Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Iko Iko Poetry in animation, so I would call this film, each image is emotion, images are repeated, emotions are repeated, a curse and a blessing. Music, shadows, movements, everything points to the state of the human soul. The wolf is the witness, the spirit of nature in us, it becomes Dante traveling through hell or paradise, shattered moments of human souls. Participating curiosity in each of our state, we are the wolf, life grows, we are the wolf, lives are destroyed. The moments of happiness, the elusive happiness, a reality that stitching dreams, sadness, soul leaking through every scene, quietly and toxic. The wolf is the narrator, he survives, he is witness in stories of our souls, in our lost mirror, by which we look at our misted life.Excellent film, my first meeting with Yuriy Norshteyn work. And what a movie. I'm really deeply touched by this masterpiece.

TheLittleSongbird Not much to add really to what's already been said before, and so well too. Tale of Tales is one of the finest Soviet animations ever made alongside Hedgehog in the Fog, and one of the most powerful and poignant of the entire animation medium too. The visuals are really striking, atmospherically coloured and impeccably detailed, several of the images are enough to stay with you forever and the symbolic ones are really quite meaningful. Tale of Tales is scored wonderfully too, all of it fits with the visuals like strawberries and cream whether ethereally beautiful in the retrospective moments or hauntingly rousing in the war/battle images. The story and atmosphere are rendered adeptly, the story is structured into three sections, each of them is firmly focused and full of emotional impact and they follow and overlap one another with no signs of jarring or clumsiness. The retrospective moments are nostalgic and poignant, the middle section is just gut-wrenching and the idealism of the final section shows some hope, contrasting beautifully with what's been seen before. Tale of Tales is well-paced, it allows the visuals to breathe and resonate nor does it descend into tedium, and the powerful, affecting and nostalgic atmosphere is incredibly well-done. To conclude, a fine example of a Soviet animation masterpiece and one of the finest examples too. 10/10 Bethany Cox

MartinHafer In 1984, the Animation Olympiad named this as "the most beautiful animated film ever made". Well, that's a mighty tall order to live up to and so I expected a much prettier film than I actually saw. Now this isn't to say the film is ugly, but only portions of the film are pretty. The backgrounds and effects are indeed lovely, but the characters all too often are cutouts that move through stop-motion (almost like those of Terry Gilliam) and they just have a cheap quality about them. The contrast between these moving characters and the rest of the film is pretty noticeable--especially the rather crudely drawn wolf. Plus, while the film is in some ways quite pretty, it's not especially fun to watch or exciting. I really think some of the Russian animated shorts by Aleksandr Petrov that were done after SKAZKA SKAZOK were far more beautiful and impressive--having a narrative that is much more interesting to all ages. SKAZKA SKAZOK, instead, has very limited commercial appeal--being more for the artsy crowd than the average person. Overall, rather pretty but that's about all. Had I not heard all the hype, perhaps I would have been more impressed.

thecygnet In most people's head the animation film is connected to Disney movies or to Japanese manga animation films, which are very hip nowadays. But everyone seems to overlook Russian animators. The most influential of them is Yuri Norstein, whose timeless masterpiece was awarded at the festival of animation films in Los Angeles in 1984 and at many other film festivals throughout the world. But why is this short half-an-hour movie so beautiful?Firstly, because Norstein has a matchless visual style. I expected something special after I've read about the film and before I saw it but what I got is something extraordinary: breathtaking pictures, fantastically clever use of mixed media, fine classical music. Secondly, because of the complex, symbol-ridden story, which is rooted in the Russian mythology. The story is about childhood innocence, the loss of the loved ones and the duty of the artist. It's very European, very Eastern-European and because I'm from Hungary and our past is very similar, this animation film is much closer to me than the American or Japanese ones.