A wonderful fantastic animation movie! I read some reviews here that describe Aleksandr Petrov's films as great on the eyes, but lacking good plot and being hard to follow. I have to disagree with this assessment! It's just that Aleksandr Petrov is Russian and in his animations there are allusions, characters, and motifs that are rooted in Russian culture and are much more familiar to a Russian person than a foreigner watching the cartoon. Non-Russians just may need a little outside help to understand the plot (just like people often read a libretto before watching an opera to make sure they understand the action happening on on stage).
!!!A warning that spoilers do follow from this point on!!! (Do not read beyond this point, if you do not want to read spoilers!) In this story there are two monks who live by the river. The old monk had sinned in his youth: he had romance with a young girl, had sex with her, but then married another woman thereby "dishonoring" the girl who loved him and trusted him. (We learn this from the flashbacks that the old monk has and how now he is praying to God and begging him for forgiveness of his old sins.) The dishonored girl committed suicide by drowning. The young girl's restless spirit had turned into a mermaid - an evil spirit who is out to take revenge on the injustice that was done to her in her life. She takes this revenge by seducing young men with her charms, and then leading them into the depth of the water and drowning them. (This kind of wandering evil-spirit of a girl who's life ended before her time due to cruelty of men is a common character in Russian folklore. She may appear innocent and charming, but that is just a ploy to trick the young man into following her.) Naturally, the evil-spirit mermaid goes after the young monk, who is the apprentice of the old monk (and is probably like a son to him). Once the old monk realizes what's going on, he knows that the young monk is about to lose his life to pay for his (the old monk's) sins. He knows he must protect the young monk. So he tries to do it through prayer and giving the young monk the cross. When that doesn't work (the young monk takes a boat out onto the water to join the mermaid there), the old monk throws himself into a battle with the mermaid and he dies in the process of that battle, but is able to save the life of the young monk thereby.
So, as you can probably see, the story and plot of the animation are quite meaningful, substantial, and even powerful. You just need to be able to understand it to appreciate it and understand Petrov's work fully.
!!!A warning that spoilers do follow from this point on!!! (Do not read beyond this point, if you do not want to read spoilers!) In this story there are two monks who live by the river. The old monk had sinned in his youth: he had romance with a young girl, had sex with her, but then married another woman thereby "dishonoring" the girl who loved him and trusted him. (We learn this from the flashbacks that the old monk has and how now he is praying to God and begging him for forgiveness of his old sins.) The dishonored girl committed suicide by drowning. The young girl's restless spirit had turned into a mermaid - an evil spirit who is out to take revenge on the injustice that was done to her in her life. She takes this revenge by seducing young men with her charms, and then leading them into the depth of the water and drowning them. (This kind of wandering evil-spirit of a girl who's life ended before her time due to cruelty of men is a common character in Russian folklore. She may appear innocent and charming, but that is just a ploy to trick the young man into following her.) Naturally, the evil-spirit mermaid goes after the young monk, who is the apprentice of the old monk (and is probably like a son to him). Once the old monk realizes what's going on, he knows that the young monk is about to lose his life to pay for his (the old monk's) sins. He knows he must protect the young monk. So he tries to do it through prayer and giving the young monk the cross. When that doesn't work (the young monk takes a boat out onto the water to join the mermaid there), the old monk throws himself into a battle with the mermaid and he dies in the process of that battle, but is able to save the life of the young monk thereby.
So, as you can probably see, the story and plot of the animation are quite meaningful, substantial, and even powerful. You just need to be able to understand it to appreciate it and understand Petrov's work fully.
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