"Cheburashka-2" - money tree

The sequel, calculated by marketers about the long-eared animal, his friend Gena and the prettier Shapoklyak, will collect a record box office this year

On January 1, Dmitry Dyachenko’s “Cheburashka 2” will open on screens - a continuation of the box office record holder, which collected almost 7 billion rubles in 2023. It is obvious that the sequel will be a success.

The main competitors of “Pinocchio” and “Prostokvashino” are inferior to the new film story about an animal unknown to science. “Pinocchio” is visually too sophisticated, outside the usual “children’s” stereotypes, “Prostokvashino” is clumsy and poorly theatrical. These projects, of course, will take a big bite out of the so-called “New Year’s pie” - the period of greatest cinema attendance, but “Cheburashka” will also have something to profit from. “Cheburashka” is a well-thought-out and calculated marketing project based on recognizable trails.

So, a year after the events of the first - the second film. Cheburashka lives in the house of Sochi gardener Gena (Sergei Garmash). He got used to it and even matured so much that from a cute baby he turned into an unbearable prankster, who does nothing but endlessly drop everything, scatter it, break it, and get into trouble. Gena gets furiously angry, turning into a toothy evil crocodile - a mix of characters from Chukovsky with Dr. Curt Connors or Locky the Alligator. And then trouble unexpectedly strikes. The sweet, sweet house with a turret, in which Gena lives in the arboretum with Cheburashka, is about to be demolished, and they are going to build an amusement park in its place. However, Shapoklyak, who has turned from a bad woman into a sweet businesswoman Rimma Anatolyevna (Elena Yakovleva), is ready to abandon the construction site at Gena’s request. The main villain turns out to be her assistant Larion (Dmitry Lysenkov). Here a series of tireless flashbacks arises, and we learn the story of the construction of the house by young Gena (Artem Bystrov), his love and the old conflict with Larion.

So, the algorithms of the new “Cheburashka” are created with a vector on traditional family values ​​and family relationships (I remember that deputy Dmitry Pevtsov criticized the film for “transhumanist ideology” because Cheburashka calls Uncle Gena “mother”).

The creators have corrected themselves. Almost all key types and subtypes of such problems and relationships are illustrated here, as in a textbook on family psychology.

Larion is evil because as a child he was disliked by his evil father, the Hunter. Gena has lost the main love of his life and therefore he lacks patience in raising his difficult Cheburash son. Cheburashka has read a lot of smart books, and therefore counters any remark with a quote, hinting at the “oral aggression” of the named dad. Rimma Anatolyevna's granddaughter Sonya is a victim of permissiveness, anti-educational spoiling and lack of social contacts. Gena's pregnant daughter Tanya (Polina Maksimova) is tormented by the care and attention of her neurotic husband Tolya (Sergei Lavygin). Their eldest son Grisha experiences a lack of parental attention and jealousy of the unborn child, who will take away the love of his father and mother.

After a clear exposition, the middle part, in which Cheburashka incites children to “escape from home” (as in “Pinocchio”) and travel to the forest away from adults who do not understand them, is rather drawn-out, fussy, and does not hold attention. But the final third, with all imaginable taste red lines going off scale, when the audience, willy-nilly, begins to worry about Cheb’s life, is at the peak of emotions and sentimentality.

Among the main secrets of the franchise's success is recognition. Cheburashka himself is the main symbol of childhood; adults are nostalgic for a carefree time and a sense of security.

The second film, in comparison with the first, gained more entertainment and scale. What is Sonya's giant chocolate and marmalade birthday worth?

The film is oversaturated with references to famous hits. There are a dime a dozen of them here.

Cheburashka's domestic pranks seem to have been copied from the TV series "Masha and the Bear". The luxurious birthday of the young millionaire Sonya is reminiscent of the holiday in the film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, of course, without Burton’s signature grotesque and gothic style. But here, too, there is a chocolate lake, its own Eiffel Tower and marmalade carousels. During a children's escape-hike from adults into the forest and mountains, one will remember “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn” by Govorukhin. Motives from a variety of hits from “Home Alone 2” to “The Jungle Book” pass the baton to each other.

And at the very end there will be... an invitation to the cinema for the premiere of "Cheburashka" - January 1, 2027. The authors promise a major flashback - the story of Cheburashka's origins from a tribe of furry Cheburakh-like creatures. The ancestors of the unknown animal, Eduard Uspensky, Roman Kachanov and Leonid Shvartsman, would be very surprised.

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