Mavka: The Forest Song

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.

This picture is a work of art in the field of animation. The team worked on the cartoon for about five years, which passed in vain. As a result, we have a quality Ukrainian product that can compete with the outstanding films of famous filmmakers. The voice actors were chosen very well, they seem to live the lives of their animated characters. And it is very nice to know that the basis of such a beautiful cartoon is the literary work of the Ukrainian writer Lesya Ukrainka. I am very happy and very proud that my country has such talented people who can satisfy my aesthetic needs as a film lover.

The courage of the authors is to be commended. They chose a Slavic (Ukrainian) setting and guessed it. We hardly see it in cinemas.

This dynamic cartoon will not let you get bored or fall asleep. Your children will like it and Mavka will try very hard to please you too.

I liked the good visuals and fresh style. Of course you have to forgive the average animation of some human characters. But the inhabitants and spirits of the forest are excellent.

Also, this cartoon is worth watching to support young and talented authors. So that they can create very good product in the future.

And stay after the subtitles to see the important plot twist ;)

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.

Being mostly raised on Disney's cartoon in a post soviet Ukraine I must admit, that this is the first cartoon of its kind(made in Ukraine) that deeply touched my stale, selfish ego.

Even though the film was in production for something like 3 years, and was postponed for release several times (the last, probably due to the war), I like to admit that the final result is remarkably good.

Needless to say, that international viewers will miss some real fun & insights related to local (modern) Ukrainian culture, due to translation(as this always happens), but I hope, that the most important senses will get positive acclaim.

P.s. The movie is based off a classic poetic play, called "The Forest Song" by Lesya Ukrainka, which all Ukrainian kids study in mid-school.