Guest from the Future

First off, the film is nothing like the 1981 cartoon or the 1985 film. This film has an original script that draws on the book by Kir Bulychev, but builds its own word from the year 2024. And the screenwriters did a wonderful job. The plot grabs you from the first minutes and doesn't let go of your attention until the end of the film, which is over two hours long.

The actors Alexander Petrov and Yura Borisov are excellent, a new and entire reading of the antagonists characters. The young actors playing the roles of Alice and Kolya are lively, funny and evoke sympathy.

And the graphics and music in the film complement and complete the excellent work. I really hope that this film will start a universe of films based on books by Kir Bulychev.

This is not doubt movie that has quality (of some sort at least).

It is dynamic enough (even if lots of scenes are elongated with no reason). It has good enough CGI (even if amount of references/borrows is terrible). It has seed of a descent plot (even if it has almost nothing common with original and, for the sake of truth, originals, both film and book, are for 12 yo).

The main problem, as with almost all other modern russian movies, is, sadly, complete absence of originality. Both inner and outer.

Balding producers and elderly championnesses of morality/patriotism are desperate (and hopeless) to be on the "same wave" as next generation. It could be funny if it wasn't so profane, tasteless and mediocre. They are trying to create culture but completely do not understand neither what they are doing nor that culture changed dramatically over 50 years. The saddest thing is, they refuse to learn "new reality", even if they declare this new reality almost every day over the past few years.

As a result, this movie is for no one. Attempts to be modern are clumsy and at least five years late. Plot turns to be empty and leads nowhere. Instead of bright and inspiring future footage is filled by teen's foolish showdowns. Picture is colorful and smooth but lacks meaning.

Great example of what happens when artwork is started by free creative spirit and finished by high-rank soviet censors (yes, they still exist).

The only problem I had with this is while they tried hard there are still a few moments where the FX should be better.

Other than that everything is quite descent: the acting, the characters, the plot, the sound and visual design.

Going in with no expectations for this particular movie and having an overall low opinion about Russian mainstream movie industry, I was pleasantly entertained and didn't notice how the 2+ hrs ended.

I felel the characters of both main villains are very charismatic, and quite a few of the good guys also were fun to watch, including, but not limited to Kolya and Alisa (and I'm an "original 80's Alisa" fan, so might have been too hostile as well - well I'm not!), I also loved how they left some Easter eggs and connected this piece with other ones from the Universe.

I'm sure there are some plot holes, it's impossible to find a movie without them, but tbh I can't put a finger on'em the way I usually can. Idk, may be I'm just getting stupid or smth.

Anyway, have fun, watch the movie, learn it's message, remember Kir Bulychev, read a book!

The star of the movie is Alexander Petrov as Merry U. He shades all the most pathos moments of the movie, amusingly flirts with Kira Selezneva, jokes with the rest of the characters and laughs at his every failure. It's best not to expect a strong anti-hero or an interesting villain - it's just an amusingly colorful trickster .

The rest of the characters are also enjoyable and moderately funny. Schoolchildren from 2024 behave like quite ordinary teenagers - constantly joking and commenting on the terrible events no other way than "thrash". The two Seleznevs, younger and older, take on the darker and more thoughtful moments of the movie.

I didn't expect much from this movie as I'm a fan of the original book by Kir Bulychev and the 1984 TV version. The first reviews said it had too much action, a superhero-like version of Alisa, too many fights, etc. Surprisingly, I fell in love this version. The main characters are older, but then they are played by a more mature actors who did a great job. Kolya Gerasimov is a fun guy, who never falls into despair, Alisa is very cute, Veselchak U is funny and brutal. The movie is full of well known jokes and memes. It also delivers a very special atmosphere due to optimistic views of the future and unforgetable music theme. Don't pay attention to the surprisingly low rating and give it a try.