Junior and Karlson (1968)

A Soviet cult cartoon so untypical for a Western viewer especially a little one A boy named Malysh A Little One suffers from solitude being the youngest of the three children in a Swedish family The acute sense of solitude makes him desperately want a dog but before he gets one he invents a friend the very Karlson who lives upon the roof So typical for the Russian culture spirit of mischief which is actually never punished and the notion that relative welfare not necessarily means happiness made the book by Astrid Lindgren and its TV adaptations tremendously popular in the Soviet Union and nowadays Russia and vice versa somewhat alienated to the Western reader and viewer see Users comments below However both the book and the cartoon are truly universal entertaining and funny for the children and thoughtprovoking and somewhat sad for grownups