The character Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) needs explaining first. He's sort of a Russian Santa Claus (not exactly the same thing). Anyone learning Russian is likely to hear about him during first year studies. That said, Valentin Karavaev's "Ded Moroz i leto" ("Ded Moroz and Summer" in English) is an OK cartoon. It basically depicts the Russian Santa spending his days packing presents for children in his wintry landscape, but then he wonders what summer is like. Turns out that summer is not something that he can handle. I guess that people should stick to their settings. Other Soviet cartoons were more interesting than this one (you gotta love their version of Winnie the Pooh), so don't make this your first choice.
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lee_eisenberg4 January 2017
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Horst_In_Translation26 July 2016"Ded Moroz i leto" or "Grandfather Frost and the summer" is a 20-minute animated short film from 1973. This one is over 40 years old already, soon 45, and was directed by Valentin Karavaev and written by Yury Entin and Vasiliy Livanov. Santa is usually a very American character, but the Soviet Union had their Grandfather Forst, who basically looks the same like Santa in here. He hears about summer and wonders what it is. So he goes to the city to experience summer, but quickly realizes that the warm weather and the sunburn don't suit him at all. Luckily, a couple kids provide him with ice creak all the time in his endeavor. The other polar animals, however, just think that Santa has gone crazy and I must admit they may be correct. I always thought Santa knew summer and that he was just at his most productive the rest of the year. Guess I was wrong. Anyway, this short film is really more absurd than entertaining and I would only recommend the watch to small children. There are many better Soviet animated films from that time for grown-ups. Thumbs down from me.