Crocodile Gena works in a zoo - a crocodile. Every evening he returns home to his lonely apartment. Finally he tired of playing with himself in chess, and Gene decides to make friends. On the ads pasted around the city, responding animals and people. First comes a girl with a homeless puppy Gal, followed by the Cheburashka...
Practical Effects
Stop-motion fur so tactile you want to pet the screen.
Direction
Nakamura preserves Soviet soul while adding Japanese warmth.
Director
Makoto Nakamura
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This Japanese-Russian coproduction sparked minor diplomatic warmth during frosty relations — animated diplomacy, basically.
Nozomi Ōhashi, Cheburashka's voice, was 9. She'd already won Japan Academy Prize for Departures. Absolute legend.
JP
