Mavka: Lla chanson de la Forêt

I am very very happy it's finally available to see. More than 7 years of work by animagrad is huge time and financial investment

It's amazing cartoon for babies.

However, by being adult and knowing the book, I have been expected more dynamics, much more energy, and main heroes appearance in absolutely different way, same as behavior, moves and of course different dramatic ending.

Book by Lesya Ukrainka is incredible rich and emotional, and unfortunately I could not feel anything even close related to the book, it s just a new cartoon that is good but about different mavka and different story.

But I think that it is also big success. Thank you for film! Hope for a new ones soon by animagrad and ukrainian animators. The more products will be done, more experience will bring better results..

It's been said the film industry seems to be running out of original ideas. I now also believe they are running out of ideas for original animated films AND characters. I've seen several animated movies the past two years that felt a bit stale. Although still a beautiful film with incredible animation, 'Mavka: The Forest Song' unfortunately is one of those that did not have that 'fresh' feeling to it.

Many years ago a sawmill owner from a village went into the Dark Forest looking for a cure for his sick young daughter. The Forest Guardian gave him a drop from the Tree of Life. After his daughter was cured, the owner - along with several villagers - went looking for more, resulting in a battle between the Forest Dwellers and the villagers. The Guardian then banned humans from the forest.

Enter Mavka. She is a nymph - a beautiful, sweet girl with a kind heart, who brings the forest to life at the start of Spring. Enter Kylina. She is the sawmill owner's daughter, and now the film's antagonist who wants to find the Tree of Life for herself. She offers riches to the villagers for going into the Dark Forest, but they are unwilling. Only one man, Lucas - an aspiring musician who needs money for medicine to save his sick uncle Leo - is willing to go.

And so he embarks on a journey into the forest, where he soon meets Mavka. As predicted, romance was sure to blossom for these two characters. As I mentioned, this is a beautiful film with an interesting enough premise - only, none of the characters felt original. I recognized characters from so many other animated films like Snow White, Tangled, Rise of the Guardians, Tinker Bell, and events from live action films like Australia, Twister, Lord of the Rings, to name just a few. And don't tell me that scene where the forest dwellers gather under their sacred Tree of Life doesn't look like an exact replica of a similar scene from Avatar! How many films did you recognize in 'Mavka'?

The film features good humour, and then also very cartoonish humour, and thus dividing the audience between a young and mature demographic. While this is a film young and old can enjoy, adults will most likely deem many of the scenes more suited for kids.

Having said that - and it does sound like I'm criticizing the movie, doesn't it? - this was still worth the watch. It certainly was better than some of the other animated offerings as of late. Its still the kind of movie that will bring parents and kids together for a fun movie night experience.

Watched this cartoon in the cinema in Odesa. The impressions are great, beautiful graphics, a wonderful story based on ukrainian legends, cool songs. I really liked how the cartoon characters were drawn, the characters are very beautiful, the scenery is mesmerizing, the nature is incredible! Very funny jokes, several times we couldn't hold back and laughed for the whole hall. It's nice to hear the voices of ukrainian stars. In a word, my daughter was impressed! I recommend watch this cartoon, if you want to have a good time with your child, get aesthetic pleasure and touch to ukrainian legends and folklore.

Foreign viewers, fans of fantasy, may involuntarily compare this cartoon with Princess Mononoke, but all the responsibility here lies solely with the screenwriters, who probably wanted to add or even replace the depressive texts of the Ukrainian poetess with a more joyful and childlike naivety, where good triumphs over evil, and there is a happy ending at the end of the movie. The cartoon is really high-quality and interesting for both children and adults. I would like to single out interesting secondary characters, such as Frol, Erek and Derek (which are very reminiscent of the Klitschko brothers) , and the forest character Hook, and of course the forest naiads. Musical compositions performed by Dakha Brakha (as well as their cartoon characters), Khrystyna Soloviy and Artem Pyvovarov fit very harmoniously into the feature film. It is very pleasant that animated films based on the works of Ukrainian poets, poetesses,writers began to appear on the big screens.

Wow, what an amazing film, to be able to put my review in such few words, is if you want to watch a great thought out film, with diverse colours, creative story line, musically and sound enhanced with character progression and a cartoony feel that leaves you wanting more, then give Mavka a watch!

I think the only thing letting it down would actually be some of the fighting scenes, I get its meant to be directed at all ages, actually unsure of the rating as I write this review but I would think its in the PG ball park, it would be good to actually see no. 2 of this if it ever goes ahead but from what I understand and the plot line they left that to interpretation. I think overall its a good film and well worth a watch if you have kids or you're into animation.