Ten stars. What else could i give to my childhood favorite? I'ms still a lucky owner of a dubbed VHS version, and I just saw it again yesterday, so its NOT just my sentimentalism. It is still THAT good.
Adventures of Captain Vrungel is, as far as i know, a full feature animated film put together from a series. The story in short goes something like this: Captain Vrungel is on his way around the globe on the biggest yacht race ever. Aboard his trusty old ship, the "Misfortune" ("misfate" might be a better translation. The ship's name has been altered to this, by accidentally losing some letters of its actual name. A joke only Russians understand, so i cant tell if its funny or not), And his faithful companion Lom, the young sailor man. That would be enough to set a good story to any cartoons, but this is a different kind, so here comes the wacky stuff: at the start of the race, the misfortune almost got itself disqualified. The reason: at least three people have to be on board. Lom grabs the first person hes spots from the audience, a lonely little tramp, with a huge double-bass-case. His name is Fux, and he is a low-life gambler, who by the way has committed a serious crime this time. In his Big black case instead of an instrument, there lies the famous and priceless Venus statue, freshly stolen from the Royal Museum. The big boss, who talked him into this crime told him to catch the their race-yacht called "Black Squid", so the statue could be easily smuggled out of the country. The time they realize, poor Fux took the wrong ship, he's already in the middle of the ocean. The Big boss once again hires some henchmen (two Italian gangster talking in fake-Italian, the funniest characters, without doubt), to get back the ware from Fux. So the story goes with Vrungel struggling to win the race, Fux struggling to get away from the wrath of the Mafia, The two gangsters struggling to get the statue back. If this wouldn't be enough we get a super agent too, called the "00X" (a bit like inspector gadget, fully robotic features, a funny bow-tie, and a dog, who is in fact a helicopter), who follows the gangster's trails. Whew. Thats the story in a nutshell. Still with me?
Technically: you might've noticed, that i didt say it's a cartoon. It is in fact CUT-OUT ANIMATION (same technique used in Southpark, or in Monty Python), pulled to it's extreme. We all know Russians take their time when working on animation, but this looks so intense, I simply cannot find words to describe it. Same airbrushed cut outs and environment as Terry Gilliam used, but in Vrungel's case, its so vastly detailed, you just can't compare the two. The backgrounds are almost photo-realistic, just more twisted-looking, and the characters sometimes look like grotesque paintings came to life. The animation is simply master-crafted. Pust down everything could be done with cut-out. Of course it's still not even near Yuri Norsteijn, but that's not saying much (the one who brought the "Hedgehog in the fog" to us, an animated short you should've seen!). There are some short scenes, when they used traditional cartoon technique, but even here they used some air-brushing, and a so extremely distorted perspective, you just have to laugh when you see it:) Animation is really fluid at this scenes too, although, not very precise.
Music is frenetic. It has many silly, yet dramatic tunes, and at least five whole songs! This is the only weakness i found in it, for the Hungarian dubbing is pretty weak (maybe this is the only cartoon where its not better than the original), and the song have been sung in a very amateurish and crappy manner.
Characters are somewhat artistic, and as just everything in this cartoon, they're wacky, twisted, and totally crazy. This feature has maybe the most absurd scenes I1ve ever seen in a children's movie. Its humor is almost Monty Python like, and totally out of hat. Let me describe one of my favorite scenes (This is not a spoiler, it doesn't have much to do with the plot): 00X captures the two gangsters (again, for maybe the fourth time during the film), and handcuffs them with a long chain attached to then wrists, and ended in his own hand. One gangster spots a socket on the wall and puts his fingers inside. High voltage runs through his body, then his partners, then 00X's who's head turn into a turned on light-bulb (a hyper-realistic one). One gangster twists it off and crashes it onto the ground. Again both are free, and leave the super-agent standing there in chains WITHOUT a head.
I hope i did wake your interests. Now good luck on finding this one, for i doubt it came out on DVD, or even on VHS. You got it recorded from TV or you don't have it. Its a pity, for despite its more than fifteen years old now, its still one of the best full feature animations ever.
Adventures of Captain Vrungel is, as far as i know, a full feature animated film put together from a series. The story in short goes something like this: Captain Vrungel is on his way around the globe on the biggest yacht race ever. Aboard his trusty old ship, the "Misfortune" ("misfate" might be a better translation. The ship's name has been altered to this, by accidentally losing some letters of its actual name. A joke only Russians understand, so i cant tell if its funny or not), And his faithful companion Lom, the young sailor man. That would be enough to set a good story to any cartoons, but this is a different kind, so here comes the wacky stuff: at the start of the race, the misfortune almost got itself disqualified. The reason: at least three people have to be on board. Lom grabs the first person hes spots from the audience, a lonely little tramp, with a huge double-bass-case. His name is Fux, and he is a low-life gambler, who by the way has committed a serious crime this time. In his Big black case instead of an instrument, there lies the famous and priceless Venus statue, freshly stolen from the Royal Museum. The big boss, who talked him into this crime told him to catch the their race-yacht called "Black Squid", so the statue could be easily smuggled out of the country. The time they realize, poor Fux took the wrong ship, he's already in the middle of the ocean. The Big boss once again hires some henchmen (two Italian gangster talking in fake-Italian, the funniest characters, without doubt), to get back the ware from Fux. So the story goes with Vrungel struggling to win the race, Fux struggling to get away from the wrath of the Mafia, The two gangsters struggling to get the statue back. If this wouldn't be enough we get a super agent too, called the "00X" (a bit like inspector gadget, fully robotic features, a funny bow-tie, and a dog, who is in fact a helicopter), who follows the gangster's trails. Whew. Thats the story in a nutshell. Still with me?
Technically: you might've noticed, that i didt say it's a cartoon. It is in fact CUT-OUT ANIMATION (same technique used in Southpark, or in Monty Python), pulled to it's extreme. We all know Russians take their time when working on animation, but this looks so intense, I simply cannot find words to describe it. Same airbrushed cut outs and environment as Terry Gilliam used, but in Vrungel's case, its so vastly detailed, you just can't compare the two. The backgrounds are almost photo-realistic, just more twisted-looking, and the characters sometimes look like grotesque paintings came to life. The animation is simply master-crafted. Pust down everything could be done with cut-out. Of course it's still not even near Yuri Norsteijn, but that's not saying much (the one who brought the "Hedgehog in the fog" to us, an animated short you should've seen!). There are some short scenes, when they used traditional cartoon technique, but even here they used some air-brushing, and a so extremely distorted perspective, you just have to laugh when you see it:) Animation is really fluid at this scenes too, although, not very precise.
Music is frenetic. It has many silly, yet dramatic tunes, and at least five whole songs! This is the only weakness i found in it, for the Hungarian dubbing is pretty weak (maybe this is the only cartoon where its not better than the original), and the song have been sung in a very amateurish and crappy manner.
Characters are somewhat artistic, and as just everything in this cartoon, they're wacky, twisted, and totally crazy. This feature has maybe the most absurd scenes I1ve ever seen in a children's movie. Its humor is almost Monty Python like, and totally out of hat. Let me describe one of my favorite scenes (This is not a spoiler, it doesn't have much to do with the plot): 00X captures the two gangsters (again, for maybe the fourth time during the film), and handcuffs them with a long chain attached to then wrists, and ended in his own hand. One gangster spots a socket on the wall and puts his fingers inside. High voltage runs through his body, then his partners, then 00X's who's head turn into a turned on light-bulb (a hyper-realistic one). One gangster twists it off and crashes it onto the ground. Again both are free, and leave the super-agent standing there in chains WITHOUT a head.
I hope i did wake your interests. Now good luck on finding this one, for i doubt it came out on DVD, or even on VHS. You got it recorded from TV or you don't have it. Its a pity, for despite its more than fifteen years old now, its still one of the best full feature animations ever.