Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 3

Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 3

Published: August 11, 2016

Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 3 (Иван Царевич и серый волк 3) is the second sequel to the 2011 Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf (Иван царевич и серый волк). It was released in 2015.

In the film, the tsar decides to celebrate his 150th birthday by going on a fishing trip, leaving the kingdom in the hands of his daughter, Vasilisa, her husband, Ivan, and the gray wolf. Vasilisa decides that this is the perfect time for her and Ivan to take their long-delayed honeymoon, so they set off, along with the wolf and the educated cat, another companion and resident of the kingdom. They put a scarecrow in charge of the kingdom. Unfortunately, while Ivan and Vasilisa are away, the scarecrow comes to life and takes over the kingdom.

The film won the 2016 Ikar, a national animation prize. Its reception by reviewers was similar to that of the first film—it has a slightly better than average rating on Kinopoisk—but reviewers actually gave it somewhat higher marks. Sobesednik wrote that beyond the animation and silly jokes, it had political commentary as well and would therefore appeal to adults almost as much as it would to kids. For example, the newspaper in the kingdom is called Vraki (“bullshit,” “nonsense”). More pointedly, however, when the tsar leaves the kingdom to go fishing, he says, “I’m tired. I’m leaving” (“Я устал. У ухожу”)—words widely associated by Boris Yeltsin, because he said something similar upon his resignation (though the phrase was actually immortalized by KVN, a popular Russian parody show). If the tsar is Yeltsin, who does that make the scarecrow?

Find Ivan Tsarevtich and the Grey Wolf 3 on Amazon

 

Director: Darina Shmidt
Stars: Nikita Yefremov, Ivan Okhlobystin, Mikhail Boyarskiy, Aleksandr Boyarskiy, Tat’yana Bunina, Mikhail Khrustalev
Production company: STV, Mel’nitsa
Box office take: $9.6 million

Official trailer:

Find Ivan Tsarevtich and the Grey Wolf 3 on Amazon

 

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About the author

Julie Hersh

Julie studied Russian as a Second Language in Irkutsk and before that, Bishkek, with SRAS's Home and Abroad Scholarship program, with the goal of someday having some sort of Russia/Eurasia-related career. She recently got her master’s degree from the University of Glasgow and the University of Tartu, where she studied women’s dissent in Soviet Russia. She also has a bachelor’s degree in literature from Yale. Some of her favorite Russian authors are Sorokin, Shishkin, Il’f and Petrov, and Akhmatova. In her spare time Julie cautiously practices martial arts, reads feminist websites, and taste-tests instant coffee for her blog.

Program attended: Home and Abroad Scholar

View all posts by: Julie Hersh