Upon the Magic Roads

Upon the Magic Roads centres on Ivan, a romantic young man regarded as a fool by his older brothers and nothing like a storybook hero. His fortunes change when he gains a companion: a small humpbacked horse, wise, brave and possessed of magical powers. Together the mismatched pair set off through enchanted lands, where they must outwit a tyrannical king, capture the firebird and overcome a series of dangerous trials. Along the way Ivan hopes to win the love of a princess, and the friendship between the two is tested as much as their courage.

The film is a Russian fantasy adventure directed by Oleg Pogodin, who wrote the screenplay with Alexey Borodachev and made it as his first feature before Little Muck. Sergei Selyanov, Anton Zlatopolskiy and Alexandr Gorokhov produced it for the Cinema Fund, Russia-1, Luminescence and CTB Film Company. Anton Shagin plays Ivan, with Pavel Derevyanko voicing the horse, Mikhail Efremov as the king, Paulina Andreeva as the princess, Yan Tsapnik and Oleg Taktarov in supporting roles. Made for about 8 million dollars, it runs 100 minutes and was released in February 2021. Its reception splits by audience: on IMDb it holds 5.7/10 from roughly 1,600 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.8/10 from around 314 votes.