Good Old Cartoons. Soyuzmultfilm #1

I'm trying to restrain my love of ranting, so briefly. Soyuzmultfilm is a studio of legendary scale in the countries of the former USSR. Our parents and grandmothers like to say: "Soviet cartoons should be watched, they teach good." In fact, Soviet cartoons are mostly very "correct" and harmless, but at the same time very clever and ironic. And here will be collected some one of the most favorite cartoons of this studio. Well, let's get started!

—  Young croca... No, young cracodile wants to make friends, period. A young cracodile...

 Gena, writing a letter

Let's start with, perhaps, the most famous cartoon outside of Russia, the mascot of Soyuzmultfilm — "Cheburashka".

This cartoon consists of three episodes: "Crocodile Gena", "Cheburashka" and "Shapoklyak".

The plot of the first episode is aas follows: the seller of oranges opens the box and sees an unknown animal (Seller called him Cheburashka) hands it over to a toy store. Let's stop at the first one for now

And at this time, the crocodile Gena, working (yes, exactly working) in the zoo as a crocodile, decided to find friends.

Soon the girl Galya and the dog Tobik come to him, and later — Cheburashka. They couldn't figure out who he was, but they accepted him anyway.

Meanwhile, we get acquainted with a gorgeous villainess — an old woman named Shapoklyak, who loves to do nasty things to people.

Soon Shapoklyak comes to friends and tries to scare them with a rat (and she fails. In fact, her rat is cute).

After that, the friends decided to build a House of Friends, where everyone could make friends with each other. But the trouble is: there are too few of them. Therefore, caring citizens come to their aid, who are accepted for building.

Shapoklyak tries to prevent the builders, but to no avail. Friends still managed to build a House of Friends.

But — what a shame — the house turned out to be unnecessary. Everyone managed to make friends with each other when they built the house. Therefore, friends suggested making a kindergarten out of it, where Cheburashka will work as a toy (again, it is to work).

The cartoon is quite naive, simple and kind and it will either turn you away or incredibly bribe you.

Cheburashka became popular not only in the USSR, but also in Sweden (under a different name) and Japan (those from these countries, tell me if this is so), and, again, this is the most iconic cartoon of Soyuzmultfilm. So that you understand the cult of character, it is Cheburashka (only for some reason whitened) became the mascot of the Russian Olympic team in the 2006 Winter Games in Turin! (Although, I would like to see the biathlete Shapoklyak)

Without original series, he had a some Japanese remakes, cartoon sponsored by Sberbank and a Russian film of 2023, which broke a big jackpot in the country.

Karlson: Is there still a little jam left?

Malysh: No, there is no jam!

Karlson: What, there is no jam at all?

Malysh: Nope!

Karlson: Not a bit?

Malysh: No.

Karlson: Sad... A miracle has happened! A friend saved a friend's life! Our dear Karlson has a normal temperature, and he should be pampered!

Probably, the Swedes are familiar with this character, and Astrid Lindgren is certainly familiar, from whose pen the original of this story came out. 
But there is a big difference: the Swedes hate the selfish bastard manipulating children, while the Russians adore the funny fat man who loves to eat and fool around. 

Question: Why? The answer to it lies in this cartoon. Our animators have greatly softened the image of Karlson, leaving his negative features to a much lesser extent. And Malysh (in English will be Baby, in Swedish will be Lillebror) is not a boor, but a pretty cute lonely boy.

The cartoon begins rather abstractly. Cars are driving on the streets of Stockholm, taking on the appearance of animals in Malysh's imagination. After a kind traffic light (a figment of imagination) leads him through the animal traffic jam, Malysh (voiced by Clara Rumyanova, she also voiced Cheburashka and half of the children's characters of the USSR) sees a cute dog — his dream. But it turned out that this dog belonged to the guy who kicked Malysh for him.

After that, a man with a motor on his back flies into Malysh's room and starts talking to Malysh. It turned out that this was Karlson, a man at least in the full prime of his life (by the way, perfectly voiced by the actor of Soviet Sherlock — Vasily Livanov. By the way, he also voiced Crocodile Gena). After that, Karlson offers to fool around, spreading Malysh's room, but promising that he will bring "ten thousand such chandeliers."

Parents, of course, do not believe Malysh and punish him. 
Soon Karlson returns to Malysh again and declares that he is "the sickest person in the world." Malysh agrees to fly to Carlson

After Malysh and Karlson fly to the house of the second, where Malysh successfully "treats" Karlson.

After that Karlson and Malysh started playing pranks on the roofs. That's when the hilarious scene with the wild but attractive ghost begins.

After all the pranks, the firefighters find Malysh and take her home. 
And some time later Malysh has a birthday. Despite the holiday, Malysh sobbed because he did not find a dog. From Malysh's crying dad can't stand it and goes somewhere. 

Karlson arrives at Malysh's birthday party and tries to comfort Malysh. But Malysh says that he was not given a dog, to which Karlson replies in frustration:

— "What about me? Malysh, I'm better, right? Better than a dog..."

But parents come into the room, and it turns out they have a gift — a Dog!

The kid is incredibly excited and in a hurry to tell Karlson, but he is no longer there... he took offense and flew away.

The first part of this cartoon ends on such a sad note. I will tell you about the second one in the next part, if you are interested).

The cartoon is truly gorgeous, one of the most beloved Soviet childhood cartoons. Sparkling phrases have gone to the people, and the heroes have become iconic and popularly loved. The amazing actors (another unsurpassed actress will appear in the second part) breathed life into the characters — all the dialogues sound like real ones, with all the intonational sighs, mutterings, reservations — real aces.

Let me write down the most legendary phrases:

• Спокойствие, только спокойствие! (Calm, only calm!)

• Пустяки, дело-то житейское! (It's nothing, it's something daily!) — special chic in the word "житейское" that mean "everyday", "daily".

• Продолжаем разговор (Let's continue the talk)

• Я пришёл к тебе на день варенья  (I came to congratulate you on jam day) — No birthday can do without a joke about "день варенья"

• Я мужчина хоть куда, ну в полном расцвете сил! (I'm a man fine fellow, in the full prime of my life!) — As a child, I loved to say this and hilariously repeat

• Я самый больной человек в мире! (I'm a sickest person in the world!)

• Ну нет, это я не ем — что это такое: восемь свечей и один пирог? Лучше так: восемь пирогов! и одна свечка (Well, no, I don't eat it — what is it: eight candles and one pie? It's better this way: eight pies! and one candle.) —Karlson's worthwhile suggestion.

• Свершилось чудо! Друг спас жизнь друга! (A miracle has happened! A friend saved a friend's life!) — In everyday life, I like to say this

• Знаешь, кто это такие? О, брат! Это жулики .... Тебе страшно? Мне нет (Do you know who they are? Oh, brother! These are crooks.... Are you scared? I don't) —these crooks got it from Karlson

• Сейчас ты увидишь лучшее привидение с мотором! Дикое-о, но симпатишное (Now you will see the best ghost in the world with a motor. Wild-oh! But cute) — Guess who this wonderful ghost came to

• Даже за сто тысяч миллионов (even for a hundred thousand million) —mom's answer to Malysh's question. The kid asked if his parents would give him for a hundred thousand million (the conversation started from the fact that his mother said that he was very dear to them). Real moms also like to say this.

• Вот у папы есть мама, а у мамы — папа. А у меня никого нет, даже собаки... (Dad has a mom, and mom has a dad. And I don't have anyone, not even a dog...) 

Soviet cartoons are incredible. They are simple and naive, but at the same time witty and funny. Numerous phrases from them have become a national treasure, and many anecdotes have appeared in the people (perhaps I will write about them). The cartoons that I have written are far from all the masterpieces of Soviet animation, and in order to tell about them all, you need to write a lot of blogs (I will try to write the following shorter so as not to spoilerize and not tell the whole story).

It's definitely worth watching them, but it's worth watching in the original — there is not a single good dubbing into foreign languages, and many jokes are untranslatable. But if you don't watch them, believe me, you will lose a lot.