Ku! Kin-dza-dza ( rus. Ку! Кин-дза-дза) is a 2013 Russian
animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
Georgy Danelia
Georgiy Nikolayevich Daneliya ( ka, გიორგი ნიკოლოზის ძე დანელია; russian: Георгий Николаевич Данелия; 25 August 1930 – 4 April 2019), also known as Giya Daneliya ( ka, გ ...
. It is an animated remake of Danelia's 1986 live-action film ''
Kin-dza-dza!
''Kin-dza-dza!'' (russian: link=no, italics=yes, Кин-дза-дза!) is a 1986 Soviet film released by the Mosfilm studio and directed by Georgiy Daneliya, with a story by Georgiy Daneliya and Revaz Gabriadze.
Plot
The story begins in 1980s M ...
''. Although it preserves much of the original movie's
social commentary
Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace ab ...
, ''Ku! Kin-dza-dza'' is notably less dark and dystopian than original, and more targeted towards youth and an international audience. The film is mainly traditionally animated with some computer animation in it.
Plot
The remake follows the plot of the original with minor changes. While the original story was set in 1980s, the remake is set in 2010s, some of the scenes were altered, and the two new protagonists are different from their 1986 counterparts.
A renowned cellist Vladimir Chizhov (Uncle Vova) and his teenage nephew Tolik meet an alien with a teleportation device. Tolik carelessly pushes a button on the device, and he and Uncle Vova are beamed to the planet Plyuk in Kin-dza-dza galaxy. The planet is a post-apocalyptic desert without resources, ruled by a brutal racist regime. The two travellers meet three locals, Bi, Wef and their robot Abradox, who travel on a pepelats and constantly try to cheat and betray the naive newcomers. Tolik and Uncle Vova have to go a long distance through the rusting world of Kin-dza-dza to find their way home.
Cast
*
Nikolai Gubenko
Nikolai Nikolaevich Gubenko (russian: Николай Николаевич Губенко; 17 August 1941 – 16 August 2020) was a Soviet and Russian actor, film and theatre director, screenwriter, founder of the Community of Taganka Actors theat ...
Andrei Leonov
Andrei, Andrey or Andrej (in Cyrillic script: Андрэй , Андрей or Андреј) is a form of Andreas/ Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include:
*Andrei of Polotsk (–1399), Lithuanian nobleman
*An ...
as Wef (son of
Yevgeny Leonov
Yevgeny Pavlovich Leonov (russian: link=no, Евгений Павлович Леонов; 2 September 1926 – 29 January 1994) was a Soviet and Russian actor who played main parts in several of the most famous Soviet films, such as '' Gentlemen ...
, who performed the role in the original movie)
* Alexei Kolgan as Bi and Kyrr
*
The film was met with generally favorable reviews in Russian media. It holds an average rating of 82 out of 100 at Russian review aggregator Kritikanstvo. ''Ku! Kin-dza-dza'' received positive reviews from Russian version of
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
,
Mir Fantastiki
''Mir Fantastiki'' (russian: Мир фантастики), officially abbreviated as ''MirF'', is a Russian monthly science fiction and fantasy magazine. The name also refers to the website run by the magazine, Mirf.ru.
''Mir Fantastiki'' litera ...
Izvestiya
''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in 1917, it was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and describes i ...
, and mediocre ratings from
Lenta.ru
''Lenta.ru'' (russian: Лента.Ру; stylised as LƐNTA.RU) is a Russian-language online newspaper. Based in Moscow, it is owned by Rambler Media Group. In 2013, the Alexander Mamut-owned companies "SUP Media" and "Rambler-Afisha" merged to ...
,
Vedomosti
''Vedomosti'' ( rus, Ведомости, p=ˈvʲedəməsʲtʲɪ, ) is a Russian-language business daily newspaper published in Moscow.
History
''Vedomosti'' was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between Dow Jones, who publishes ''The Wall ...
and Afisha. Outside Russia, Vassilis Kroustallis at Zippyframes gave the film a positive review.
Awards
*
Asia Pacific Screen Awards
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...
*
Nika Award
The Nika Award (sometimes styled NIKA Award) is the main annual national film award in Russia, presented by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Science, and seen as the national equivalent of the Oscars.
History
The award was established i ...