I just stumbled across this online, raw. I've been a fan of Russian animation for many years and this is certainly one to add to your watchlist.
A part of me can't help but always watch these cartoons through the lens of an authoritarian, bureaucratic collectivists society, not with the assumption that they are propaganda, just to the supposition that this has to some extend moulded the imaginations of the creative minds at work on this.
This Alice in Wonderland type adventure, except instead of wonderland we journey into the land of bathroom hygiene, does not have a dull moment. I watched without any subtitles but I think I could follow the plot well enough.
If I told you we start with a dirty little girl blowing a stranger in the bathroom, would you get the wrong idea? After we end up in what looks like the North pole, "devochka" is lead by a talking comb to have a not-so-private bathing (that I think might be a felony in some states); I am not making this up!
It has that distinct tone that some vintage cartoons have of seemingly having no target audience and apparently not being for kids OR adults yet bizarrely satisfying for both. With many delightful Slavic voices, there is a hint of Silly Symphonies mixed with an atmosphere that is wholly Russian. We swing from cute to ineffably eerie: I keep thinking everything is going to get dark any moment and the animators obsession with having this little girl's panties visible 50% of the time doesn't help, except toward making this a singular experience.
The little girl's voice kept reminding me of Heather from Total Drama (Russian Dub of course).
Treat yourself to this piece of Eastern Bloc weirdness, with its roots in the American stuff of the previous decade but still very much with its own stylistic identity that your buddies will love once they're high.
But don't think for a second this doesn't have a unique charm that is very easy to enjoy in a sincere way. I should like to find a subtitled version. I'm not a anti-dub snob (for animation at least) but the beautiful Russian tongue is just an intrinsic part of the experience.
