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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
entertaining and charming, July 10, 2002
This review is from: The Princess and the Pea (DVD)
Though it is titled "The Princess and the Pea", this movie is actually based on several stories by Hans Christian Anderson briliantly knitted together to form a cohesive whole. Russian fairy-tale productions of the 60s and 70s are of very high quality and this is one of the best of the breed. The photography, scenery, and music are of course spectacular. Particularly noteworthy are the actresses who play the princesses in the various stories. They are all beautiful, all but one charming, and have delightfuly quirky personalities. One caution though. The DVD has an alternative audio track with the dialog dubbed in English. Disregard it. If you don't understand Russian, use the English subtitles instead. The English dubbing uses a slightly different script that has been designed to match the Russian lip movements. Some of the characters as portrayed by the actors who dubbed the film come across as having different personalities. This is particularly true of the hero's parents who reflect Russian culture in the Russian script but a weak knockoff of British culture in the dubbed soundtrack.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Charming!, March 5, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: The Princess and the Pea (DVD)
Hi, I don't remember this movie as one from my childhood, though I probably had seen it before. I was able to see it now with "fresh eyes" and discover the charming story, full of magic and love. I loved this DVD, the characters are great, and the story is told in a new and innovative way. I love the princess and the troll story, the discovery that sometimes things that appear to be ugly can be quite good despite of what they seem on the outside. I rated it 5 stars because I think it is a wonderful movie, and I recommend it for viewing. As far as the question of the age audience for this movie--I know that it was done for kids, and we as kids grew up on these movies and I would definitely say it is for kids as well as adults. It is psychological, and makes you think. There might be the cultural difference from the viewing perspective, as the movie lacks in special effects but delivers the superb story--the "grown up" topics are very psychological, and I am sure that kids are always mature to understand the concepts of good and evil, love and sorrow. It lacks in blood gushing and all the Halloween tricks of head chopping, loose body limbs and ogre stuff, so whoever wrote that the story is not for kids probably meant that this kind of stuff is now watched by kids--so that stuff is not in the movie. What in the movie are the several stories connected by the magical tale and telling the most charming fairytales ever. Watch it!:) And yes, it is closer to the original if you watch it with subtitles instead of voiceover-they are trying to match actors lip movements and hence are the lines, but the characters are changed as a result of this audio "makeover"
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
different and adorable, November 4, 2004
This review is from: The Princess and the Pea (DVD)
Russian fairy tales are quite different from others and this is no exception. It is much more Russian than Danish. In no way is it like a Disney film. It starts slow but gets very interesting as the prince journeys to find his princess. Each of the four princesses are gorgeous and totally ddifferent in persosnality. Naturally the prince finds his true love in his own "backyard." You can do much worse that check out some of the Russian fairy tales that are now on DVD in the states.
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