Line #56 Animation/TheAdventuresOfVasiaKurolesov


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_28896094_2859.jpg]]
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3	''Приключения Васи Куролесова'' (''Prikyuchenia Vasi Kurolesova'') is a 1981 [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet]] animated short, produced and animated by Creator/{{Soyuzmultfilm}}, based on a 1977 humorous book by Yuri Koval.
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5	It's about a young country bumpkin named Vasia, who lives with his mother on a farm somewhere in rural Russia. One day, she tasks him with buying a piglet in a nearby Bazaar. However, the first pig seller he finds turns out to be a small-time crook called Kurochkin, who cons him by [[StealthPun selling him almost literally a pup in a poke]]. But Vasia is not about to stand for that embarrassment, and, using [[EvilDetectingDog the same dog]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard he scammed him with]], sets out to track down Kurochkin and bring him to justice. As luck would have it, Vasia stumbles across something eternally more dangerous than the mere scamming of pig farmers...
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7	The half-hour crime comedy is notable for its vast uses of snarky RussianHumour and its seamless traversal of the (generally atypical for Soviet animation) AnimationAgeGhetto, utilising ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' levels of Slapstick to entertain children, and witty writing, a mature premise and reasonably DarkHumour to delight adults. It's still a favourite classic young and old are very fond of in most post-Soviet countries.
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9	You can see it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtjomGMbx3w here]] in its entirety, untranslated.
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11	!!The short and the book its based on feature examples of:
12	* AnimalMotifs: Kurochkin, additionally to his name (see PunnyName), has a very beak-like nose ("like a duck"), and he has a tapestry with black swans hanging above his bed.
13	* AnthropomorphicShift: For most of the story, Matros is just a dog, with little to set him apart from the RealLife animals. Then at the end, he rolls his eyes as he shows Vasia the way with a snarky paw gesture.
14	* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: At one point, Inspector Boldyrev stuffs a cocked pistol into his belt.
15	* BadassNormal: Vasia certainly tries to be this throughout the tale, but by the end of the story, he does indeed manage to [[spoiler:disarm and knock out an armed Kurochkin using only [[ItMakesSenseInContext a cigarette bin and a walking stick]].]]
16	* BadLiar: Whenever Raspil tells a lie, it's usually painfully obvious to everyone.
17	* BlatantLies: Raspil advertises the glass panes he sells as "double-glazed, ''Viennese''!" Anyone who knows what genuine Viennese glassware ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Lobmeyr_Wertheim.JPG is]]'', knows that he is lying through his teeth.
18	* ChekhovsGun:
19	** The bottle of iodine, from a pharmacy in Tarasovka.
20	--> '''Vasia:''' "Tarasovka Pharmacy, iodine tincture." So what?
21	--> '''Boldyrev:''' 'So what?' Just keep it in the back of your mind. [[LampshadeHanging It might come in useful later]].
22	** Also, the dead bee behind Matros' ear. [[spoiler: It leads them to the MacGuffin.]]
23	* ConcealmentEqualsCover: Averted. [[spoiler: At one point, Kurochkin tries to shoot Boldyrev through a wooden door.]]
24	* DestinationDefenestration: Once it's apparent that he is about to get caught, [[spoiler:Kurochkin throws himself out of a ground floor window]].
25	%%* DramaticGunCock: Boldyrev is overly fond of those.
26	%%* TheDitz: Baton, natch.
27	* EvilDetectingDog: The aptly-named Matros gladly helps Vasia and the Militsyia to sniff out his former master several times. It's implied that he has been severly mistreated by Kurochkin, so he's probably just [[TheDogBitesBack biting back]].
28	* TheFettered: Vasia has, to say the least, a very romanticised way of approaching extreme danger. It seldomly ends well.
29	%%* {{Foreshadowing}}: See RRatedOpening.
30	* FreudianSlip:
31	--> '''Raspil:''' He's got pigs like dogs... he's got [[MetaphoricallyTrue pigs like you've never seen]]!
32	* FreudianTrio: The three crooks: [[spoiler:Kurochkin, Raspil and Baton.]] The scheming leader (Superego), the brute (Id) and the clueless nice guy (Ego).
33	* GloriousMotherRussia: Averted for the most part. Nothing beside portraying Militsyia (Soviet police) in a good light, and even that is downplayed.
34	* GonnaNeedABiggerWarrant: It all starts with selling an old smelly dog as a piglet. [[spoiler: It ends with a gang of unscrupolous crooks robbing stores, stashing the loot, black-marketeering, then attempting homicide twice.]]
35	* HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook: It's by way of this trope that Baton [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter decides]] that [[spoiler: Vasia, whom he met in jail earlier, could make a perfect partner-in-crime, and takes him to his comrades.]]
36	* HelloAgainOfficer: Raspil and Inspector Boldyrev are "old acquaintances" from an earlier point in his investigation. In the book Boldyrev was investigating a series of burglaries that all happened to occur shortly after Raspil repaired windows in the robbed houses.
37	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: [[spoiler:Baton]]. Not only does he seem so jolly and bonafide a simpleton that it's almost unbelievable he is a robber and a ruffian, [[spoiler:he also inadvertedly ''helps'' the heroes instead of harming them.]]
38	* ISOStandardUrbanGroceries: Raspil returns home with one at one point. Typically, he remembered to buy [[VodkaDrunkenski Vodka]], but not the milk.
39	* MacGuffin: [[spoiler:The crooks' loot. It's hidden in Raspil's apiaries.]]
40	%%* ManlyFacialHair: Sergeant Tarakanov sports a mighty moustache that looks more like two ginger sawblades. %%Explicitly explain how this is connected to him being seen as masculine/tough.
41	* MommasBoy: Vasia, who still lives on his mother's farm and helps her with most of the work.
42	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Vasia's impulsiveness and overall naivety [[spoiler:blow Boldyrev's cover ''twice''. But in the end, it's Vasia who manages to save the day]] - but not before he manages to knock ''himself'' unconscious during a fight.
43	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Raspil and Baton. Even Inspector Boldyrev seems to know Raspil by that name only.
44	* PetTheDog / KickTheDog: Played literally straight back-to-back by Kurochkin on Matros the dog. It's implied that Matros had already suffered ''[[Creator/AntonChekhov Kashtanka]]''-levels of abuse by him, and being sold as a pig was just the tip of the iceberg.
45	* PoliceAreUseless: Zig-zagged. Sergeant Tarakanov is not a particularly capable sort, either falling for the bad guys' ploy or not doing anything at all, but oftentimes the only thing that's between Inspector Boldyrev and the crooks he's trying to catch is [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Vasia's own clumsiness]]. In the book Tarakanov is more than capable of dealing with petty criminals on the marketplace, but not with Kurochkin.
46	* PornStache: Kurochkin has one. [[spoiler: It later turns out to be fake]]. Vasia also tries to make one from his mother's fur coat, in a poor attempt to disguise himself. [[spoiler: [[EpicFail It only serves to get him arrested]].]]
47	* PunnyName: Most of the characters have them. Kurochkin's (possibly fake) surname derives from "[[DirtyCoward chicken]]", Sergeant Tarakanov's from "cockroach", and Raspil and Baton (which presumably just are [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname nicknames]]) mean "wood rasp" and "loaf of bread". And "kuroles" means "troublemaker", usually of the drunk brawler variety.
48	* RedOniBlueOni: Vasia is a young and emotional guy who can't last two minutes without shouting accusations. Inspector Boldyrev is a professional criminalist who won't raise his voice even in a gunfight. Also, Kurochkin is the scheming and collected head of his otherwise all-red gang.
49	* RRatedOpening: The intro sequence is rather [[FilmNoir Noir-esque]] in tone and visuals, featuring lights being turned off, guns getting cocked and doors peppered with bullets - all accompanied by footsteps, dogs barking, policemen's whistles going off, windows bursting and suspense-building music. While most of it ''[[{{Foreshadowing}} does happen]]'' in the course of the movie, little of it is depicted ''that'' [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness darkly]].
50	* {{Ruritania}}: Not precisely an example of the trope, since it's set in Russia (a RealLife location), and Sychi and Tarasovka even are real places in Moscow Oblast (though quite a distance away from each other in RealLife), but it still matches Ruritania to a tee, taking place in what is essentialy the Soviet version of FlyOverCountry.
51	* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: The idealistic young Vasia and the seasoned Inspector Boldyrev respectively. For the bad guys, it's [[spoiler:Baton and Raspil]].
52	* SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: Even though the animation is kept in carefree ''claire ligne'' and the sky and fields brightly coloured, it still quickly becomes apparent that there is little more to the rural area than dirt roads, ruins and decaying wooden huts. Also, crime.
53	* SpottingTheThread: When Vasya and Boldyrev knock at the door of a house they suspect Kurochkin of hiding in, Vasya tries passing them off as "[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment plumbers coming to fix the plumbing]]". [[spoiler:Kurochkin, who wasn't fooled to begin with (since he already knew who Vasya was), points out that the property only has a ''well''.]]
54	* StealthPun: As mentioned above, Vasia expected a ''pig in a poke'', but instead ''bought a pup'' (or rather an [[DisSimile elderly dog]], but it's the same difference).
55	* ThereWasADoor: There wasn't, so Vasia resolves to go head-first right ''through'' a massive brick wall, leaving an ImpactSilhouette. Boldyrev, on the other hand, chooses to traverse it via a ridiculously athletic high jump.
56	* VerbalTic:
57	** Baton loves to answer questions with what is essentially the Russian gangster slang version of "Ya betcha!"
58	** And Boldyrev likes to sarcastically repeat the [[AskAStupidQuestion stupid questions of others]] before giving an answer.
59	* WunzaPlot: He Is A Naive Farmboy! He Is A Big City Inspector! Together, They Fight Crime!
60	* YouAllMeetInACell: How Vasia, who has been framed by a disguised Kurochkin, comes across Baton, who punched a guy [[DisproportionateRetribution for stepping on his foot]].

Context Animation / TheAdventuresOfVasiaKurolesov