SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Good concept, poorly executed.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

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

Hailed as Walt Disney of the Soviet Union, this epic fantasy is Ptushko's swan song (he passed away in 1973) and unequivocally his most ambitious work. Based on Pushkin's poem, RUSLAN AND LUDMILA runs 150 minutes, which allows Ptushko to mould an extensively lavish set to minutely fabricate the fairy tale, in a children-friendly fashion. Ruslan (Kozinets), a valiant knight, is going to marry Ludmila (Petrova), the prepossessing daughter of Prince Vladimir of Kiev (Abribosov), but in their wedding night, Ludmila is abducted by an evil dwarf wizard, Chernomor (Fyodorov) who is in alliance with a vengeful witch Naina (Kapnist), so Ruslan is on his way to rescue her, together with three other rivals who are also yearning for Ludmila, they are Rogdai (Mokshantsev), a sully-looking warrior, Ratmir (Akhmetov), a young Khazar Khan and Farlaf (Nevinnyy), a portly gourmand.As a master of stop-motion filmmaking, four decades later, Ptushko's sleights of hand are all the same enthralling to appreciate prominently as a novelty before CGI-era, crude but fantastic, Naina's witchcraft, Chernomor's magic beard, the giant slumbering human head, the wizard's hat which can make people invisible, a crafty juxtaposition of labouring giants and normal-size humans, and the combat between Ruslan and Chernomor in the soaring sky, all can effortlessly take the audience's breath away at that time.Unfortunately, the momentum slumps in the last half-hour, where Kiev is under siege from its barbaric attackers, here, so obvious that Ptushko is not competent to command the large scale of action sequences, the battle scenes are generically haphazard, extras are playing house, and shoddy models are ubiquitous. All the more, the acting, is the simplest type which leaves no trace of subtlety or empathy, fairly straightforward to the degree that every toddler can feasibly comprehend who is good and who represents evil, Ruslan is the invincible hero and Ludmila is the fearless heroine, who can single-handedly fend off Chernomor and his minions with all the pillows on the bed, Naina is the source of evil and Chernomor is merely a jester. It all can be subsumed as the standard Disney franchise, but unfortunately it becomes ever so distracting from adult's eyes. With all due respect to Ptushko and his screw for their laborious effort, a 6/10 is my conscientious vote for this one.

Ruslan and Ludmilla's (not to be confused with the great Glinka opera of the same name) only downsides are some dialogue that feels on the contrived side and the final twenty-five minutes or so, with its grotesquely violent nature and the villains disappearing and being forgotten it suddenly feels like a completely different film. This is only one part of the film though, the rest is absolutely magical and close to perfect. It looks wonderful, from the ice gardens to the Russian palaces the settings are very handsomely mounted while the colours are bright and the costumes evocatively beautiful. The special effects are fine on the whole(weird at times but in a wonderful way), appropriate for the genre and when the film was made, likewise with the make-up, while the film is beautifully shot also. The music positively sweeps in authentic Russian folk song flavour and rousing grandeur, while there is enough wit and charm in the dialogue to make up for those contrived moments and the battle sequences are on the whole vividly choreographed(the one in the final twenty-five minutes was the only notable exception). The story is very Russian and very-fairy-tale-like, it is one of those stories that sucks you in and never lets go, and it's told to thrilling effect while never losing the fantastical element of it. The characters are equally colourful, and while a little stagy the actors are noble and very into their roles, especially Natalya Petrova's spunky Ludmilla. All in all, magical and will enthral audiences whatever age. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The film is on two dvds as many Rusico films are. (it has to be the extras) This is not always a bad thing...Here its a bit of a help since the first half is better than the second. To that end a movie review in Two Parts Part One: The film is the story of the title two characters who are in love. Ludmila is kidnapped on her wedding night and the king, angry at the loss of his daughter vows that she will be the bride of who ever returns her.So off the suiters go along with Ruslan in the hope of rescuing the maiden.The culprit is a dwarf with a forty foot long beard.The final film by Aleksandr Ptushko is yet another fairy tale based up the writing of the poet Pushkin.Ptushko is a rather odd filmmaker who spent all of his career churning out odd fairy tales that sold one on the idea of grand Mother Russia.I've seen several of his films now and I'm of mixed opinion of him and his work.He makes films that look like grand fairy tales with lots and lots of everything you expect in said tales but tend to be a bit stilted in direction, coupled with the love of country nonsense he pours into the proceedings his films can be really tough to watch.The first half of this film is one of his better films, very fantastical and fairy tale like.I was watching the film in English with the subtitles on and the dub is almost exactly what the subtitles are which is good. Interesting is the fact that the dub must be from a cut English version of the film since the English drops out periodically to be replaced by Russian.I love the visuals of the film even if the effects leave something to be desired at times. The giants head, the fearsome forest and some of the evil dwarf's lair are beautiful to behold.When the first DVD ended I was looking forward to the second part of the film.Part two. Oh dear god this is horrible.The first half is a decent film but the second half seems longer than its 70 minutes by six or seven hours.The first half of the film ended with Ruslan getting the sword that could defeat the evil Dwarf. The second half is a bunch of beautiful to look at but badly acted tableaux of an evil witch attempting to stop Ruslan from getting to the dwarf's lair.When he gets there and defeats the dwarf almost an hour remains...I think I was stunned into disbelief.He then goes off with an unconscious Ludmila...Then things get wonky as the Mongols attack and Ruslan dies... for awhile.The Final attack on the castle is one of the wost battle scenes ever put on the screen ever. I MEAN EVER!!!!! Heads fly and people are cut in half and its badly acted as arrows go three feet, a cow is shot full of arrows and the dialog is laughably bad....The second half of this film is an unmitigated bomb. Its one of the worst films ever made.Watch the first half, avoid the second.4 out of 10 over all

Just want to say to everyone: SEE THIS MOVIE!It is funny & imaginative.For people who love fantasy movies, this is a real good way to spend a saturday evening.This is the russian "lord of the rings", in a more funny way.It is based on a poem, so everyone speaks in poetry, but the subtitles are normal so for western people it is normal. First you think it is a nice child movie, with some singing... baby-explaining way. Later you see people get beheaded by barbarians etcetra, and some blood. So it really turns upside down!GO SEE IT!