"The Adventures of Funtik" - a cartoon that might not have been

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

It's been almost 30 years since the first series of cartoons about Funtik the pig appeared. But today both adults and children enjoy watching them. But this cartoon could not exist. Initially, one of the authors - Yuri Fridman - wrote the play "The Fourth Little Piggy". This was long before the appearance of the cartoon "The Adventures of Funtik". The play was successfully staged at the Kharkov Theatre. Unusual, with a sharp plot, the directors also liked it. True, by the time the animated version was released, everyone had forgotten about the theatrical production. And the author himself did not want to believe in her success.

In total, 4 episodes of the cartoon were filmed under the names "Elusive Funtik", "Funtik and detectives", "Funtik and the old woman with a mustache" and "Funtik in the circus". Each of these series, on the one hand, has its own story, and on the other hand, they form a single mini-series about the adventures of a pig and his friends. But the adventures of Funtik were not so interesting without the main villains: Mrs. Belodonna and 2 best detectives, one of whom has a diploma, and the second without it.

And now all four episodes can be watched,how uncle Mokus and the monkey Bambina are trying to save Funtik from them. But why do they need this particular pig so much? The thing is, he has real talent. Funtik pronounced the phrase in such a way: "Give it to the houses for the homeless pigs," that he managed to deceive eleven girls, three boys and one very kind old man in this way. The kind-hearted piglet could not deceive anymore and left Belladonna. Thus begins the adventures of Funtik.

All episodes of this wonderful animated series are voiced by real stars of Soviet cinema. Grandfather Mokus was voiced by Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, and Mrs. Beladonna was voiced by Olga Aroseva. Zoya Pylnova gave her voice to Funtik, Irina Muravieva gave her voice to the Bambino monkey, and Georgy Burkov to the chocolate hippopotamus. Others worked on his dubbing: Spartak Mishulin, Yuri Volintsev and not only. True, in the USSR, many film actors were engaged in dubbing cartoons without pretensions to their star status. It was the same work as in the movies. Perhaps that is also why the cartoon turned out to be so sincere and touching.

After its release on television, the cartoon "The Adventures of Funtik" enjoyed incredible popularity. Therefore, its authors were repeatedly asked to create a sequel. But Yuri Fridman decided unequivocally not to work with animation anymore. True, after his death, the continuation of the cartoon was filmed in 2010. On the basis of Soyuzmultfilm, 3 more episodes were released: "Funtik almostCaught", "Funtik and the Pirate" and "Pirate and Jaco Good Deed". It was decided to make these parts of the animated series "The Adventures of Funtik" puppet. To voice all the characters, except for Funtik and Faxtrot, the same actors were invited as 25 years ago.

Be that as it may, "The Adventures of the Funtik" is a cartoon that taught more than one hundred children what kindness is. And many phrases from it have become simply folk. These are the words about his grandfather Mokus's car: "First you drive them, then they drive you." And how many quotes did Mrs. Beladonna give: "Children are crying, but parents are paying", "I ran away! Don't you need a million ?!" and others. A simple and touching story about a pig quickly fell in love with everyone, although the authors themselves did not count on such success.