Veronika Vykoukalova
As nearly everyone from Czech republic could tell you, this movie is classics (of course, I know some people who never watched this movie - not because they don't like fairy tales, but because it's a nice pose to not like anything Russian), so it's no wonder they show it so often in the TV - and people still watch it, and can quote whole passages from the movie by heart.I can't speak for English dubbing, as I've never heard it, but the Czech one is absolutely excellent - a true masterpiece as far as dubbing is concerned. And the story! There is humour, there is healthy dose of mysticism and magic, and good winning over the evil, just like it should be. Of course, if you are not at least minimally aware of Slavic folklore, half of the movie will not make much sense to you - but if Steven Spielberg could find this movie breathtaking, obviously its creators did something right.
wissywig
First, as many of the folks who have reviewed this movie have seen it on Mystery Science Theater, I'd like to make an important point about the MST3K version of this film, and MST3K itself.Like many other reviewers, I too saw this movie on MST3K. MST3K was a brilliant series, intelligent and well executed. Most of the movies that were featured on the show were films that would otherwise never have been watched by future generations. The fact that they were chosen for the express purpose of being mocked, unfortunately, has created a sort of conundrum for fans of the show, and the show itself.What a lot of folks don't understand, I think, is that the people who worked on MST3K were movie fans, plain and simple. They were fans of cinema in general, bad AND good. Now, bad versus good is not a binary system; there is a certain quality of film that makes it "so bad it's good." Then, of course, there are the movies that are simply bad. However, the fact that a movie is inflicted on the residents of the Satellite of Love does not in and of itself make the movie a bad one of either variety. This is an issue that plagues many of the reviews on this site of movies featured on the show, and frankly, it bewilders me.It seems that many MST3K fans or casual viewers are completely unable to separate their own perceptions and opinions of the movies featured there from the idea that, simply due to the fact that those movies were "mocked" by MST3K, they are "bad movies." While a good many reviewers are able to make this distinction, and form their own opinions about MST3K featured movies, for some reason the brilliance of this remarkable, beautifully shot Russian folk tale has completely evaded them too.Quite a few of the movies shown on MST were foreign films, where certain cultural elements were sure to go over the heads of most Americans. But I don't think that is the case here. Americans are quite capable of watching movies that aren't CGI laden or "realistic" (I'm glad that some folks made reference to The Wizard of Oz when reviewing this movie, because that was the first thing that came to mind while watching it). I just think that many of them have formed blocks in their minds against this particular film for two reasons: One, as I said above, simply due to the fact that it was featured on MST; and two, to be perfectly frank, because it is a Russian production.Americans have a peculiar relationship with Russia; many of us who grew up during the Cold War or during the Reagan years (a slightly warmer but no less tense version of the Cold War) were fed massive amounts of anti-Russian propaganda, taught using the spectre of nuclear holocaust to fear and hate. However, not all Americans have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by such doctrine; despite appearances, many of us are able to distinguish fact from fiction and look back through American history only to find it full of xenophobic hysteria covering many ethnicities and nationalities. We recognise that Russia was just another victim of this country's strange need to establish a political villain in the form of another country or ethnicity (see the Middle East).This mentality is at least part of the reason why, I think, Jack Frost (Morozko) has resulted in such oddly scathing reviews. Despite its consistently beautiful photography, fascinating characters (all of whom, as in every single American (or Americanized) fairy/folk tale, are caricatures--the Handsome Prince, the Wicked Stepmother/Stepsister, The Fairy Godmother/Godfather, etc.), the reviewers of this movie seem unable to do two things: separate their own opinions from the fact that the film was featured on MST, and overcome their prejudices and recognise that, if nothing else, this movie proves that every culture has something in common with ours.If this movie doesn't demonstrate that fact to you, I don't know what will. Look past the dubbing and the babushkas and you'll find an amalgam of tales that Americans have heard all their lives. Of course, the fact of the matter is that American literature has adapted these classic folk tales from other cultures and passed them off as our own. Nonetheless, these tales are staples of American culture. Morozko is many of those stories (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, among others) rolled into one fascinating movie. Personally I found this movie even more interesting than the American tales which ironically have borrowed from it so freely.I've read reviews for almost every movie that MST3K ever featured, and see the same thing over and over again--so many reviewers refuse to view the movie on its own merits and instead allow the admittedly brilliant and hilarious comments of Joel/Mike & the bots to form their opinions for them. I've enjoyed many of the movies I've seen on MST on their own merits, and this is one of them. I just wish more MST3K fans would do as the very writers and producers of the show themselves did and allow themselves to love the very movies that they mock.
Senych74
The point is that Russian (soviet) mentality was clean and strong, so we had no headache after watching this film. I just can't understand some comments. They are all Americans. It's why on every 100 Russian girls in any Russian town you can meet 40 or even 50 beautiful babes, meanwhile on 100 American girls only 10 or even 5 pretty. It's sad to talk about but the main factor in this difference between us is the soviet mentality - "no god no evil". Oh, God forgive me! You are the best. Look what a stupid cartoon movies produced in USA. Like Beavis and Butthead, or Simpsons. In imprison with Morozko 95 % of American movie industries for kids are producing the meaningless stupidest works. There is some good items, but they are exclusion. Have faith!
oukaimeden
It's so much fun to read the comments of those who are not from Russia, 'cause they all go like: "it's bad because i didn't understand it". Of course you didn't, if you were raised on Spider-Man comics and Star Wars and believe that a great movie is where the good guy beats the bad one, there are no surprises here... It has nothing to do with either USSR or communists, it's just a fairy tale, folks, sorry to disappoint you. If you know such words from your history class it doesn't mean that you can put them whenever you think it's appropriate. I wonder if Americans know who's the author of "the Mermaid" and what the original book is about. If you read it, you'll be completely at a loss, people. And the reason that it is hard to rate it is that it's for kids, and they don't usually rate special effects or cinematography...If they simply believe the main characters and sympathize with them, if they cry and laugh with them - that's a 10.
