Vinni Pukh (and a few other Russian cartoons)

1969 Russian Winnie-the-Pooh

Rating: n/r

Plot: Three of the stories fans of Milne or the Disney Pooh cartoons will be familiar with--Pooh tries to use a balloon to get some honey, Pooh and Piglet visit rabbit and eat his food, and Eeyore has the most depressing birthday ever.

I really enjoyed this, but my wife, a fan of Pooh, didn't care for it. It's charming with a much different look but similar innocent style as the Disney versions. There's a childlike wonder with the shapes and colors in this animation. Pooh looks more like a bear although his paws aren't attached to his body. Most bears I've seen have their paws attached. This Pooh's more rotund, probably not even a shape that would permit walking. He sings a song over and over again, something that sounds really angry because the Russian language sounds a little angry even though he's singing "Param-taram" and talking about how it doesn't matter if he scratches his head because it's filled with sawdust. Although I guess that would be enough to make a person angry. Eeyore's just as profoundly melancholy, and his first appearance--a shot of colorful flowers and a panning up to his weeping reflection in a pond--is a beautiful work of art. He throws out one more "damn" than the character in the Disney version. Owl's a woman in this, and Piglet, who apparently exhales helium, is wearing a blue-and-white-checkered number instead of the weird striped pink body suit thing. I almost watched this sans subtitles because it really wouldn't have mattered, but I'm glad I found a version with them because I liked the humor.

Since the Vinni Pukh shorts didn't add up to a full-length feature film, I decided to watch "The Story of One Crime" which was also by Fyodor Khitruk and made in 1962. It's a more adult story since there really is a crime--a bludgeoning. Russian cartoons didn't include adult contemporary stories when Stalin was around. This was cute and sometimes clever, but it's nothing that will last forever. I watched a couple episodes of Nu, Pogodi ("Well, Wait") by a guy named Kotyonochkin. It's sort of a Russian Tom and Jerry thing with a wolf and a bunny. I liked it fine but wondered if there was something more subversive about the whole thing. Apparently not as Kotyonochkin did not like subtext. Nu, Pogodi was apparently wildly popular with children. Finally, I watched "The Glass Harmonica" by Andrei Khrzhanovsky again. I'd written about it previously when I watched it as part of a Russian animation compilation, and it's still just as great. The first animated film to be banned in Russia, this is a beautifully surreal piece that at times as imagery and imagination reminiscent of Yellow Submarine. It's cool, and if you are in the mood to watch some Russian animation, the Pooh shorts or "The Glass Harmonica" are both recommended.