Adventures of Captain Vrungel (1979)

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Priklucheniya Kapitana Vrungelya (The adventures of Captain Vrungel) is TV minis released back in the mid 70's in the USSR based on the novel with the same title. It was a number of short parts, with the total time of a full-length play movie, so short, that they put 2 parts on the air daily for about 1-2 weeks, normally during winter or summer school vacations. The original book features an old Sea Captain who's name is Vrungel, what in Russian sounds a lot like noun "vrun" which means a liar, a boaster, a fantasy story teller, so the reader is invited to take the Captain's stories with a grain of salt, and to decide for himself what is truth and what is fantasy. Captain together with his apprentice Lom goes on global yacht race, which is a invitation to the reader to cast a look on the world, to see different countries, meet different nations, and to see how Captain Vrungel makes his way in this crazy, motley, sometimes friendly, sometime not very friendly world. All characters (Captain Vrungel, Apprentice Lom, Fux, Archibald Dendy) were taken from the original book, but the plot in TV series was somewhat modified with a criminal story where global yacht race becomes just an instrument for the international mafia to smuggle a statue from the Royal Museum. Therefore some new characters were added - a British styled super-agent 00X - a hilarious spoof of 007 and Inspector Gadget who constantly looses despite of all his crazy spy tech, and a pair of Italian style gangsters talking to each other in violent fake Italian rants and doing damage to 00X in most fantastic ways. There is lots of absurdity comedy in Gangsters VS 00X episodes, invented by the TV series creators specially to be on par with Captain Vrungel's stories absurdity. The Adventures TV minis instantly became all the rage with Soviet schoolchildren. And one of the reasons for success was ahead of time animation combining in one still: black and white and color videos, cut-out animated figures, non-painted objects like real fire, gun smoke, water, car dashboard, TV, wine bottles, cigar etc. For example a video of ocean becomes a background for cut-out animations of Captain, his yacht, Lom, Fux, etc, painted guns fire with real flame and smoke, water streaming from the painted tap is real non-painted water. Also normal animation is used in some episodes. All painted animations are extremely elaborate and detailed to stand out from the video backgrounds and settings in full realistic effect like real life grotesques. Music and songs (5 hits) are superb. The song performed by gangsters is a brilliant musical spoof of Perry Como's "It's impossible", so "Italian" cheesy, with the verse lines going in fake Italian like "we are banditto, notoriousitto, we are castetto, pistoletto, oh yes, we are shootingtto, stealingtto this or that now and then, oh yes....". Other songs performed by 00X, Fux, Vrungel, Lom are fully original compositions. Captain Vrungel and his friends have to use all their intelligence, quickwittedness, inventiveness, and all actual reserves of fantasy to get through the adventures described in the book and the new ones added by the TV series creators. The series are children friendly, contain no violence or black humour - it was very strict about video productions for children in the USSR - in case you don't mind lots of guns, plugging fingers into 220 V mains, fake Italian swearing, and a nude woman statue.

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.

A really bizarre series with animation of inconsistent quality, huge plot holes, and only a passing relationship with its source material, Kapitan Vrungel is one of the most memorable Soviet cartoons, thanks mostly to the exceptional voice work by Zinovi Gerdt, a wonderful theme song, and a non-condescending Soviet friendliness and warmth. The animation, sometimes drawn on top of actual sea footage, is in the busy, unpolished, often grotesque style of Soviet children's illustrations and its absurdity and implausibility bring to mind Monty Python animation. Most of the episodes are really sub par, and the first and last one are the best, but the cartoon is disarming and likable, and Hristofor Bonifatich is one of the great paternal characters in a late-Soviet childhood.

Easily one of the best Soviet cartoons (and that's in a country that was big on cartoons!!) A funny, exciting adventure story with quite a few jokes that are clearly directed at an older audience. Twenty years later, it's still fresh and hilarious - like any true classic. If you understand Russian, or if you happen to stumble across a translated version (I'm not sure if they exist) - definitely watch it!