Ku! Kin-dza-dza (2013) Reviews

• Very original movie

  starrychloe2013-07-27

  This is a very original movie and concept. Very fanciful. It took a while to learn what some of the words meant (in the middle there is a cheat-sheet) and to realize the aliens were telepathic. That is part of the charm because you have to read between the lines and pay attention. The alternate social structures are rather intricate. Sociologists would have a good time watching this. All the characters are scheming and double-crossing each other, yet they manage to work together. There is a definite anti-authority tone to it. I believe this is a remake of a Soviet-era film. I could not find that version. I'm glad this one uses modern animation as I could not imagine how a Soviet film could possibly depict these scenes using Solyaris-type technology. I've seen the original now. The special effects were not terrible. I still like the newer animated version better. The original had some confusing, superfluous parts that didn't make sense like a detour and time travel. The animated version is practically exactly the same, except the roles of the Russians are modified, the animation allows grander, larger scenes that would not be possible back then, and introduces the robot, which adds complexity to the character interactions. The robot would not have been possible back then either. The robot has its own well defined character as well. The same director directed both movies. I believe he had a lot of time to put some thought into this movie and tweaked it and improved it where it needed it. I will say I was impressed by the sound design of the original movie. For some reason, I pay attention to sound design and notice original, unique, and detailed sounds in movies. The original could have won an award for that.

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• See the original instead

  CultcinemaDOTnet2013-10-21

  This scene by scene remake of the original classic adds nothing new, but looses a whole lot in the animation. The characters, dialogue, sound effects and whole alien planet are still interchangeably similar to the original masterpiece, but what used to be a surrealistic satirical parody of our own society, is here drawn into something more reminiscent of the old Alf cartoons. As it's exactly identical to the original, it's still a great story, and fans of the original will definitely enjoy a revisit to the wonderful desert planet of Pluke, but those who are unfamiliar with the story, are much better off seeking out the original. (At the current date, it's available on youtube in it's entirety.) The 3D is a huge misstep though. For some reason the images flicker ever so slightly when there is movement in the screen, and even if it's almost unnoticeable, it was still bad enough that me and my company opted to take off our glasses, and switch back to 2D.

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• Beautiful animation and music, but kinda sloppy story

  alexcrazybassist2017-01-28

  First thing that amazed me about this flick is animation. I never seen such an artfully drawn cartoon for years. It's an eye-candy that's rarely seen anywhere. The second was the soundtrack — again, I never heard such a good soundtrack for a long time. But the story… Well, it's not even closely comparable to original movie. It seemed like an adaptation of 1986 "Kin-dza-dza" for mentally disabled people. That doesn't even count as a remake, because lots of significant moments are wiped out in this "version". No planet Alpha, which is sort of cornerstone in original story, much less of social aspects reviewed, and a stupid role change between main characters. This can't be called good. I give seven stars only for art, which is truly outstanding, but the plot isn't worth more than three. If it was an independently produced film, it could be nice, but exploiting a masterpiece of Soviet era just won't work. And I couldn't find decent English subtitles for this movie to share it with my non-Russian speaking friends, so I see this as a disadvantage also — in modern days cinema should be produced with English subs. Period.

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