Upon the Magic Roads is a 2021 Russian live-action/animated fairy tale fantasy film directed by Oleg Pogodin from a screenplay by Aleksey Borodachyov. Produced by CTB Film Company, Russia-1, and CGF Company, the film is an adaptation of the 1850s Russian fairy tale The Little Humpbacked Horse by Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov as well as elements from Slavic folk tales. The film follows other adaptations of the fairy tale including the 1941 live-action feature-length film and the 1947 animated film of the same name filmed in the Soviet Union.Кино с чернобыльским акцентом The film stars Anton Shagin as Ivan the Fool, and Paulina Andreeva as the Tsar Maiden with the voices of Pavel Derevyanko, Lyasan Utiasheva, and Aleksandr Semchev.
The principal photography took place near Saint Petersburg in 2018. The set pieces tried to recreate the fantasy world by Yershov, filming in an exact copy of the fairy tale city. The film was a film making exhibition requiring professional assistance from costume designers and set designers, a production team, software engineers with background visual effects, actors, actresses and cameramen.
The style used in the film was intended to recreate the Tsarist period of time described in Yershov's fairy tale, using a combination of Russian Art Nouveau and fairy-tale elements. The film tells about John - who is neither a prince, nor a hero, nor a handsome man, but his older brothers even consider him a fool. But everything changes when John has a friend and faithful assistant - the Little Humpbacked Magic Foal. John and the Foal will have to test their friendship, face an insidious adversary and overcome incredible trials to find the Cloud Princess.
Initially, the film was planned to be released on wide screen on 5 March 2020, but later its release was postponed first to 22 October 2020. Upon the Magic Roads was finally released theatrically on February 18, 2021, in Russia by Sony Pictures Productions and Releasing. The film received critical acclaim and commercial acclaim, with critics calling it an extraordinary continuity of cinematic creativity from past to present. The film became a blockbuster and was noted as the highest-grossing film adaptation of Russian literature, amounting to almost a billion rubles. The film is the 51st highest-grossing film of 2021.
Plot The story begins with an old farmer calling out his three sons and showing them a trampled field of wheat. The father instructs his sons to stand guard at night, so that they will find out who trampled the wheat, and the brothers, in turn, send the youngest, Ivan the fool (John), there instead.
At night, John, sweetly chatting with the hedgehog, which he had previously saved, sees the outline of a mare and throws the rope into a misty cloud. Suddenly, the rope tightens, and the mare begins to carry him across the fields and meadows. They fall into a swamp, and John pulls out the drowning mare using a waterwheel. Being bound, she cries, and the hero, feeling sorry for her, lets her go free, given the word that she will no longer trample on their fields. The next morning, in the stable, he discovers two horses and meets a small Humpbacked Magic Foal. He says that he was sent by his mother mare to help and support him in any way. John, wanting to get money for the horses, leads them to the bazaar. There, the king sees them and gives orders to take them to his stables, saying that they are actually his horses now. Having received no money, John asks the Foal to help him, and he calls the horses back with a whistle. The King offers John the position of the most important groom, and he agrees.
Over time, the people begin to love John more and more. The king wants to execute him, but can't find a reason. The Sleeping Bag suggests sending the groom to retrieve The Firebird, and then executing him for not following the King's order, as he thinks that John will not be able to find it. John and Foal go in search of the Firebird. After collecting the dream-nuts, they find the bird's shelter and pour them out to it. The bird, having eaten all the nuts, falls asleep. John puts it in chains. The next morning, the Foal tells him that the bird can only get hot when it's free. In chains, it cries, and John lets it go free. On their return, the executioners lead John to the block. He claims that he caught the Firebird, but released it, but no one believes him despite bringing back feather from it. When the axe is already raised over his head, the Firebird appears, and the execution is canceled.
The King, hating John more and more, at the instigation of the Sleeping Bag, sends him to retrieve the Tsar-maiden, thinking that he will not be able to cope with this task, since the maiden lives in an Ice country on a high rock. However, John and Foal reach their destination. The girl wakes up from a dream and tells John that she does not want to get married because there are no heroes left, and then jumps into the abyss. John does not hesitate to rush after her before both of them get picked up by Foal who can actually fly.
The king wants to get married right away, but the girl refuses to do so without her grandmother's ring, which she dropped in the ocean years ago. John, who has already fallen in love with the Tsar-maiden, asks the King for the impossible job, so as not to think about the upcoming wedding and the maiden herself. The delighted King sends John to get the ring. John and Foal embark on an adventure in the Magical Roads. The Foal, after talking to the Sun, Moon, and Wind, finds out where the ring is, and he and John fly to the Whale Fish. As it turns out, the whale is chained up for swallowing ships years ago, but doesn't know how to set them free. John makes him sneeze, and the ships float out to sea once again. In gratitude, the whale sends them a crab, which brings them the Tsar-maiden's grandmother's ring.
On his return, John comes to the girl in the tower and asks her to marry him, not knowing that he's being watched. The King's guards break into the bedchamber and place John under arrest for attempted kidnapping whereas Foal is shot on the wing by the king. The king is ready to get married, but his bride asks him to rejuvenate himself according to her grandmother's recipe by bathing in cauldrons of boiling water, ice water, and boiling milk. The Sleeping Bag advises to test the cauldrons on John before the execution. At night, the girl tells the Foal that in the first cauldron, it is necessary to throw her grandmother's ring, in the second — the feather of the Firebird, and in the third - the flower of life and death that grows at the end of the world, and then John will remain alive. Foal goes in search of the flower despite a wounded wing. In the morning, the King hypocritically declares that he is giving John a chance at redemption, and orders him to jump into the cauldrons. In the first cauldron, the girl throws her ring, and John is carried out of there safely, in the second, the Firebird's feather falls in, and he also remains unharmed. At this time, the Foal finds the flower and learns from it that the one who picks it is waiting for death. Despite this warning, he plucks the flower to save John and manages to deliver it when John finds himself inside the third cauldron.
The renewed John appears before the maiden, and the King jumps into the first cauldron without hesitation. However, a huge bubble bursts out of the cauldron, which carries the cursing King away into the sky. The Foal patiently waits for his death, but the Tsar Maiden reveals to him that the words of the flower were just a test, and if he hadn't plucked it, he actually would've died, but now, he never will. Left without a king now, John becomes the people's new ruler with the maiden at his side as his queen before they proceed to getting married.
Cast Anton Shagin as Ivan the Fool (English: John the Fool) Paulina Andreeva as the Tsar Maiden (Princess) Mikhail Yefremov as the King (voiced by Sergey Burunov) Yan Tsapnik as the Chamberlain of the bedchamber Oleg Taktarov as Voivode (English: Waywode) Yevgeny Kapitonov as the farmer Vitaly Kononov as Danila Ilya Borisov as Gavrila Andrey Feskov as Tryapkin-Tapkin, the couturier , the Treasurer
Voices Pavel Derevyanko as The Little Humpbacked Horse, a Foal. Lyasan Utiasheva as The Firebird Aleksandr Semchev as the Chudo-Yudo Whale-fish Sergey Burunov as the Tsar (vocal cords for Mikhail Yefremov)
Production Development
The Russian fairy tale is based on the work of Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov, The Humpbacked Horse, first published in 1834. The book has become a classic of Russian literature. Despite the childish genre, the tale includes elements of social satire. In the Soviet Union, the manuscript was reprinted more than a hundred times due to its incredible popularity. The literary tale The Humpbacked Horse was named the cultural heritage of Russia and of the Tyumen Oblast.
In the birthplace of Yershov, Ishim, Tyumen Oblast, cultural events were held during the film's premiere. Yershov's role in the Russian literature was noted by Lyubov Nechaeva, head of the Ishim Museum Complex, who said: "Pyotr Pavlovich is our everything! Therefore, on the eve of the large-format premiere of The Humpbacked Horse, we decided to remind Russians again that this writer is of Siberian blood, and his small homeland is around Ishim."
The residents of Siberia organized an event that became international in nature. A flash mob was started in more than 30 Russian regions and included participants from France and Morocco.
In 1941, the first film adaptation of the fairy tale directed by Alexander Rowe took place. In 1947, Soyuzmultfilm released the second film adaptation of The Hunchback Horse, directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano. More than half a century later, the third film adaptation, Upon the Magic Roads was released based on the script of director Oleg Pogodin, who has credits with works, including the TV series Sherlock Holmes. Pogodin wrote the script together with scriptwriter Alexey Borodachev. This is the third film adaptation of the fairy tale for cinemas. Today, the fairy tale is popular with the public. Since 2020, the Mariinsky Theatre's audience has crossed the 25 million mark. One of the performances was Shchedrin's ballet The Little Humpbacked Horse, which was viewed by 1.7 million users. The project was financed by the CTB Film Company with the support of the TV channel Russia-1 and Cinema Fund. Yershov's fairy tale is one of the favorite works of Sergey Selyanov, who in the early 2000s planned to adapt the story with Soviet Union director Sergey Ovcharov. However, at the time, the technology and budget were unsuitable. On April 17, 2018, the concept art Upon the Magic Roads was published. The script transformed the poetry of Yershov's characters for film adaptations. The film was produced by Sergey Selyanov, Anton Zlatopolsky and Alexander Gorokhov. According to Sergey Selyanov, the film is a living fairy tale.
Casting Actor Pavel Derevyanko voiced and acted as the Little Humpbacked Foal, using motion capture technology. The producers knew that Pavel Derevyanko was the best actor for the role of the character. The character is very well known from the donkey from Shrek or the horse Julius from The Three Heroes. According to Ershov's poem, the Little Humpbacked Foal turned into a flying horse or a pegasus. The Firebird was played by gymnast and TV presenter Lyaysan Utyasheva. Martial arts master and actor Oleg Taktarov played the role of the Tsarist governor. The governor's costume required multi layer fur coats.