Volk i telyonok (1984) User Reviews

Very cute animation

[Rectangular_businessman · 8/10 · 18 August 2012]

This Russian animated short is so unbelievable cute: Not only for the very appealing and charming animation style, but also the story that it had, despite being very simple, it was very heartwarming.

The characters were so endearing and adorable, and the story was incredibly charming from beginning to end.

This is an excellent animation for the whole family, with superb animation, cute characters and a charming story that I never get tired to see.

I highly recommend it to anyone, since it was a very good-spirited and delightful little animation wonderfully made.

Charming beauty

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 1 June 2021]

Am not hugely familiar with the work of Mikhail Kamenetsky. Of the work of his seen prior to this, the one that stood out most to me was 1959's 'Beloved Beauty' (or 'My Breathtaking Beauty'), but of the ones seen what stood out about them were their atmosphere and the beautifully old-fashioned and atmospheric visual style. Another selling point in seeing 'Wolf and Calf' is that it comes from Soyuzmultfilm, speaking as a big fan of their work and have been for nearly a decade.

1984's 'Wolf and Calf' is another gem of theirs and is to me it is one of Kamenetsky's best. Better than the still great 'Beloved Beauty' in its own way, it's simpler than that and a lot lighter in tone but to me 'Wolf and Calf' delivers more on the charm factor, the visuals look more refined and the characters have more likeability. It may not be one of all time greats of Soyuzmultfilm's work, and not one of its most important and ambitious but it delivers on everything that makes me love the studio so much.

'Wolf and Calf' looks absolutely lovely for one thing. It doesn't try to do anything too complicated, but still does have elaborate ambition, especially the meticulously detailed backgrounds and the puppet designs. It may be old-fashioned, but in a way that is done so charmingly that to me it was easy to fall in love with it. The music is lively and beautiful to listen to.

Do know some people that felt that the dialogue was too much, for me it wasn't a problem. It moved things forward at least and made things easy to understand without dumbing down. It was also sincere and never cloying and none of it came over as filler-like. The story is very simple but is incredibly charming and heart-warming, with no signs of dullness or sickly sweetness. Never does it feel too childish and coherence is never an issue.

The characters are all engaging and likeable, with no exceptions (the calf grows in both looks and personality), and the voice acting is expressive and not at odds with the characters, also never sounding too theatrical. The moral isn't laid on too thick or too obvious, also one that one can relate to easily.

In all, absolutely lovely. 10/10.

Baby love

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 26 July 2016]

"Volk i telyonok" or "Wolf and Calf" is a 10-minute cartoon from 1984 and this was made in the Soviet Union, which is pretty easily visible from the animation style. Also it's easy to see that this one is not as old as many of the others from this no longer existing country, but "only" from 1984, which means slightly over 30 years old. For director Kamenetskiy and writer Lipskerov, it is still under their most known career achievements. It is the story of a wold who kidnapped a little calf in order to eat it, but he deems it too tiny and wants to feed it first. However, as he keeps feeding it, he grows closer to it emotionally and it becomes clear pretty quickly that he has no intention to eat it anymore. But a fox, a pig (?) and a bear do. Can the wolf protect his little baby? Or does it even need protection. If you take a close look, you could say that the wolf is depicted too positively here as he stole a baby from his parents, but lets not go into any further detail here. I thought it was an entertaining watch with some nice heart and even if real greatness is missing, I certainly recommend the watch. Well done filmmakers. Go check it out audiences.

heartwarming

[Kirpianuscus · 9 May 2020]

A simple story, a nice use of it, the most lovely bad wolf and a calf growing and growing and growing. And, sure, the menace of real bad guys. All the details defining the tradition of Soviet animation, the expected moral lesson and, off course, the justice. Amusing and heartwarming short film.