amir_e_a

It is an animated movie, but i sat through the whole thing without ever thinking that it's animated.

It is a musical, but i sat through the whole thing without ever thinking that it's a musical (i HATE musicals).

Best of all - don't read any reviews or comments about the movie. Not even this one. That way you'll get the most from this masterpiece, 'cuz ANYTHING that you will read about it will be a spoiler.

But if you insist ...

After loving the penguins (and not much else) in Madagascar, i thought that it won't hurt me to go and see this cute kiddies movie about dancing penguins. What i got is a superb story of love, courage and ambition that made me cry. This is a movie with a strong message and not just an environmental one.

It is not flawless. Some plot lines go unexplored. For example, i didn't understand what exactly is that huge vicious animal that chases Mumble to the Latino penguins. I didn't understand why exactly Mumble looks so different from the rest of his nation. The resolution of the plot is a bit too quick and easy. (Maybe those things will be solved in the DVD.) But there are just enough parts in this movie that are so strong, that all flaws seems unimportant.

This great film is a proof that the animated movie industry is growing up very well.

Not a very good sequel. The first movie was set in a beautiful magical forest and the second one is set in a weird electronic land of transistors and it looks as bad as it sounds. Maria and Mirabela are played by different girls this time and their acting is much more childish. The music, courtesy of Eugen Doga, is still beautiful though. And the animation is still nice. It might be worth watching for having a healthy laugh at Romanian escapism and for the good message of doing something good with your life instead of wasting time, but the plot is too childish and this movie doesn't bring up good nostalgia, like the first "Maria, Mirabela". But hey, little children might enjoy it ...

This movie is a parody of different styles of crime movies. If you are a serious cinema lover - give it a few minutes of your time and you're gonna love it. Don't mind the fact that it's in Russian, because there's not much talk - the pictures speak for themselves.

Part 1 is American: everyone kills everyone, crashed cars everywhere, etc. Then there are fancy-dressed ladies who watch a male stripper! Quite amazing that Soviet censorship allowed such a movie to be released and shown to children (even if it criticizes America...).

Part 2 is French, which is also my favorite. It is black-and-white, the background music is very characteristics of film-noir, and the characters are modeled after French actors: Louis de Funes, Alain Delon, Jean Gabin and Brigitte Bardot.

Part 3 is Italian. It is a hilarious parody of Italian movies about poor neighborhoods.

Part 4 is Russian, or to be more precise - Soviet. The main character is modeled after a famous Russian-Jewish comedy actor Saveli Kramarov and the plot is short and funny.