The genre preferences of artists, including animators, determine a lot in their choice of topics and the formation of a creative manner. So, one of the distinctive and brilliant artists - the Soviet director, animator Anatoly Petrov - always gravitated to Greek mythology and musicality, created his works like animate archeology. In the 80s, he shot several animated films based on ancient Greek myths: “The Birth of Eros”, “Nymph Salmak”, “Daphne”, “Polyphemus, Akid and Galatea” and “Heracles at Admet”. In all of these projects, the nakedness of the human body was very naturally and openly demonstrated, which is generally not characteristic of Soviet animation.
In the new painting technique
After the creation of the animated project Hercules at Admet, originality in approaching the thematic material, a deep understanding of the dynamics of the structure of each episode was elevated to the creative pedestal of the animator, making it one of the prominent figures of Soviet animation. The hand-drawn cartoon was innovative in 1986, so created in a new painting technique. It showed the features inherent in modern animation: a deep humanity in the choice and solution of the topic, the desire to express the essence in an extremely simple, concise, understandable form for a wide audience.
Creative tandem creators
The production designers L. Lobanova and A. Petrov, working in tandem with a creative group of seven like-minded artists, showed the unlimited possibilities of classical animation in the movements of their heroes, people and animals, in throws, running, jumping, etc.
Among the advantages of the cartoon “Hercules at Admet”, outstanding figures of Soviet animation called the principles and fundamentals of directorial decision, expressiveness of poses, facial expressions and articulation of characters. A separate admiration was caused by the hard work of the creators on musical episodes and dance scenes. Soviet and Russian Sandor Kallosh worked on the musical accompaniment of the picture. The voicing of the central characters was done by Mikhail Tsarev, Alexander Voevodin, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan and Alexander Belyavsky.
Plot
The story of the tape "Hercules at Admet" begins at the moment when the goddess of fate Moira predicted king Admet quick death. Admet turned to the priestess of Pythia, who told him a way out of this situation: he would live if someone else died instead. Following the instructions of Hermes, the king goes in search of the one who will die in his place. But he doesn’t find a volunteer, on the last day his wife Alkesta sacrifices herself instead of her husband. The inconsolable king mourns his beloved, at this moment Hercules comes to him. Upon learning of the tragedy, the fearless hero goes to the underworld, where he fights with Tanat for the soul of Alkestida. The next morning, he brings a woman to the king as a gift, but he rejects him, mourning for his beloved wife. Then Hercules removes the veil from the beauty, who turns out to be Alkesta. Happy spouses offer the demigod to stay, but he intends to hit the road without delay, because he carries out the erystheus order, which concerns the horses of King Diomedes.
Criticism
The Hercules at Admet project received commendable reviews. Reviewers explained the success of the project in many ways with an impeccable directorial decision. The art of drawings that came to life on the screen, preserving the quality of a witty, entertaining spectacle, was extremely concentrated, inspired by emotions. In the cartoon, as if the ancient Greek frescoes discovered by archaeologists came to life, there was a roll of eras, which the authors correctly emphasized by comparing expressive pictorial and graphic solutions. In the tape, the idea of unfading value of folklore culture is affirmed by all means of artistic expression.
In the Russian Federation in the 90s, Hercules at Admet was released on VHS in the cartoon collection Return from Olympus and Prometheus.