it was cute but I never finished it because I got bored💀
As a Ukrainian, can confirm, Mavka wasn't *that* good(the story was average imo), but It still was kinda special(to me at least) ngl.
Also, It's Kyiv, not Kiev.
"Kiev" is the Russified version of Kyiv.
Anyways...
Fun Fact!
"Lesya Ukrainka" roughly translates to "Lesya the Ukrainian(girl/woman(yes, we need to gender stuff in Ukrainian most of the times))", but what's interesting, is that "Lesya" is a shorter form of the name "Olesya", but what's interesting about THAT is that "Olesya" is the shorter version of the name "Oleksandra", which in English would be "Alexandra" WHICH MEANS "Lesya Ukrainka" CAN BE TRANSLATED TO "Alex the Ukrainian"!
...
Yeah, nothing special, but a fun fact nonetheless.
I live in Bulgaria and I remember this movie being released just recently 😭 I remember seeing the trailer at the cinema and saying "wow this looks horrible"
I'm glad you did a video about this movie. It's currently in cinemas in Poland and I saw the trailer. I was wondering if it was going to be a good movie bc it seamed generic.
Poland is right next to Ukraine so our cultures are very simmilar. Those slavic demons are basically the same in both countries. I love slavic mythology and it's exiting to see it in a movie that made it into mainstream (at least in Poland). Because of all that I had really mixed feeling about "Mavka". I'll probably watch it to support the creators.
I cringed a bit when you called żubr a byson😅
I kinda see it as another "F you Rusha, your not even going to stop a little studio from making a movie, much less the whole country." So glad they were able to make it and it's doing well. I'll have to find a copy.
But they did stop the flight of the all-mighty Antonov 225 Mryia 😢
My problem is bias towards more popular works with similar themes. I know people say "animation is cinema", but time and time again they fail to stay true to that word, falling back to the Big Two of animation. But the issues that the film has literally survived a WAR, and I think it deserves to be cut some slack as it could've been lost media if the staff didn't preservere. While it's true that it's going to have problems, Mavka continues the pattern I've seen on this channel. He's more critical of smaller films than he is of the Big Two.
Big two?
@@xxratsrcutexx3494OP’s probably referencing Dreamworks and Disney/Pixar
@@xxratsrcutexx3494 Disney and DreamWorks
@@xxratsrcutexx3494I guess dreamworks and Dinsey pixar? Also maybe hes just more critical of smaller studios because people expect disney to be good, the worst they can do is mediocre 😅
The very same studios that also happen to own Marvel and DC, another "Big Two" that pretty much bottlenecked the comic book industry which in turn, crippled it.@@kawaiielephant7772
I respect that sabers attempt at pronouncing the Ukrainian names actually sounded pretty good :D i wonder how long he practiced😂😂
If I found this on DVD randomly I would assume the "fade to black" transitions would be like tv movies where they add those in for commercials
While it has it's flaws, I hope this is a learning experience for the people involved. As mentioned this movie does play it WAY too safe, hopefully this experience give them the confidence to be bold and try riskier things. As far as i know this is the first time Ukraine has been in the spotlight in regards to animated film, so there's a lot to learn and hopefully they grab hold of the lessons and run wiht it into the future. Slava Ukraini!
Kind of reminds me of Strange Magic. A smaller budget passion project, rather generic in the execution, overly nice female lead, with some issues relating to editing and/or animation. Honestly, I don't remember too much about Strange Magic but I remember it was pretty flawed. This movie also appears to have issues, but of course it gets some credit for its rather _trying_ circumstances. I think they did try to make it more marketable, which is understandable if unfortunate. Those fade-in/fade-out cuts DO look pretty bad. As a cut it has its uses, but using it for nearly every scene is egregious, and yes it does look jarring in that it plain doesn't fit those scenes very well. Reminds me of the days of Windows Movie Maker when loads of people liked using the built-in transitions to excess (or in this case, stuck with the same one because they liked it too much).
I might check it out, eventually, though I'm doubtful I"ll get around to it.
Even if its a little wonky I want to support these animators and va's. I vant imagine the hardship they are going through
Why do a lot of movies keep using the Barbie-looking appearance for they’re character designs? It’s not terrible but still
Wouldn't say barbie, it's more like the Tangled look (barbie artstyle was way different)
There was a point where studios realized people loved baby-like innocence; big heads, huge eyes, other features smaller and dainty. Thus, we get infantilized adults.
I'm honestly tired of it as well. I miss characters that look more human, or more cartoony. Just not... baby-doll-esque.
I do love the colour palette of this film. Everything is so soft and vibrant. I'm eager to see this film.
Glad talented creators are staying safe to fulfill their dream.
Thank you for this review, that is why we are doing it, to get recognised. You should know that this is only the beginning of our filmmaking. Your movies/cartoons while our only start to crawl. We will try again and again, until we will reach your level
This film was kind of “sponsored” in my country (I’m from Poland, but I don’t know if it was advertised as much in other Polish city’s) because a singer “Roksana Węgiel” was the voice actor for Mavka. I remember seeing the trailer while I was in the cinema for spiderverse and as much as I could see the passion in it, I was kind of like “it’s most likely gonna be a meh movie”.
Still, it’s great it managed to survive production hell and I hope the best for the people who made it!
@19:56, that was actually really good water effects, it's crazy how good that is compared to the sorta simplistic look of the characters.
you can tell there was a lot of thought put into this, but then it sorta gets ruined by having a bit of a barbie movie plot lol
Is it bad that the whole plot summary kinda made me wanna watch the movie more? Maybe I'm easily swayed by the stunning visuals. I mean, yes, character designs are weak, but overall, the movie looks VERY well-made, especially when you factor in the conditions under which some of it was made. And I like Disney movies a lot, so all the Disney aspects kinda make me more interested in the film - yes, it seems like it borrows a lot of things from Tangled, but hey, I freakin' love Tangled, so I kind of don't mind. I don't know if this movie is available anywhere in the US - like streaming wise, I know Saber bought it on DVD, but I'm just looking to rent it - but I'm curious to check it out for myself! Maybe I'll like it more than Saber did.
Well, I was hoping for you to do Stolen Princess, its other movie from the same studio, but at least you reviewed a movie from that studio. Even if their movies are mediocre at best, they have so much potentials, their animation looks so good. I hope they'll improve.
Even with the let down of poor writing and screen play, everything else about the movie gives me unending hope that in the future we’ll be graced with another film from Ukraine on the same production level that might be better, as well as hope that more countries will one day have studios in the Pixar and Disney levels so they can share their stories and point of view through animation with the world. I love that it’s not just the American west only that gets to present amazing or cool animated character designs and tales with all of the animation studios all over the world now!
You forgot to mention there's a mid credit scene so spoiler alert...
There's the scene where the villain Kylina found the magical tree that is basically Fountain of Youth and decides to bathe in it. She turned into the baby as a result for using too much liquid instead of a small amount.
First off... It's pretty impressive they finished this movie despite the delays and the FUCKING WAR! Another testament to the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people.
As for the movie itself, it's not great, but it's still a decent introduction to Ukrainian culture and folklore (albeit simplified). Mavka herself is not a well- written character, but she's really cute, and I can sorta... relate to the people who made the fan art..., especially the one that shows her cute... bare... feet...
Outside of Fern gully, there was plenty of story dabs from Tangled and even Beauty & the Beast thrown in there. It's hard NOT to notice.
They could've done so much better with Mavka's "too nice" trait, like a serious hidden anger issue as the movie portrayed earlier when she tells her man and pal to stop, but they didn't. It could've easily played a HUGE part in how she starts getting stronger with her new responsibilities, even lashing out several times at the other nymphs for continuously being so passive aggressive and insulting to her, to the point where she even sets fear into some of the forest dwellers from how upset she truly becomes, heck it could even cause a sort of vindictive side, where she can't even TRUST anyone, which could've added a GREAT sequence in being pissed off by the villain's attempt to fool her; which would've finally climaxed perfectly with the power of rage she's granted. Al of this easily adds to a PERFECT way to tell audiences what happens when you mess and anger nature itself. I also realize I just described me as a whole, but that's the whole thing, she'll be RELATABLE to someone or at lest get people to understand her better
Her original design was much better, and as much as I like her final design it's just...bland in comparison to the final character.
You should do a video on this 2007 Mexican animated film called La legend de la Nahuala. Its really nostalgic to me although is probably worst than I remember lol it also has a good amount of cultural references and stuff.
Agree. i will wait
this is why Ukraine is still going. Normal people would have given up and ran but Ukraine keeps fighting and never giving up. If only more places could be that way. Too many people let them selves be conquered or simply never fight back.
@@Gwar-Deth You should always live by the example of the Ewoks . Weaker people CAN overthrow stronger ones
Does the billions in American tax dollars and military equipment mean nothing? How about you pay that back then you can pretend to be tough or maybe just a thanks, but we all know we're going to get nothing but a ruined economy for helping you.
In ancient Egypt, a ruler thought it would be a good idea to make all the slaves dress the same, so they could be seen apart from non-slaves. But he changed his mind, realizing if all the slaves dressed the same, they would see how large they were in number. And they could overpower.
Real talk, I've never thought I'd see Mavka on this channel. Moreover I've never expected this demand on the movie outside Ukraine.
But I'm glad to see growing adoption of Ukrainian production on the West. And it's all thanks to your time dedicated to the research and promotion on the media. We appreciate that!
I remember beeing late to the premiere, waiting with my friend near the cinema because of the air alarm. Been waiting for this movie to come out since 2017, though it was kinda expected that this adaptation won't be good. Still, it's disappointing, but I hope Animagrad got everything to make something decent in the near future
I love all the effort Saber puts into his videos! keep it up!
The creators of Mavka are heroes and true artists, I'm so happy they completed the work despite all odds. Thank you for reviewing the movie 💕
Not sure if it came to theaters where I am, but I did see the movie on the selves at my local Target - I wish the folks that put this film all the best with whatever they might do with it. But yeah I think a TV series might help with pacing etc
this is so crazy to me because the english voice actors for Mavka and Lukas are Laurie Hymes and Eddy Lee, the same people who voice act Gladion and Lillie from the pokemon sun and moon anime! I first heard Lukas' voice and I was baffled to hear Gladion, then later hearing Lillie as well. The thing that freaks me out the most is that theyre siblings in the show but love interests in the movie... i can only IMAGE how weird it was to find out they were love interests 😭 what a coincidence
There is also animated movie "Victor_Robot". He is realesed in 2020 and has nice 2D style.
You gotta wonder, when pretty much every adult male between 16 and 60 is drafted into the army and the country is in national debt to the USA and EU, how the heck could they afford to make an expensive CGI movie in the middle of a war? At any rate the story was something we have seen so many times - I got Princess Mononoke vibes - but I did like the designs of the various fairies, especially the season-sister nereids/dryads. The main problem of the movie other than blandness is that it just... completely fails to use these unique slavic mythical beings. I mean, you ever seen Viy? I really recommend it... probably the closest we have come to having a fantasy horror movie from Russia/Ukraine (yes they worked together back then in 2014) that deals with slavic folklore. That one utilized these beings quite well.
Seems a beautiful story about love triumphing over war with a lot of love for their culture and stories.
I forget, have you done Thief and the Cobbler yet? Another fascinating but very troubled production.
i really hope he does the animation for it is beautiful
The foot fanart tho 😂
seeing a movie with saving the tree polt line. it's make me think of "Echo". A Thai animation with said plot line. It's been my fav and i see myself go back to watch itso many times but it's soooo underrated even in Thailand. i suggest you to watch it if you had a chance!
I found an Eng Sub trailer if you'd give it a chance. Plus, I really like this movie but couldn't agree more with the transitions.
ua-cam.com/video/Zx9CEMKfFwg/v-deo.htmlsi=kiaF-L49N6Q5HumC
I think I liked her final design, she looks less generic and like a real teenager. The Disney princesses have circular features while hers are more oval. I know it's not a big difference but I think it's different enough to not be mistaken as an actual Disney princess
THE FOOT F3TISH ART HAD ME ROLLING
Thanks for the review! As a Ukrainian myself I'm glad to hear about our product. Yeah It kinda sucks but as one of first big projects of Animagrad I hope it will do
Hopefully Animagrad's next films will be better
"Studio Killers" was not what I expected to hear Saber reference today.
the reason why its so basic and generic is because our creators are afraid international audience won't go watch a hyper authentic ethnic culture flick, they dumbed it down for kids and to make it as general audience oriented as possible. they americanise it, but they don't understand what worked in those Disney films, so they put in all the superficial "Disney" stuff hoping it'll appeal to international audience
i blame capitalistic stagnation of animation industry that instilled this fear of risk and innovation into not just US corpos
This movie was WILD to watch. First of all, I’m Romanian, watched it in cinema and me and my dad were discussing the amatorish voice acting, and I thought it was familiar. TURNS OUT, IT WAS DUBBED BY PEOPLE FROM MY HIGHSCHOOL DRAMA TROUP? They hired literal highschoolers for it and heck, for what it’s worth, they did an amazing job for their experience level. But it was WILDDD to watch
Props for the studio for doing their best.
The movie will be released on brazilian cinemas in September, so it's trailer is already being advertised before movies. I watched Barbie twice (lowkey looking for a possible third time lol) and both times ppl were like "hmmm, that looks kinda...... generic???" Thats exactly how i felt watching the trailer, her design is SO BLAND, even when compared to the other characters in the movie itself, i couldn't help but get this feeling that the movie wouldn't be that great, the animation is pretty but thats it. The title in portuguese also didn't helped at all, it's Mavka: aventura na floresta (Mavka: forest adventure) like, they couldn't be MORE generic with the name 💀💀💀
The Croatian title is even worse Mavka: The Guardian of the Forest
THE FEET FAN ART 😭😭😭😭😭
crazy how they were able to push through during tough times in Ukraine.
Alright. I am a Ukrainian person in much the same way as Anastasia Dronik, but moved to Poland following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Let me get this straight. Apparently, the localization of "Mavka: The Forest Song" was surprisingly good, that I, had ended up going at a Polish movie theater for the first time (I went for the Helios theater over at the Forum shopping mall) on Masha's 15th birthday just a week and three days ago, to take a look at one of those localizations of the movie. So, I had to watch the Polish-dubbed version of the movie (because Monolith Films distributed it over here) at the theater, and oh my, I was SO AMAZED by how good the movie came out as a love letter to Ukraine. I watched the entirety of the movie there, and I was SO SURPRISED at how good the movie was, and how commercially and critically successful the movie is. In fact, I watched the teaser just a few years before that point, the actual trailer a few years later, and the actual movie itself just one more year later. And... I was SO AMAZINGLY IMPRESSED with how good the movie turned out!
Fade-ins and fade-outs can be a relatively easy way to mask jerky starts and stops of motion in CG animation while making the most of rendering time, where every fraction of a second could mean a fair amount of time and money. I don't know for certain that that's what happened here, but it's a hypothesis. I also get a bit of a feeling, watching the review, of the part of "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" where there were two scenes in quick succession of someone yelling "Noooo...!" while wildly firing a weapon- that sense of another culture wanting to imitate the tropes of popular entertainment without perhaps entirely understanding them, or where they might have lapsed into cliche.
I audibly gaped at the feet fan art, his could they lay that get through💀
Oh, I remember the past sunday when the movie was aired on TV in my country, but I didn't get interesed in watch it. As being made in Ukrania, I can feel how bad was producing a film with a war still happening.
The studio I work at (which is in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) assisted in some of the production for this film. I myself didn't participate in it, but some of my current coworkers did. It's something that they are all rightfully proud of for contributing to. May not exactly be a good film, but it's quite an accomplisment considering its circumstances that deserves support.
14:37 holy...the fact this studio didn't realize what art this was is kinda sad. Also IT WAS BEING AFFECTED BY THOSE ARTISTS ALREADY?? Dang.
At 37:17 “As for Kylina no notes just 10/10 please step on me”
Wow, did not know Mavka got such a huge redesign. She certainly got to look more... Elsa-ish? And the WWF funding explains why there is this whole plot about humanity exploiting nature.