OK, by now I have watched this movie about thirty times. This is by far the best family movie ever made, bar none. It should be mandatory to view in all film schools everywhere. Disney, Warner Brothers and Nickelodeon producers should watch it at least once a month and learn from it.
I am a huge fan of Eastern European and Russian "communist" era fairy-tales and fantasy cinema so when I saw that subtitles were available for the film, I went and found a copy. Like you, I just fell in love with it, one of those rare films that just touch your heart on such a deep level. (And I am a middle-aged man!).
Just seen another fairy-tale film, this time from Romania that you may enjoy, its from 1972 and called Veronica, some kind soul has translated the film and made English subtitles available:
Oh, I’m past being middle-aged, and I still love it. This movie is for everyone.
I watched an 8-minute segment of Veronica, and I will watch more later.
If you love Russian fairy tales, you might enjoy Sadko (http://www.amazon.com/Sadko-Mikhail-Astangov/dp/B0002NRS5K). It is in Russian but has excellent English subtitles. This is an ancient Russian tale, which even became a famous opera. But this version is not the opera, just an old Russian movie beautifully restored by Mosfilm.