I think this is a decent film, with beautiful backgrounds, though the character design is a bit uninspired. Actually, I feel that way about the characters in many of Lev Milchin's films; they tend to be optimized for being simple to animate, but end up a bit lifeless. I do like the style here better than in most of them - it's a bit like the previous "Tsar Saltan" feature that he co-directed with Ivanov-Vano. Though I prefer the earlier 1950 adaption of this story (well, a similar one, though the beginning is different) directed by Olga Hodatayeva: "The Magic Mill".