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The Dragon Spell

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The Dragon Spell
Directed byManuk Depoyan
Written byOlena Shulga
Svitlana Kutsenko
Produced byDmytro Belinskyi
Ihor Roma
Iryna Manzhosova
StarringKate Bristol
Allen Enlow
Melissa Schoenberg
CinematographyDmytro Nedrya
Edited byManwel Aramian
Vitaliy Arsenin
Vladyslav Arsenin
Distributed byADS Service
Release date
  • 13 October 2016 (2016-10-13)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUkrainian
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4 million
Box office$1.98 million[1]

The Dragon Spell (Template:Lang-uk) is a 2016 Ukrainian 3D animated fantasy film directed by Manuk Depoyan based on Anton Siyanika's fairy tale of the same name.[2] The film is about a young boy named Nicky, who saves the magical world and humans from evil.

The film premiered in Ukraine on 13 October 2016.[3][4] In August 2017, the film was nominated for the Ukrainian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards.[5] The film received mixed reviews, with some Ukrainian and foreign viewers and experts found the film successful and interesting,[6] while some critics characterized it as a technically outdated, excessively clichéd work.[7][8]

Plot

Nicky is the son of the hero Cyril, who once defeated the evil Dragon. Now nothing threatens the world and Cyril lives peacefully with his family, and the skin of the Dragon hangs in his house. Nicky dreams of becoming a hero, fighting evil, but he lacks strength. Because of his pranks, the skin tears, so the father has to stitch it up. The mother, Maria, treats Nicky with condescension, but the elder brother Bohdan mocks him, saying that he is no hero.

Meanwhile, the magician, grandfather Danylo, notices the comet and determines that soon, therefore, the Fire Flower will bloom. Danylo sends his apprentice, the clever but boastful bat Eddie, to deliver a letter to Cyril. The hero goes to see the magician, and orders Nicky to stay at home. Despite the order, the boy follows his father, followed by the calf Chubyk. So, Nicky eavesdrops on the conversation, from which he learns that the Dragon was not completely defeated. His spirit has taken possession of the witch and if she obtains the fern flower and the dragon skin, the Dragon will return as strong as ever. Eddie tells Nicky to look for the Fire Flower, which grows in the fairyland of Divinalia. But Eddie clumsily casts a spell that takes him and the boy to the wrong place.

Nicky and Eddie meet the orphan girl Roksolana and her squirrel named Kamikaze in Divinalia. Since Roksolana first calls herself Rocky, she is mistaken for a boy. She agrees to help in the fight against the Dragon, and Nicky believes that this is his opportunity to make his dream come true. The witch senses the appearance of strangers and realizes that Nicky is Cyril's son. She sends the troll Tatya to capture the boy. The troll's attack separates the children, Nicky and Eddie are forced to go further by themselves to the place indicated by Roksolana. At that time, Danylo was building a helicopter together with Cyril and his relatives.

The boy and Eddie are trapped by a witch, she sends ghosts impersonating Cyril and Danylo. But Nicky guesses that they are not real. Then the witch tries to bribe Roksolana, promising to give her a family. The girl refuses to betray her new friends and refuses. Nicky meets Roksolana in an abandoned house where she once lived, but he has no idea about it. The children read a clue that points to an enchanted lake, which opens up an obstacle-filled path to the Fireflower. The path is interrupted by a stone guard who recognizes Nicky and Roksolana as brave. The children tell him that they want to stop the Dragon, and the guard gives them a firefly to help them, which can show where the Fire Flower grows.

Dad grabs Roksolana and runs to the witch. She promises to return Roksolana only in exchange for a flower. The girl recognizes the witch as her mother, who was inhabited by the Dragon. Danylo starts the helicopter and, together with Nicky's parents, moves the device to Divinalia.

Nicky manages to find the Fire Flower, but he realizes that it cannot be given to a witch. Eddie tries to stop the witch, but she grabs the flower and uses it to turn the Dragon's body. When the Dragon intends to burn the children, Dmytro arrives to help with Cyril, Maria and Bohdan. Nicky and Roksolana stealthily steal a helicopter to distract the villain. The boy remembers that only his own flame can defeat the Dragon, and provokes him to exhale. Because the hide was poorly stitched, flames shoot everywhere from under it, the Dragon catches fire and explodes.

Nicky's parents congratulate him, and Dmytro tells Eddie that he learned magic well. Roksolana stays in Divinalia with her mother. Eddie sends Nicky and his family home, but messes up the spell again and ends up in Divinalia.

Cast

Production

Development

The development of the project, initially called "Mykyta Kozhumyak and the Fire Flower", began in 2007, but after pre-production, the entire process of computer graphics production had to be completely changed, for which the investors did not have enough money.[9][10] As a result of the Great Recession, the film was left without funding, and in 2008 the project was completely frozen due to the loss of funding from the project's sponsor — an anonymous Ukrainian businessman.[11]

Work on the film was resumed only in 2011 by the film company Panama Grand Prix thanks to Ukrainian investors and the support of Derzhkino in the amount of 4 million hryvnias, which was then a fifth of the cartoon's budget. The director of the film, Manuk Depoyan, said that a team of several hundred people actively worked on the creation of the film for two years. According to him, the backbone of the animators was Ukrainian artists, and the animation was created in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa.[12] According to one of the producers, more than 200 people worked on the film.[13]

The film was completed in 2016. A number of changes and involved international experience made it possible to significantly improve the appearance of the characters and all scenes in the final version of the cartoon. It is interesting that both "frames" and soundtracks from the first versions of the cartoon[14][15] and from the final work published in 2016[6][12][16] are circulating on the internet.

Language

The script of the film was written in English so that it could be later edited/adapted by American screenwriters to make the dialogues and scenes more emotional and real. Similarly, the film itself was shot in English in the original, due to the fact that dubbing in English after Ukrainian dubbing is much more difficult than vice versa, due to the specifics of English phonetics and vocabulary.[14]

Music

The music for the film was written by Serhiy Krutsenko[17]. An orchestra consisting of 62 people was also involved.[13] 7 songs were recorded especially for the film, the main one of which is performed by singer Zlata Ognevich.[15][17]

Reception

During the first weekend in Ukraine, the film collected more than 5 million hryvnias, and in general, almost 12 million hryvnias for rental, which is quite powerful for Ukrainian film distribution.[18] In Ukraine, the tape was viewed by about 200,000 viewers.[18]

During the first weekend of foreign distribution, "Mykyta Kozhumyak" collected UAH 4.350 million in Poland and UAH 3.071 million in Turkey.[36] In general, the cartoon was released in many foreign countries, such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Poland, South Korea, and Turkey. In total, the film collected $1.98 million at the global box office (in Ukraine and abroad).[19][20]

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from Ukrainian and international film critics.[6][16]

Awards and honors

Award Year Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Golden Dzyga 2017 Best Animated Film The Dragon Spell Won [21]

References

  1. ^ "Mykyta kozhumyaka (The Dragon Spell)". Archived from the original on 18 October 2017.
  2. ^ Антон Сіяніка. Микита Кожум'яка. Переклад з російської: О. Зозуля; малюнки: Крістіан Коскінін та інші. Київ: Країна мрій, 2011. 304 стор. ISBN 978-617-538-067-3
  3. ^ "Старт кінопрокату анімаційного фільму «Микита Кожум'яка» перенесено на жовтень". БУК. 22 June 2016. Archived from the original on 2 January 2019.
  4. ^ "Кінопрем'єри тижня: "Микита Кожум'яка", "Інферно" та інші" (in Ukrainian). Дзеркало тижня. 13 October 2016. Archived from the original on 15 October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  5. ^ "Український Оскарівський комітет завершив приймання заявок" (in Ukrainian). НСКУ. 21 August 2017. Archived from the original on 13 December 2018.
  6. ^ a b c "Рецензія на фільм «Микита Кожум'яка»". www.kinofilms.ua (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Disney відпочиває. Рецензія на український мультфільм Микита Кожум'яка". nv.ua. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Огляд-рецензія українського мультфільму "Микита Кожум'яка"". Pingvin.Pro. 17 October 2016. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  9. ^ "«Микита Кожум'яка» за участі Руслани Писанки та Злати Огневич виходить в прокат" (in Ukrainian). «Україна молода». 13 October 2016. Archived from the original on 10 February 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  10. ^ "Продюсер «Микити Кожум'яки» Дмитро Белінський: «Наша задача — знайти свій стиль в анімації»". Детектор медіа. 12 October 2016. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019.
  11. ^ "Екс-продюсер мультфільму «Микита Кожум'яка» Сергій Гаврилов: «Я дуже сподіваюся, що нові сценаристи не вбили мого дракона»" (in Ukrainian). Детектор медіа. 13 October 2016. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Мультфільм 2016 року: як українці створили перший власний 3D-мультик". 24 Kanal. 28 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2 January 2019.
  13. ^ a b Іван Столярчук (17 November 2015). "12-річний син Кирила Кожум'яки врятує світ" (in Ukrainian). Gazeta.ua. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  14. ^ a b "Микита Кожум'яка". Artarea. Archived from the original on 2 January 2019.
  15. ^ a b Вікторія Хоменко (20 May 2013). "Саундтрек до першого українського мультфільму в 3D виконує Злата Огневич" (in Ukrainian). Gazeta.ua. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  16. ^ a b Pidgora-Gvyazdovskyi, Yaroslav. "Перша риба не ловиться". zbruc.eu. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019.
  17. ^ a b Антон Філатов (7 June 2013). "3D-удар Микити Кожум'яки". Дзеркало тижня. Україна. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  18. ^ a b "Український мультфільм б'є рекорди в міжнародному прокаті". ЛІГА.Новости. 7 February 2017. Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  19. ^ "Mykyta kozhumyaka (The Dragon Spell)". BoxOfficeMojo. 2016. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017.
  20. ^ "Nikita Kozhemyaka". BOM. 2016. Archived from the original on 15 November 2017.
  21. ^ "Оголошено переможців української кінопремії «Золота дзиґа»". Детектор медіа. 20 April 2017. Archived from the original on 21 April 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
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