Animated fairy tales for kids

The 100 best animated movies: the best fairy-tale movies

World-famous animators pick the best animated movies ever, including Disney and Pixar movies, cult movies, kids movies, stop-motion, anime and more

Tuesday 15 April 2014

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Now we know which are the 100 best animation movies of all time. But which are the best Disney movies and which are the best Pixar or Studio Ghibli films? Which are best for kids and families and which are strictly arty, political or edgy?

We’ve applied 26 handy labels to the 100 great animations in our list. Here you’ll find all the films in the list that feature fairy tales at their heart.

But how many have you seen? Take our poll to find out.

RECOMMENDED: Explore the 100 best animated movies ever made

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Pinocchio (1940)

A wooden puppet yearns to be a real boy; he must prove himself worthy.

Directors: Ben Sharpsteen, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Norman Ferguson, Jack Kinney, Wilfred Jackson and T. Hee

Best quote: “Always let your conscience be your guide.”

Defining moment: Playing pool, drinking beers, smoking cigars: Who knew it could transform kids into jackasses? (Literally.)

And so we reach the top of our list—we’d be lying if we didn’t say it was by a nose. Pinocchio is the most magical of animated movies, a high point of cinematic invention. Its influence on fantasy is massive: Steven Spielberg quotes the soaring ballad “When You Wish Upon a Star” in his dream project Close Encounters of the Third Kind (and remade the whole picture with his aching robot-boy adventure, A.I.). Disney’s second feature—originally a box-office bomb—begins with a sweetly singing cricket, yet plunges into scenes from a nightmare: in front of a jeering audience on a carnival stage; into the belly of a monstrous whale; beyond all human recognition. (Pinocchio’s extending schnoz is animation’s most sinister and profound metaphor.) It’s staggering to think of this material as intended for children, but that’s the power here, a conduit to the churning undercurrent of formulating identity. The takeaway is hard to argue with: Don’t lie, to yourself or others. Cultural theorists have, for decades, discussed Pinocchio in psychosexual terms or as a guide to middle-class assimilation. But those readings are like cracking open a snow globe to see that it’s only water. A swirling adventure flecked with shame, rehabilitation, death and rebirth, the movie contains a universe of feelings. Pinocchio will remain immortal as long as we draw, paint, tell tall tales and wish upon stars.—Joshua Rothkopf

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Not the first animated feature, but the start of the Disney empire.

Directors: David Hand, William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce and Ben Sharpsteen

Best quote: “Magic mirror on the wall…”

Defining moment: Snow White’s headlong dash through the moonlit forest is expressionistic, beautiful and terrifying.

They called it Disney’s folly. It took years and millions of dollars to produce Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and one huge question remained unanswered right up to the day of release: Would an audience really sit still for 83 minutes of cartoon antics? Of course, the movie was a huge hit, and kick-started Uncle Walt’s decades-long domination of the painted-cel scene. It may not have been the first feature-length animated film—that honor is held by Argentine animator Quirino Cristiani’s 1917 El Apóstol, though all copies have since been destroyed—but it was the first to receive a global release, and the first to wake up audiences (and producers) to the seemingly limitless potential of a brand-new medium.

What makes Snow White truly special is not its success, however, but its originality: Working without a rule book, Disney and his animators created—fully formed—an entirely new genre. Just look at last year’s Frozen and ask yourself how far mainstream animation has actually developed: Snow White has a dashing fairy-tale heroine, a hunky but slightly dull dude, lovable pratfalling sidekicks, important life lessons, groundbreaking and gorgeous animation, whistleable tunes and, perhaps most notably, the greatest femme fatale in film history. It just goes to show: You can’t improve on perfection.—Tom Huddleston

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Alice (1988)

This Lewis Carroll adaptation, from a brilliant Czech surrealist, is too wild and wonderful for kids.

Director: Jan Svankmajer

Best quote: “Alice thought to herself, Now you will see a film…made for children…perhaps.”

Defining moment: The Mad Hatter’s tea party: hilarious, anarchic and a fabulous example of Svankmajer’s ability to make the impossible seem absolutely real.

Jan Svankmajer’s first feature is a characteristically inventive but rigorous account of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, faithful in spirit to the original while remaining conspicuously true to his own highly distinctive brand of surrealism. Blending live action (Kristyna Kohoutová, who plays the heroine, is the only human in the film) with various forms of stop-motion animation, Svankmajer creates a wonderland notable for its bizarre dreamlike logic and its grotesque beauty: Skeletal creatures scuttle and steaks crawl while Alice, no stranger to thoughts of cruel whimsy, changes size and becomes her own doll. It’s brilliantly imaginative, bitingly witty and fittingly Freudian. This is no saccharine celebration of innocence, but a foray into the darker recesses of childhood fears and desires. And therefore, perhaps not a film for children.—Geoff Andrew

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Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Romance, music and comedy combine in a latter-day Disney milestone.

Directors: Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale

Best quote: “It’s no use. She’s so beautiful. And I’m…well, look at me!”

Defining moment: The camera sweeps through the ballroom as the couple hits the floor.

Disney had long been in the doldrums when The Little Mermaid showed it could entertain a new generation, but this adaptation of the classic fairy tale pushed the quality threshold to a new level, making it the first animated feature to be Oscar-nominated in the Best Picture category. The key was taking the emotional heart of the story entirely seriously, bolstered by a soaring, Broadway-on-steroids score from Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. So while there are jaunty high jinks from the anthropomorphic fixtures in the Beast’s imposing castle, they never overshadow the tale’s pent-up yearning, as the hairy protagonist must find true love before the petals fall from a rose or remain forever in bestial form. Crucially, the visuals convey enough heft and scale to wow the grown-up audiences who truly appreciate the story’s romantic spell.—Trevor Johnston

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The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)

Handcrafted silhouettes captivate in the first-ever animated feature.

Director: Lotte Reiniger

Best quote: It’s silent, so you’ll have to provide your own dialogue.

Defining moment: The good witch takes on the evil sorcerer in a shape-shifting smackdown.

Given the immense visual sophistication of today’s computer-aided animation, is there still any point in watching a silent film where paper cutouts move across illuminated sheets of glass? Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is a resounding yes, since this fairy-tale adventure from Germany’s Lotte Reiniger is no fusty historical artifact, but a mesmerizing viewing experience, precisely because (unlike modern animation) we can see the handiwork involved in creating the exquisite silhouettes peopling this classic Arabian Nights tale. There’s a flying horse, a dashing prince, an evil sorcerer, a damsel in serious distress, and even a special appearance by Aladdin and his “wunderlampe.” It’s all rendered in filigree detail that brings the time-honored story to life. There’s not quite the seamless movement we’ve come to expect these days, but when Reiniger fills the screen with spiky winged demons, the sheer craft on display is genuinely breathtaking.—Trevor Johnston

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Cinderella (1950)

Who needs a caring stepmother when you’ve got glass slippers, an enchanted lifestyle and a hunky Prince Charming at the end of the day?

Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske

Best quote: “A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep.”

Defining moment: A pumpkin and some mice get a magical makeover.

Even today, when you watch a Disney film, the impact of Cinderella can be felt from the very first frame: That iconic castle, the studio’s logo, comes right from this picture. It was the make-or-break gamble that, had it failed, would have meant the end for Walt & Co. Instead, his film’s runaway success allowed him to finance the theme parks and cement his name forever. The elements of the story are bedrock components of the Disney formula: plucky, charming heroine, helpful sidekick animals, the promise of total transformation. Yet there was innovation here, too; musical numbers would, for the first time, be commissed out to Tin Pan Alley experts, while live-action footage was shot as a model for most scenes. When Disney’s own remake comes out in 2015, it will have a huge debt of charm to repay.—Joshua Rothkopf

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The Little Mermaid (1989)

The calypso-inflected Hans Christian Andersen adaptation that revived the Mouse House’s ailing fortunes.

Directors: John Musker and Ron Clements

Best quote: “Somebody’s got to nail that girl’s fins to the floor. ”

Defining moment: In the infectious “Under the Sea,” Sebastian the crab attempts to convince wayward Ariel of the merits of ocean living.

Two years later, Beauty and the Beast received more acclaim, but it was this cheery musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s bleakly fatalistic fairy tale that redesigned the template of contemporary Disney animation and returned the studio to pop-culture prominence. The formula—take a story everyone knows with a plucky princess, then add a bunch of hip, catchy-as-chlamydia show tunes—still works, as the recent success of Frozen demonstrates. But alongside the witty, verbally intricate contributions of ingenious songsmiths Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, it’s the depth of yearning for other lives and other forms that gives this one emotional resonance and staying power. Well, that and the lasciviously tentacled, Mae West–and–Divine-inspired sea witch Ursula, surely among the greatest Disney villains. —Guy Lodge

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Sita Sings the Blues (2008)

A modern woman’s breakup is paralleled with a musical retelling of the Ramayana.

Director: Nina Paley

Best quote: “Assemble the monkey warriors!”

Defining moment: Sita wonders, “Whooooooooo’s that knockin’ at my door?” in an energetic battle-scene-cum-musical-number.

Fiction, somehow, helps us deal with fact: Reeling from a divorce, animator Nina Paley found solace in the Hindu epic the Ramayana, specifically the section dealing concerning Sita, a woman fought over by two of the tale’s male protagonists. For this eye-popping DIY feature, almost entirely animated by Paley herself, the symbolically pure and virtuous Sita becomes the narrative focus. Paley adheres to the basic outline of the Ramayana—with its multiheadeded gods, monkey armies and heroic warriors—adding her own distinctive touches. The most delightful of these is giving Sita the voice of Jazz Age singer Annette Hanshaw, whose cheery musical stylings (especially during the literally earth-shattering climax) add a defiant layer to a story normally defined by paternalism and machismo.—Keith Uhlich

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Tangled (2010)

No more little miss shy and retiring, this princess means business.

Directors: Nathan Greno and Byron Howard

Best quote: “I’m malicious, mean and scary/My face could curdle dairy.”

Defining moment: Escaping the tower, Rapunzel feels grass under her feet for the first time, and breaks into song (as you would).

The brothers Grimm’s “Rapunzel” must have presented modern Disney with a bit of a head-scratcher. Long gone are the days when a Disney princess would spend her hours mooning around a tower dreaming of a knight in shining armor to rescue her. So in this version (with Pixar’s John Lasseter executive-producing), gone is the handsome prince, replaced with an egotistical thief, Flynn Ryder. When he first smarms his way upstairs, Rapunzel thwacks him with a frying pan. This sparky princess will do her own escaping, thank you very much, twirling all that hair like a lasso. Tangled has energy and humor in spades. Best are the beasts: Maximus the army horse (on a mission to capture Flynn) and Pascal the chameleon.—Cath Clarke

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Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Never has a party snub had such dire consequences.

Director: Clyde Geronimi

Best quote: “Now you shall deal with me, O prince, and all the powers of hell!”

Defining moment: Evil fairy Maleficent turns herself into a fire-breathing dragon and goes to battle.

In the Disney villainesses hall of fame, Maleficent ranks up there with Cruella De Vil. The self-proclaimed “mistress of all evil,” Maleficent is the badass fairy who casts a spell on Aurora at birth, causing the princess to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die before her 16th birthday. Why? All because the king left her off the guest list at Aurora’s christening. After nearly a decade of preparation, Walt Disney wanted Sleeping Beauty to stand out from existing princess-led fairy tales Snow White and Cinderella, and so it does. Inspired by medieval art and tapestries, this is Disney as its most wow-worthy, best of all in the lurid scenes at Maleficent’s lair. Sleeping Beauty marked the end of an era—it was the final animation overseen directly by Walt himself, now busy building theme parks and making TV. That said, rebellious, feisty Aurora also harkens to the sparky princesses of Disney future, even if she’s muscled into a supporting-actress slot by a certain scene-stealing bad fairy.—Cath Clarke

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The Most Popular Fairy Tale Stories of All Time — Fairy Tales for Kids

From rags to riches and beasts to beanstalks, these are the fairy tale stories that shape our happily ever afters.

Every editorial product is independently selected, though we may be compensated or receive an affiliate commission if you buy something through our links. Ratings and prices are accurate and items are in stock as of time of publication.

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Once upon a time

Fairy tale stories are part and parcel of childhood. Endlessly retellable (and spoofable—we’re looking at you, Shrek) and filled with sometimes-questionable life lessons, fairy tale stories for kids have evolved through the years thanks to children’s books, movies, and, in no small part, Disney characters. Here are some of the most popular fairy tales for kids that have captured the hearts of children and adults alike. You’re probably familiar with them, but there’s plenty you may not know about their origins and evolution. And if you can’t get enough of magic and fantastical lands, you’ll want to get your hands on the best fantasy books of all time.

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Cinderella

Once there was a hardworking girl with a wicked stepmother and a heart of gold. She got a makeover from a fairy godmother, scored a dance with a prince, and snagged a happily ever after in a pretty sweet castle. This story crossed the globe for thousands of years, winning hearts wherever it went. Although the most familiar version of “Cinderella” was recorded by 17th-century French writer Charles Perrault, the well-respected scholarly website Sur La Lune Fairy Tales estimates there may be as many as 1,500 traditional variants of the tale around the world. Those include “The Girl with the Rose Red Slippers” from ancient Egypt and a ninth-century Chinese version. The story has inspired countless modern retellings, including Walt Disney’s iconic 1950 cartoon, the blockbuster film Pretty Woman, the novel and movie Ella Enchanted, and too many others to name. See which Cinderella quote made our list of favorite Disney movie quotes.

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Beauty and the Beast

When kind and virtuous Beauty falls in love with the beast despite his outward appearance, he’s transformed into a handsome prince. Who among us has not felt unworthy of a lover yet longed to have our inner value recognized? Who has not dreamed of romantic love with the power to redeem and transform? No wonder “Beauty and the Beast,” originally a French story, is the second most frequently visited fairy tale for kids on Sur La Lune Fairy Tales. Of all the many retellings, our favorite is probably French director Jean Cocteau’s surreal 1945 film version, La Belle et la Bête, but the Disney version is certainly the most prevalent (and lucrative). So far, Beauty and the Beast has rung the company’s cash register as a cartoon, a Broadway musical, a soundtrack album, and most recently, a live-action film starring Emma Watson.

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Little Red Riding Hood

In this fairy tale for kids—probably intended as a warning to follow directions—Red sets off alone to visit her grandmother with instructions not to step off the forest path. The rebellious Red promptly disregards this advice, attracting the attention of a talking wolf who sets out to eat and impersonate Grandma. What happens next depends on which version you read. In the 17th-century French version recorded by Charles Perrault, Red gets gobbled up by the wolf. The End. In other tellings, across Europe, North America, China, Japan, and Ghana, she’s saved at the last minute by a guy with an axe or the wolf chokes on her hood or he eats both Grandma and Red but is forced to vomit them up unharmed. Of the many recent retellings on page and on-screen, our favorite is the animated film Hoodwinked! with Anne Hathaway voicing a wonderfully sassy Red.

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first animated full-length Disney film, setting the pattern for all those to come. According to Film Site, the movie “took almost four years and an astronomical (at the time) $1. 7 million to create” and was also the first film soundtrack ever to be released separately as an album. Despite still being low-key terrifying, Disney’s version did spare its evil queen her original Grimm fairy tale punishment of being forced to dance to her death in red-hot shoes.

Despite ample criticism of the less-than-active main character—as feminist critics have put it, she is “an object to be displayed and desired … patriarchy’s ideal woman, the perfect candidate for queen”—Snow White remains a massively popular tale. Modern retellings, like Snow White and the Huntsman; Mirror, Mirror; Once Upon a Time; and more have provided much-needed updates to the character. As for fairy tale books, we like Snow White, a graphic novel retelling set in 1930s New York City. If you’re looking for more great reads, check out our picks for the best short books.

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Jack and the Beanstalk

Young Jack trades the family’s only cow for a handful of magic beans. When a giant beanstalk sprouts overnight, Jack seizes the chance to climb to a giant’s castle and steal all of his magical possessions. The story we know is from England, and Jack himself is English. (Need proof? Consider the famous line “fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman.”) But as Sur La Lune Fairy Tales points out, there are fairy tale stories based on this tale found among Europeans, Scandinavians, and Indigenous groups across Canada. And don’t forget Asia’s tale of the branch of the Bodhi of Buddha, which quickly grows skyward once planted.

As for modern adaptations, Jack (along with some of these other fairy tale characters) has a major role in the musical and movie Into the Woods and has had his story told through the live-action films Jack and the Beanstalk (2010) and Jack the Giant Slayer (2013). But unlike other fairy tale stories that have been told and retold (and retold again), this one still poses an exciting action-adventure opportunity for filmmakers.

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Sleeping Beauty

If you found Snow White annoyingly passive, meet Sleeping Beauty, whose main claim to fame is, obviously, her century-long snooze. According to Sur La Lune Fairy Tales, this fairy tale for kids dates to the “Volsunga Saga” from 13th-century Iceland but is found all across Europe, especially France, Italy, and Germany. It even appears in The Arabian Nights. In 1890, Russian composer Tchaikovsky wrote the musical score for a much-loved Sleeping Beauty ballet, and years later, the folks at Disney borrowed some of his music for their 1959 animated film version. Here’s a piece of Disney trivia you probably don’t know: Sleeping Beauty originally underwhelmed at the box office, and Disney achieved much greater success with 2014’s Maleficent, which retold Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the vengeful fairy.

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Puss in Boots

Plenty of fairy tale stories have animal helpers, but in this one, the animal is the star. Puss is a bold, swaggering trickster who masquerades as the servant of a great nobleman. The story was probably first recorded in 16th-century Italy, but Puss seems to have acquired his swashbuckling boots about 100 years later in France, in the same book of stories that features Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast, and he’s been rocking them ever since. In an age when the poor mostly went barefoot, shoes were an important status symbol, and clearly those boots were made for walking because Puss has managed to travel astonishingly far around the world. Scholars say the story “has been found in all parts of Europe, across Siberia, [and] onward to India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.”

More recently, the irrepressible Puss found new fans and stole the show in 2001’s Shrek movies. Voiced by Antonio Banderas, his signature introduction—”Puss…in Boots”—became instantly recognizable. The character was so beloved that he got his own spinoff movie, the 2012 flick Puss in Boots. If you have young kids, pick up one of the fiction books based on the lovable feline.

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Hansel and Gretel

In a time of famine, Hansel and Gretel are abandoned in a great forest by their wicked stepmother. Unable to resist eating pieces of a real gingerbread cottage, the hungry children are captured by the cannibal witch who lives there; in the end, they must shove her into her own fiery oven to escape. This narrative about the dangers of unwholesome appetite and children’s drive for survival is one of the most frequently visited fairy tales stories on Sur La Lune Fairy Tales—even without any publicity from Disney. Some scholars believe that the Great Famine of 14th-century Europe inspired the familiar German version of “Hansel and Gretel,” recorded by the famous Brothers Grimm some 500 years later. Regardless, this gruesome story is one of the most widely told around the world; variants include “The Story of the Bird That Made Milk” in southern Africa, the southern Indian tale “Kadar and the Cannibals,” and the Russian folk tales of Baba Yaga.

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Rapunzel

Whether from Disney’s 2010 hit Tangled or 2002’s Barbie as Rapunzel from Mattel, you know the story: The girl with the climbable curls is isolated in a tower by a wicked witch. But as many fairy tale stories go, a handsome prince soon arrives to save the day. The original Grimm version of Rapunzel is grimmer (naturally) than the banter-filled cartoon movie (though fans of Into the Woods will be familiar with it): Rapunzel winds up in the witch’s clutches in the first place because her pregnant mother couldn’t stop stealing magic herbs from the old crone’s garden. Later, using Rapunzel’s hair as a lure, the witch catches the prince and throws him to the ground, where thorns pierce his eyes. She leaves him to wander alone for years in the wilderness. But it is a fairy tale, so eventually, Rapunzel runs into him by chance; her tears fall onto his face, miraculously restoring his vision and leading the couple to their belated happily ever after.

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Sources:

Sur La Lune Fairy Tales: “Cinderella”
Sur La Lune Fairy Tales: “Beauty and the Beast”
Sur La Lune Fairy Tales: “Red Riding Hood”
Scholastic: “Lon Po Po: A Chinese Fairy Tale Lesson Plan”
Kid World Citizen: “Little Red Riding Hood: 3 Multicultural Versions”
Filmsite: “Filmsite Movie Review 100 Greatest Films: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)”
Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar: “The Madwoman in the Attic”
Sur La Lune Fairy Tales: “Sleeping Beauty”
Oh My Disney: “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Sleeping Beauty“
Sur La Lune Fairy Tales: “Puss in Boots”
Sur La Lune Fairy Tales: “Hansel and Gretel”
Pook Press: “Hansel and Gretel”
Sacred Texts: “Story of the Bird That Made Milk”

Originally Published: January 11, 2022

Animated films were shot in the Ulyanovsk region for the project “Tales of the peoples of the Volga region”

During the project, children participated in the creation of eight fairy tale films of the Russian, Tatar, Chuvash and Mordovian peoples with animation elements.

ASI-Ulyanovsk, Yulia Uzryutova Culture and education 01.09.2022

The project allowed children to get acquainted with the cultural heritage of the peoples of the Volga region and the professions of the animation film industry in an interesting format for children. The organizers of the project are the Cinematography Support Fund of the Ulyanovsk Region with the financial support of the Government of the Ulyanovsk Region in partnership with the Ulyanovsk Kinofond. nine0003

The Animation Workshop operated on the basis of the office of regional filmmakers and the Lemonade Animation Laboratory. For two months, the children, together with their mentors, worked on filming, dubbing and editing animated films based on the illustrations made by the participants in the Relive the Fairy Tale! The readers of fairy tales were representatives of the peoples living on the territory of the Ulyanovsk region.

“The Year of Folk Art and Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of Russia – the starting point for the creation of the project. We have a multinational region, and the most numerous nationalities that live on the territory of the Ulyanovsk region were chosen for the project: we took Russian, Tatar, Chuvash and Mordovian fairy tales. The main goal is to acquaint children with the sound of their native language, so the videos exist in two versions: not only in Russian, but also in the national language with subtitles, ”the UlyanovskKinofonda PR specialist told ASI Elena Tarubarova .

At the beginning of the project, a competition of illustrations for national fairy tales “Relive the fairy tale!” was announced for the children of the region! More than 300 works were submitted to the competition (the winners of the illustration competition can be viewed at the link). Several works participating in the competition were selected for animation.

“Illustrations were sent, including children from summer school camps, art schools. For those who were more active, we went directly to work on creating illustrations for films. We discussed fairy tales, heroes, how to draw them and how they will change, and then in the classroom the children themselves drew, cut out, filmed. Filming took place in various locations. For example, they went to shoot the fairy tale “The Fox and the Bear” at a football school - they made a plasticine cartoon with the boys, ”the author of the project, head of the office of regional filmmakers at Ulyanovsk Kinofond, told ASI Tatyana Linkevich .

According to her, when asked what kind of children know fairy tales, they often named what they saw in cartoons. But everyone remembered “Kolobok”, someone remembered “Golden Fish”, “Sivka-Burka”, “Princess Frog”, but they know less about national fairy tales. In addition, there are many intersections of fairy tales of different nationalities: similar fairy tales have different names. For example, there is the Tatar and Chuvash fairy tale "The Goat and the Ram", there is the Russian folk tale "The Firebird" and the Tatar "Golden Bird". nine0003 Photos provided by the organizers of the project

“It is interesting when children of one nationality draw fairy tales of another nationality, when a folk tale sounds and children study it. After all, somewhere they speak the national language, but somewhere they forget it. We wanted the fairy tales to be read, as our mother read to us in childhood, and we looked at the pictures. And we can include these videos as an audio and video book. Given the good reviews, I would like to further develop the project, involving other nationalities, because we have a lot of them in the Volga region, and everyone has their own fairy tales,” Linkevich specified. nine0003

Fairy tales have already been shown at the International Festival of Fairy Tales and Crafts "Crowdfifth" in Penza. The videos can be viewed on the youtube channel (versions in the Chuvash and Mordovian languages will appear soon), they will be transferred to national autonomies, schools and other institutions where children can get acquainted with them.

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Tags: video clip, cultural heritage, folk tales, national traditions, fairy tales, fairy tales for children

NGOs: Ulyanovsk Region Cinematography Support Fund

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Fairy tales are read aloud in public places in Smolensk

"Reading Smolensk Fairy Tales" is a city initiative: guides, journalists, entrepreneurs read aloud Smolensk folk tales in cafes, libraries and other public places. nine0003

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Editor's choice

Fairy Tales in Modern Russian Animation — Movies and Series on DTF

Lately, Russian popular culture has begun to produce quite a few adaptations of Slavic and not only fairy tales. Understanding the causes of this event is quite difficult. No, of course, everyone saw the phenomenal success of "Three Bogatyrs" and "Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf." But it is unlikely that their contribution was the only reason for the growth in popularity of such works. Maybe the active promotion of all Russian by the authorities played a role, or maybe the people simply missed their favorite works from childhood. nine0003

2978 views

I can't say that the Russian people really fell in love with the screen adaptations of fairy tales, but there are a lot of works being filmed, but their quality is very variable. Therefore, I propose to talk about several relatively successful Russian projects based on fairy-tale material. Yes, so we will skip the same "Last Hero", but believe me, he deserves a separate discussion. Well, in the text there will be absolutely no selective trash like “Our Masha and the Magic Nut” or “The Adventures of Alyonushka and Yeryoma”. It is clear that the presented tapes are not all cartoons based on fairy tales released in modern Russia, these are just examples of more or less significant works. But first things first. nine0003

How to catch the feather of the Firebird

I must say that the film "How to Catch the Firebird's Feather" was released in 2013, and became one of the first major projects trying to use Slavic fairy tales as a source. I think it makes no sense to consider such films in isolation, but it is worth evaluating them relative to the current projects of the Melnitsa studio at that time, which practically monopolized the topic itself. The series "Three Heroes" has already managed to drive itself into a dead end with the release of the weak tape "Three Heroes on Distant Shores", but it is of little interest to us. More importantly, by the time How to Catch the Firebird's Feather was released, the second part of Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf had almost come out. And given the average development time for full-length cartoons and the similarity of the main idea, it can be assumed that the starting point for creativity was the success of the first film in this franchise. nine0003

And no, I do not in any way accuse the authors of the film "How to Catch the Firebird's Feather" of plagiarism, the works came out quite different. Rather, it is about the fact that without the success of "Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf", this project would hardly have received funding. Let's be honest, none of the directors or screenwriters of this picture, before her, did not shoot successful projects. To be precise, for Vyacheslav Plotnikov and Irina Mizrahi, this was the first and last work in cinema. Georgy Gitis is a slightly more experienced person, but I would not say that in this case it was an advantage. It is somehow difficult to brag about such projects as both parts of the series "The Adventures of Alyonushka and Yeryoma". The producer of the picture, however, was Sergey Selyanov himself, but this does not say much. I think he's listed as the producer of all CTB-sponsored films. nine0003

But despite the inexperience of the participants in the filming and not the most original idea, the picture came out quite normal. Not good, not interesting, but normal. Such a project that you are unlikely to watch yourself, but without any problems, and without even feeling ashamed, turn on your child or your younger brother. This is a simple and very naive story, with inappropriate humor in places, but it is told at a level that is quite decent by the standards of Russian animation. And we need to talk about all this in a little more detail. nine0003

The story tells us about the adventures of the king's son Berendey. Everyone calls him Ivan Tsarevich, but he behaves like Ivan the Fool. Which, however, does not prevent him from being perhaps the most intelligent character not only in his kingdom, but also in the surrounding area. On the other hand, in his homeland, of his competitors, only an elderly father and two brothers are not suitable for any useful activity. The second most important hero is the Gray Wolf, you understand why I spoke about the similarity of this film with the Mill projects. But the character of the local Wolf is still different, he is rather a mentor of the protagonist, and not just a friend. This is a much more adult and reasonable character, who got involved in adventures rather out of boredom, and only then imbued with sincere sympathy for Ivan. Well, the third important character is Elena. A militant princess trying to escape from under the too strong guardianship of her father. nine0003

There are not too many secondary characters in the film, although many of them are important for the plot. In addition to the families of the main characters, there are several rulers of the surrounding states. Yes, they tried to give them a semblance of characters, but in fact they are only needed to issue quests to the main character. The Firebird included in the title is only needed to start the plot and a couple of gags, it’s hard to even call her a character. Kikimora suddenly received an interesting image. She is not a villain here, but an anti-heroine who has a complex because of her appearance, but she is ready to treat people who have managed to discern a personality in her. nine0003

What pleases the story has no pronounced villains. Ivan's brothers are, of course, rare scoundrels and assholes, but they somehow do not pull on a serious threat. And the film almost does not give them time to reveal themselves as negative characters. The kings of the surrounding states are, of course, tyrants and manipulators trying to solve their problems with the help of the naive Ivan, but again, the hero does not have a direct conflict with them. And in general, Ivan has a good skill to solve problems with the help of communication, and not brute force. That allows him not only not to make new enemies, but also to put up with some of the existing ones. nine0003

The story itself plays on popular fairy tales. Here and the journey of the protagonist there do not know where. Unless Ivan always knows what exactly he is looking for. And the testing of the hero by all the people he meets, by throwing him obviously impossible tasks. And of course, finding true love, well, how could a fairy tale do without it. In general, despite the ridicule of fairy tales, the film's script is extremely meticulously follows their canons. After all, the hero obediently, but not as employers would like, performs all the assignments that fall on him. True, it is a pity that closer to the finale of the picture, all difficulties begin to be overcome by the same trick. nine0003

The only pity is that closer to the final picture, all difficulties begin to be overcome by the same trick. And after reading all of the above, you can say that the author gets to the bottom of the details and the cartoon is good. And I might agree with you if its authors did not try to joke. I don't like the word krinj, but many of the scenes evoked that emotion in me. They were just too out of place in the current context. Why don't the authors of such works understand that jokes about our present time need to be carefully entered into a fairy-tale or historical context. Well, yes, repetitive gags like the Firebird Ninja, or Elena the master of martial arts work once - the first time. When they are repeated in every action scene, you just start to get tired of them. nine0003

And finally, a few words about the quality of the image and animation. The picture is made using classic hand graphics. And she has her own unique and recognizable style. A sort of deliberate stylization of Soviet children's cartoons. Here and the most simple character designs, and generally unrealistic proportions of bodies relative to heads. And what is especially important is the expressiveness of gestures and facial expressions, thanks to which it is always clear what exactly the hero feels at a given moment in time. In general, the visual style really creates the feeling that you are watching a children's fairy tale. The animation in certain scenes certainly has problems with the frame rate, but this is not very striking. nine0003

How to Catch a Firebird's Feather is a good movie, but I don't see much reason why an adult would like it. Still, this is a work for children, and not designed for the whole family. And yes, in this capacity, he performs quite well for himself at a decent level.

Chudo-Yudo

The film "Miracle Yudo" was released already in 2017, I even remember its advertising campaign, which, by the way, was not very active. Then, by the way, I ignored the cartoon, because according to the trailer it seemed too obvious an attempt to copy the creations of the Melnitsa studio. Fortunately, everything turned out to be not so simple and the picture has its own unique features, even if they are not too many. And now, in retrospect, we can say that the authors have chosen a good time for hire. After all, both studio franchises competing with them were not in the best condition. "Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf" finally turned into an everyday comedy with monotonous jokes. Well, "Three Heroes" sank to the very bottom, there even the trailer of the next part spoke openly about it. That's just "Miracle Yud" it did not help, because the picture did not show itself very well both in terms of fees and estimates. nine0003

The production of the tape was carried out by the Kinofirma LLC studio. Apparently, the creators wanted to start making money as quickly as possible so much that they were too lazy to even think up a name. The director was Artyom Lukichev, who had previously worked on a couple of little-known short films. To date, "Miracle Yudo" is his last directorial work. In general, this is an interesting trend in our animation, most directors have literally one or two works on their account. It is difficult to find a specialist with at least five or six full-length films. The screenwriter was Vasily Rovensky, who wrote many modern Russian comedies, including animated ones. nine0003

The name of the protagonist of the picture is Ivan, and he is the youngest son of Tsar Yeremey. He has two older brothers who can't stand him. So somewhere I have already heard a similar plot plot. But again, the point is clearly not plagiarism, but how clumsily the authors transfer fairy-tale plots to the screens. And of course, the princess again appears in history, who this time is called Barbara. Well, what can I say, domestic screenwriters know more female names than male ones. And in general, these are all the main positive characters of this story. I refuse to consider Barbara turned into a dragon as a separate hero, yet her character does not change from this. nine0003

By the way, the amazing thing is that this time the main characters really have character traits that distinguish them from the general mass. The truth is the same for both, but let's put it down to the fact that people with the same interests often fall in love with each other. And in "The Miracle of Yudo", both main characters have a technical mindset, and their conversations often concern some kind of design ideas. And they like each other not just because they are beautiful and this is a fairy tale, but because of a long communication with a person with a similar view of the world. What is even more surprising, the heroes of the picture do not have any fabulous living creatures in their partners, this can be directly considered the author's find. nine0003

The main antagonist is the king's adviser named Balthazar. And people who have watched Aladdin will immediately recognize Jafar in clever disguise. And he is just a villain seeking to seize power in the kingdom with the help of a wedding with a princess, he has no other motives. Both the local giant and the forest witch are on the side of evil. But they are more comedic characters than a real threat to the main characters. Even Ivan's older brothers end up causing him more trouble. Interestingly, for the second cartoon in a row, the brothers want to get rid of a more successful relative. I wonder what is wrong with the family of the authors of these projects. nine0003

The plot of the picture, of course, uses all the most popular fairy tale clichés. Of course, they try to build jokes around them, but it doesn’t always come out. The main way to solve problems is the ingenuity of the protagonist, the authors very much want to show that he is actually smart. Sometimes this leads to truly horrific scenes, such as repairing a conditional tape recorder for a sea king. All people involved in the voice acting of this scene should be permanently ashamed of what they have done. And it seems that the very idea that after going through difficult tests together, the heroes will really get closer is good. But her incarnation, unfortunately, turned out to be clumsy. nine0003

With humor, everything is also very ambiguous. Of course there are good jokes, but they are lost in the general background. Visual gags do not carry any meaning, and most importantly, they do not actually joke. Some of those who watched the cartoon generally understood why the storyline with the beavers and their foreman was needed. It inappropriately reminded me of the notorious squirrel from the Ice Age, when in the later parts they began to shove it into all the scenes. Well, the number of jokes about modern things in an unsuitable entourage for them, according to tradition, is large. nine0003

The visuals of the tape are quite pleasant, but not too expressive. He does not have any memorable traits to recognize him from a couple of shots. Seriously, the film could easily pass for the lost Mills project. The authors did not try to make their characters recognizable. Even Ivan and Barbara have an unmemorable appearance, to say nothing of most of the secondary characters. The animation is quite expressive and expressive, but some of the expressions on the faces are simply not suitable for such character design. nine0003

It can be seen that the authors of the painting "Miracle Yudo" wanted to make a worthy project, but either they did not have enough experience, or courage. As a result, the cartoon does not seem to know for whom it was made at all. After all, the well-developed characters of the main characters here coexist with very childish and inappropriate humor. Of course, you can watch it, but at some points, you will most likely feel shame instead of the creators.

Fire-Flint

Released in 2020, the film "Spark-Flint" managed to pleasantly surprise me. After all, almost all of its components were made with high quality and with love or something. As if the authors not only wanted to make money, but also dreamed that their creation would be remembered. What is especially pleasing is that the authors did not look back at the success of the Melnitsa studio, but went their own way. Well, as its own, in many ways, "Spark-Flint" relies on the experience of paintings released during the Renaissance period of the Disney studio. And for people involved in classical animation, it is difficult to find a more appropriate source of inspiration. In addition, the tape turned out to be not a thoughtless copying of other people's ideas, but rather an attempt to develop something of one's own based on them. nine0003

The film company "Up" was involved in the development of the project. By itself, it is not very well known, but is a subsidiary of the Our Children Foundation. And now these people are known at least for their own family film festival, or for supporting films for children. Let's say "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia" was made by them. The director, as well as one of the screenwriters of the film "Spark-Flint" was Konstantin Shchekin. The film marked his feature animation debut, having made several short films prior to that. Unfortunately, neither the quality of the project itself, nor the good reviews of the audience, saved the tape from a financial failure and the next project, we most likely will not see these people. nine0003

By the way, if you're wondering if it's worth spending your opinion on this cartoon, you can watch two short prequels to the main story. They are posted on the studio's YouTube channel and run for less than five minutes each. I won’t say that you can’t understand the main feed without them, but they add a lot of interesting details. So one of them allows us to look at the antagonists in a different light. And the second one reveals the world order of this universe and tells the viewer where the Flint and Steel came from.

Speaking of them, Firepaw, what an annoying character she turned out to be. An eccentric girl who, in her attempts to do good and inflict justice, is able to destroy an entire city. The heroine is always acting thoughtlessly and impulsively. The central male image, the Potter, does not lag behind her. Yes, the authors want to show that the power of Flint has broken a person and made him obsessed with money. And that would be understandable, but you look at how arrogant he is with his friends before getting it. And yes, all three of their common friends with Ogonyok are almost completely devoid of personality traits. We distinguish them only by profession. nine0003

On the side of evil we have the Queen and her faithful assistant Oops. And yes, their relationship looks even touching, especially if you watch a short film. But the whole film did not leave me the question, but who actually rules the Queen. Let's even omit the fact that all the servants fled from her, and no one has seen her in the city for a long time. Originally, her parents were the rulers of the same city? If so, then they were fine with their conceit. The Queen herself is somewhat reminiscent of the classic Disney villains, and the thirst for wealth has long swallowed her mind. Oops, the character is more controversial, because he does all the evil out of loyalty and love, and not because of some personal aspirations. nine0003

There is not too much humor in the picture, and for the most part it is even appropriate. Of course, there are no excesses, especially the gags in which Ogonyok breaks everything again, but otherwise he does not cause irritation. But the songs are inserted into the story without any purpose. However, there are problems with the entire musical accompaniment in general. It is very eclectic and its fragments do not add up to a single whole. As if different people wrote compositions for different scenes.

"Spark-Flint" looks amazing, especially in static mode. Excellent stylization of characters, side by side with a high level of detail. In addition, the authors with well-aimed strokes convey both the character and occupation of the hero, through his appearance. I was also pleased with the work with light, which gives the image additional liveliness. That's what let me down a little, so it's animation. Most of the time everything is fine, but certain scenes look twitchy and jerky. I don’t know the problem is the number of frames, or it’s an unsuccessful installation, but it catches the eye. nine0003

"Spark-Fire" is a good cartoon really suitable for the whole family. This is the case when the merits of the picture outweigh all its shortcomings. Yes, I would like the authors to work out the characters better or make the script more consistent. But even in its current form, "Spark-Flint" brings a lot of pleasure.

Russian authors are gradually finding an approach to film adaptations of fairy tales.

Animated fairy tales for kids

The 100 best animated movies: the best fairy-tale movies

Pinocchio (1940)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Alice (1988)

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)

Cinderella (1950)

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Sita Sings the Blues (2008)

Tangled (2010)

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

The Most Popular Fairy Tale Stories of All Time — Fairy Tales for Kids

From rags to riches and beasts to beanstalks, these are the fairy tale stories that shape our happily ever afters.

Once upon a time

Cinderella

Beauty and the Beast

Little Red Riding Hood

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Jack and the Beanstalk

Sleeping Beauty

Puss in Boots

Hansel and Gretel

Rapunzel

Animated films were shot in the Ulyanovsk region for the project “Tales of the peoples of the Volga region”

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Fairy tales are read aloud in public places in Smolensk

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