Soyuzmultfilm's "General Toptygin" doesn't have the most interesting plot at first, but then takes a turn that reminds one of Nikolai Gogol's "Government Inspector" (which inspired the Danny Kaye movie "The Inspector General"). I don't know whether or not they specifically based the cartoon on that novel. Most of the Soyuzmultfilm productions that I've seen were more complex than this. The stop-motion animation is what really makes the cartoon interesting. Of course, there could be a lot of Russian humor that doesn't translate into other languages.
Anyway, it's not a bad cartoon, just not as impressive as what I've come to expect from that company.
Anyway, it's not a bad cartoon, just not as impressive as what I've come to expect from that company.