"Fehérlófia" or "Son of the White Mare" is a Hungarian Hungarian-language animatd movie from 1981, so this one is about to have its 40th anniversary and the director and one of the two writers here is Marcell Jankovics. He turns 80 soon and he was nominated for an Oscar five years before this film came out. For a short film. Looking at how long he has been active in the movie industry already, the number of full feature films he directed is surprisingly low. Lots of television work, many short films too. So this one we got here is maybe his most known career effort. I was lucky enough to see it in a movie theater today and I do not regret one but that I went. Actually, there were moments when I thought I could maybe even give it four stars out of five (always rate out of five). It was certainly on the beautiful and mesmerizing side here and there. So you see the movie is pretty old, older than I am actually if that means something, but actually the first time this was shown here in Germany in theaters was in August 2020, so almost 40 years after its original release, which is an incredibly long time and may also have to do with the political climate back then when it came out. Cold War etc. However, let's not drift too far away. I cannot really say anything about the voice actors here. Cserhalmi apparently voiced the central character and he is still alive and acting now in 2020, so maybe Hungarian folks know him. If you want to know about the others, go check out the list and their bodies of work. As for the language, there is not a huge amount of talking, but definitely enough that you should not watch the film without subtitles. Unless you are fluent in Hungarian of course, but most are not. It also felt to me as if the dialogues become more frequent the longer the movie goes. But "longer" in this film does not really equal "long" because this is not a long movie at all as it clocks in around the 80-minute mark and this already includes closing credits. No need to make it any longer and include filler material. It felt very right the way it was.
Now let me say a few words on the characters and story. Initially, it may be a bit confusing why there is mention of one son when the mare gives birth to three sons, but the longer the film goes, the more we know that the third-born is much more at the center of the story than the other two. By the way, this is a very mythical or mythological movie, which becomes clear immediately because the mare gives birth to humans. We never really find out about the father. The son at the center of the story is the one you see on the poster here. Indeed he has these flames around his head (reminded me a bit of a lion), which help him at least once in a fight. By the way, if you look at the very basics here, you will recognize how familiar elements from other tales have been included: Dragons, animals, challenges, goblins, prophecies, princesses - it is all there. Still, this is a film that is rather for adults than for kids I would say. Do not expect Disney or anything. It's tough to say why you would think this is more for adults. Death is something that also happens in fairytales for kids and I don't even think that the one princess being topless makes this a no-go for young audiences. It's not intended this way at least and people need to stop being overly dramatic when it comes to nudity. The fact that it is not intended is proved basically by the idea that princesses 1 and 2 are equals and number two is not topless. Both are worth rescuing, but they are not good enough for the hero, but for the other two. Also interesting how everbody has an act of power to them, or an element you could almost say. One deals with iron, the other deal withs rocks and the hero at the center of the story is strong enough to pull trees out of the ground. Not the most environment-friendly power. But it is just the introduction anyway. Also pay attention to how the prophecy that the mare will die eventually comes into effect, soo she somehow gives her life for her third son. The story is not too complicated. The sons fight each other to determine who is the strongest, who will be the leader. And the youngest son manahes to stomp the others to the ground. On other occasions, we also see he is the boss, like when this demon attacks and robs their food basically from within. And the leader does not only manage to protect the food, but even gets a priceless weapon from said demon and also a crucial description of where to find their target location. Or later on when the trio has to go down an abyss and there's snakes and other creepy creatures down there. You never know if it is "real" snakes or again spirit creatures like many others. But the only one who does not come back up right away is the leader of the trio, the title character, and he goes down and from that moment on the other two sons are almost out of the picture until the very end. It's all about his fights against the dragons now, even if I have never seen dragons in my life before that do not look like dragons at all. They seemed like robots with several heads. Definitely not just my perception. But the main character stays strong and defeats all the dragons, rescues all three damsels in distress and that's how the story ends. Is it? Not really. There is a bit of an epilogue as he also has to take care of a new challenger when his two brothers leave without him. But he would not be the star here, if he wasn't ready to take on a griffin or falcon, whatever a gigantic bird, to help him get back up. It costs him an arm (temporarily) and he also has to get a lot of food for the flying bird, but eventually he prevails and is reunited with his brothers. Not in good spirit though because he is ready to kill them for their betrayal and leaving him behind. But eventually he forgives them, which may have been his biggest challenge. At least, it is the one and only time where we see him in tears, where we see his heart, not just his muscles. And that is where the movie really ends. I liked it. The characters are interesting, especially the one brother (the rock brother) who gets in some comedic value even in the first half, the animation is utterly creative (once you get used to it) and the story had me curious about what is going to happen next. This movie here is close to being a must-see for animation lovers. It's from a corner of the world where you certainly do not come across movies too often if you're not from there, let alone animated movies, but this one here definitely deserves to be checked out. No hesitation for me in giving it a thumbs-up. If it also airs somewhere near you, don't miss out. And if not, find another way to check it out. Most likely, you're not gonna regret it. Final note: It was a simple scene, but I liked the way it looked when the three brothers eat together after defeating the goblin. Great camera work there. So it's not just the key plot, but also the small moments and attention to detail when Jankovics dellivered really convincingly. Positively recommended. A feast for the eyes at times.
Now let me say a few words on the characters and story. Initially, it may be a bit confusing why there is mention of one son when the mare gives birth to three sons, but the longer the film goes, the more we know that the third-born is much more at the center of the story than the other two. By the way, this is a very mythical or mythological movie, which becomes clear immediately because the mare gives birth to humans. We never really find out about the father. The son at the center of the story is the one you see on the poster here. Indeed he has these flames around his head (reminded me a bit of a lion), which help him at least once in a fight. By the way, if you look at the very basics here, you will recognize how familiar elements from other tales have been included: Dragons, animals, challenges, goblins, prophecies, princesses - it is all there. Still, this is a film that is rather for adults than for kids I would say. Do not expect Disney or anything. It's tough to say why you would think this is more for adults. Death is something that also happens in fairytales for kids and I don't even think that the one princess being topless makes this a no-go for young audiences. It's not intended this way at least and people need to stop being overly dramatic when it comes to nudity. The fact that it is not intended is proved basically by the idea that princesses 1 and 2 are equals and number two is not topless. Both are worth rescuing, but they are not good enough for the hero, but for the other two. Also interesting how everbody has an act of power to them, or an element you could almost say. One deals with iron, the other deal withs rocks and the hero at the center of the story is strong enough to pull trees out of the ground. Not the most environment-friendly power. But it is just the introduction anyway. Also pay attention to how the prophecy that the mare will die eventually comes into effect, soo she somehow gives her life for her third son. The story is not too complicated. The sons fight each other to determine who is the strongest, who will be the leader. And the youngest son manahes to stomp the others to the ground. On other occasions, we also see he is the boss, like when this demon attacks and robs their food basically from within. And the leader does not only manage to protect the food, but even gets a priceless weapon from said demon and also a crucial description of where to find their target location. Or later on when the trio has to go down an abyss and there's snakes and other creepy creatures down there. You never know if it is "real" snakes or again spirit creatures like many others. But the only one who does not come back up right away is the leader of the trio, the title character, and he goes down and from that moment on the other two sons are almost out of the picture until the very end. It's all about his fights against the dragons now, even if I have never seen dragons in my life before that do not look like dragons at all. They seemed like robots with several heads. Definitely not just my perception. But the main character stays strong and defeats all the dragons, rescues all three damsels in distress and that's how the story ends. Is it? Not really. There is a bit of an epilogue as he also has to take care of a new challenger when his two brothers leave without him. But he would not be the star here, if he wasn't ready to take on a griffin or falcon, whatever a gigantic bird, to help him get back up. It costs him an arm (temporarily) and he also has to get a lot of food for the flying bird, but eventually he prevails and is reunited with his brothers. Not in good spirit though because he is ready to kill them for their betrayal and leaving him behind. But eventually he forgives them, which may have been his biggest challenge. At least, it is the one and only time where we see him in tears, where we see his heart, not just his muscles. And that is where the movie really ends. I liked it. The characters are interesting, especially the one brother (the rock brother) who gets in some comedic value even in the first half, the animation is utterly creative (once you get used to it) and the story had me curious about what is going to happen next. This movie here is close to being a must-see for animation lovers. It's from a corner of the world where you certainly do not come across movies too often if you're not from there, let alone animated movies, but this one here definitely deserves to be checked out. No hesitation for me in giving it a thumbs-up. If it also airs somewhere near you, don't miss out. And if not, find another way to check it out. Most likely, you're not gonna regret it. Final note: It was a simple scene, but I liked the way it looked when the three brothers eat together after defeating the goblin. Great camera work there. So it's not just the key plot, but also the small moments and attention to detail when Jankovics dellivered really convincingly. Positively recommended. A feast for the eyes at times.