Don't listen to the negative reviews

An action-packed slog

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

A brazen, anything goes, children's fantasy film from Russia. This somewhat slapdash effort feels a lot like a British Children's Film Foundation effort, albeit made with a distinctly Russian feel, hence the way characters break into traditional folk songs on occasion and the odd mix of old and new. The mildly annoying child protagonist discovers an ability to use magic, but an evil wizard has designs on him. A life size robot in the shape of a monkey shows up to help out at times too.