Russian Tale retold Robin Williams style!!!
Written: Aug 02 '08 (Updated Oct 20 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Basically the whole story is just fantastic!
Cons: Some humor may be aimed at adults.
The Bottom Line: This is a great story because it is funny and engaging.
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| rcoaxum12's Full Review: Eric Metaxas - The Fool & the Flying Ship |
Rabbit Ears have created a wonderful series called We All Have Tales. The series had released a number of wonderful stories from around the world, but The Fool and the Flying Ship remained as my all-time favorite Rabbit Ears story.
This story is based on Arthur Ransome's classic Russian folktale, "The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship." Of course, this version is funnier and more modern than the original Russian tale, thanks to the Russian voice talents of Robin Williams.
SUMMARY
For those of you who are not familiar with the actual story, here's how it goes. The story is about a wacky Russian peasant who was ridiculed as a simple fool by his family. One day, the Tsar of Russia passed out a proclamation that whoever builds a flying ship will win the hand of his lovely daughter, the princess. At first, the Fool wanted to go with his brothers, but they only teased him, saying that it would be silly for the princess to marry that "circus ape." Afterwards, when the Fool's brothers fail to return home, the fool sets out to try his luck.
Along the way, the Fool meets a strange man with eyebrows that jumped like snow hares, literally, and decides to share his meal with him. The strange man, however, seems to be a magical man, for the Fool's meal turned to a meal fit for a king. After the Fool rests awhile, he discovers a flying ship (with chicken legs on the bottom of the ship) and takes the flying ship to the Tsar's palace.
As the Fool travels towards the Tsar's palace, he meets five unusual men along the way. The first man has the ability to eat anything twice his size, the second man has the ability to hear everything around the world, the third man has the ability to run so fast that he would trip over the equator in one stride, the fourth man has the ability to see things at very far distances and is able to shoot at his target with ease, and the fifth man has the ability to transform into a strong man, simply gaining the strength from his excessive, long hair.
When the ship crew arrives at the Tsar's palace, the Tsar is not pleased with having a peasant for a son-in-law, so he gives out three impossible tasks to do before the fool can marry the princess. The first task was to eat one-thousand loaves of bread, which the Eater easily eats in one gulp, the second task is to get a piece of the equator from Africa, which the Runner successfully does, and the final task is to bring an army of penguins from the South Pole, which the Puffer, the weakling at the beginning of the story easily does by bringing the land towards the crew like a sailboat. After all the tasks are completed, the Tsar has no choice but to marry the Fool to his lovely daughter and everyone lives happily ever after, well maybe except for the princess.
PROS
This is my most favorite story from the Rabbit Ears series because it is extremely funny, witty, and entertaining at the same time. Eric Metaxas's writing is full of wit and humor and jokes that will have anyone laughing for a long time. My favorite part of the dialogue from this story was when the servant told the Tsar that there were peasants at the palace, but the Tsar thought that the servant was talking about pheasants.
Robin Williams provided the voices for all the characters in the story in different Russian accents for each character, providing comedy relief from all characters. Also, I love the way how Henrik Drescher, the illustrator of this story, draws his characters with long and stringy limbs and weird attachments on their bodies, such as the Runner’s antlers on his head and the Sharpshooter’s popped out eyes.
The Klezmer Conservatory Band's wacky European music is full of jazz and folk-like music that gives The Fool and the Flying Ship a very wacky and over-the-top feel to the story.
CONS
Parents should know that The Fool and the Flying Ship may be aimed at older kids and adults because the jokes in this story may not get through the younger audience. Some of the jokes, such as the one where the Sharpshooter talks about putting the flea, who had a bad cold, out of his misery and the Fool replies that it is the flea's wife's snoring that causes the flea to have a bad cold. The Sharpshooter than replies that the Flea's wife is who he is aiming at. Many children may not get that the Sharpshooter is going to shoot the flea's wife, although this joke is done very delicately and the Sharpshooter is never seen shooting the flea’s wife.
OVERALL
I think this story is going to be a favorite among both the adult audience and the younger audience for all time because of the story's good humor and creative characters.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
rcoaxum12
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Reviews written: 63
Trusted by: 2 members
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