The Snow Queen

While I agree the story was heavily adapted for flighty modern tastes and there are some incredibly horrible dialogues sporadically put here and there that are searching for laughs rather than being inherently funny, it was overall a nice adaptation. It at least tried to keep close to the original tale and only adapted it in a similar spirit whenever possible.SPOILERSKay(Kaye) is now Kai. They're also a few years older and don't start out as best friends (which was the original impetuous for Gerda's search). However at the end of the tale they realize they love each other anyway, so this I can quite easily forgive.The Eternal Summer Witch becomes the Spring Witch, but the mothering tendency & brainwashing is still there. Really the only thing that changed about that scene from the original story was that she was rechristened as Spring.The Princess looking for a prince to marry becomes the Summer Princess set on marrying Gerda off. It's a bit of a change, but the spirit of the original part of the story is kept. Quite frankly this scene is very much adapted for modern tastes and is obviously looking for laughs, but it wisely gives us a look at how air-headed & almost blindly idealistic the season actually is, which is something summer fanatics I think tend to forget.The Robber Hag and her daughter the Robber Girl become an Autumn couplet who capture & keep Gerda along the same lines of the story. As for why they became Autumn, it's quite obvious in my mind. Gypsies, as the Robbers in the original story & this adaptation were portrayed, do a lot of harvesting after all. Also the cynical spirit that comes along with them matches growing pessimism of Autumn in contrast to the bubbly idealism of Summer. Also the gypsy defiance and celebration honors the harvest festivals where people would indulge themselves and play games with one another throwing society into a bit of a chaotic environment. Think of Mischief Night where modern teens go TPing and egging houses. Think of All Hallow's Eve being the one night of the year that people believed evil could break the natural laws that ruled them the rest of the year roam the land for a night. Think of La Dia de los Muertos where the dead are believed to come back to life for an evening and eat the food the family brought for them. Think of Saturnalia in Rome where masters pretended to be servants and the servants as masters. Scandinavia and Britain also held similar holiday revels in the form of Yuletide. Where do you think the concept of Halloween came from? Not from the Candy Companies--they only exploited it.The adaptation, in my mind was all pretty close to the original plot or the spirit of it until they took out the Lord's Prayer bit that Gerda says to defeat the Snow Queen's army. However most adaptations do that so that's almost to be expected with our secularized society. However they kept the Christian Rose symbolism and changed the Lord's Prayer into Gerda's mother's magic brooch. This part of the adaptation pales in comparison to the original tale, but it attempts to adapt in a similar spirit. The only terribly corny part was the "wake up" sequence, but that I can close my eyes and ignore quite easily.Also Gerda's mother dying and getting rid of Granny (replacing her with Minna was nice though) made me a little sad, but I thought what was done with that gave a more realistic feeling to the story. It also was a way to make Gerda the traditional "quiet girl" stereotype (with a realistic reason why she is that way) without upsetting the ultra-feminists in our secularized society.Overall it was a better adaptation than the amazingly bad one that Fairy Tale Theater put on. I didn't expect quality from that, but after seeing something THAT bad, this was kinda nice.Also, I don't know about your translation of the original tale, but mine goes back and forth between calling the Hobgoblin the devil and a hobgoblin. However I think the devil works best considering the Christian symbolism and parts in the original tale. It's a shame though that the adaptation didn't hold true to the original Christian part of the story, it would've balanced out and explained the Devil part nicely. However, we're dealing with a secularized society so it's not too surprising.END SPOILERSAlso, I've read some other posts where reviewers go off on that it's not meant for children?!? Fairy tales are inherently seductive, bloody, violent, and full of this kind of stuff--the Snow Queen that HCA wrote is actually is a little more tame in comparison to some original folk tales. Consider for the fact that Hansel and Gretel push an old woman into an oven and roast her to death. Beauty and the Beast is the equivalent of wife beating. Each little pig--in the original story of the Three Little Pigs--dies and is eaten until the Wolf gets to the last one and can't blow down the brick house. But even he is turned into Wolf Stew by the last little pig. The Hare in the Hare and the Hedgehog is outsmarted by the Hedgehog (and his wife) and runs himself to death. In the original Cinderella, the father is still alive and doesn't care for his daughter, the stepsisters cut parts of their feet off to fit into the slipper, and the birds who befriended Cinderella peck the stepsisters blind in the end.That is the legacy of our original folktales and myths: blood, violence, and gore. The fact that generations of children have been reading/hearing variations on these tales for centuries doesn't surprise me. Those things were a large part of life back then (and still are, no matter how much we try to avoid & deny it), and these stories actually gave a way to deal/introduce such things quite well. They also did so in a in a safer environment & probably provided a comforting effect to children who were already severely effected by them. The Devil is also a frequent visitor in fairy tales, and many characters in many stories go through periods of temptation from him.So, seeing a man in red makeup portray the Devil, seeing Gerda attempting suicide (which was close enough and adapted along a similar line of self-sacrifice which the original tale drives home as a core theme of the story), and the multiple attempts of seduction and temptation for both Kai & Gerda are actually cornily fluffy compared to what original folklore contained for children.What society has to recognize is that the real harm comes from editing these stories until there are no "offensive parts" left. At which point the innocence of the original stories looks trite and corny with nothing left to balance it out and the stories lose their true meaning and influence in society. What you learn from these stories is that in order for true innocence & goodness to exist, the darker side of human nature must threaten its very existence, otherwise it has no true meaning. The worst harm that can be done to a fairy tale is editing out the gory bits, however, I digress.IMO, this movie is meant for kids & preteens--how could it not be? Also, for those who fear that seeing Gerda jumping off a bridge or a personification of the Devil will scar the kids for life, allow me to digress for a tiny bit: I watched Bugs Bunny get drunk on numerous occasions, and what was actually happening went right over my little head at the time. It was only upon revisiting the cartoons recently that I realized what I had actually seen.So, if any of you still feel like censoring this and all other offensive bits in the sake of "protecting the children", just hire three monkeys, I'm sure they could help you quite easily.

we liked

I love the winter season as well so I'm always on the lookout for any stories or movies with the theme. I found this title by accident while looking for something else, and I'm so glad I did. It's a very charming take on The Snow Queen fairy tale with lots of interesting characters and gorgeous scenery. Highly recommended.

I love this. I watch it every year around the holidays. My affection for it has only grown since the first time I watched it back in 2011. It's not perfect, but there is much more good about it than there is bad. The holidays for me would not be complete without watching the Snow Queen. It's a great alternative to all the Christmas movies I also watch around this time. It can also be watched into January and February when Christmas is over.

I bought this DVD because I enjoy the Hallmark productions of various fantasy tales, not because I was familiar with the original Hans Christian Anderson story. Therefore, I'm not equipped to judge it based on it's adherence to the original story but only as a bit of television entertainment.The basic story is about how the Snow Queen wants to dominate all the seasons so that it is winter year-round. Part of what we see in the movie is how she attempts to do this and how the heroine attempts to stop her. The way in which the story unfolds in regards to this plot is where a lot of the entertainment value lies so I won't spoil it.The main problem lies in the pacing of the story. The first hour, which is largely dedicated to establishing the characters and relationships between them, moves far too slowly. While I believe time dedicated to character development can be of great value, some of the scenes are unnecessary or unnecessarily long (such as the ice skating scene where pro skater doubles perform twirls and other manuevers real skaters would never bother with). The odd thing is that I believe the extra time spent showing us how the hero and heroine fall in love actually undermines the credibility of the passion they supposedly feel for each other rather than enhances it. The languid pace shows a slow build of affection rather than a rapid burn which might incite the heroine to face great danger on her love's behalf.Unlike other reviewers who believed Bridget Fonda's portrayal of the snow queen didn't explain the hero's attraction to her, I simply concluded it wasn't her beauty or her behavior that drew him to her but simply magic. Nonetheless, I think that there should have been a clearer explanation of the "mechanics" behind what she was doing, particularly when she behaved so cruelly at times and still was able to hold those around her in her thrall. Perhaps such an explanation wouldn't have been necessary if she had been portrayed in a more sensual manner. However, I think that these family-oriented presentations seek to avoid too much sexually-driven content.There are some beautiful scenes and the story has a satisfying ending but it seems disjointed at times and I could easily see some viewers growing bored waiting for the story to move along. The overall "feel" of the movie was also disrupted (for me personally) by the relatively modern music that was used at times. All in all, I think that the father and son producers (the Halmis), who have made a lot of these types of productions for Hallmark, dropped the ball on this one. They had a lot of good pieces but put them together wrong.

This is an all time classic film for around the christmas period. It is a romantic (but none soppy) and mysterious story. A young lady first looses her mother to winter (the snow queen) then looses her boyfriend, which is the last straw for her. She travels across the land battling each season to get to the snow queen's castle to save her love. Friends are made, magic is used, love is gained and lost. The perfect story for christmas time, however is good enough to watch it all year round.

This is such a good film. The acting is delightful and it remains the best version of the the Snow Queen.

THIS IS A GROWNUP SORT OF "FAIRY TALE NASTY" WHICH I NEARLY DISGARDED ON FIRST VEIWING BUT QUITE ENJOYED IT SECOND TIME AROUND.ITS WELL WORTH THE MONEY AND I SHALL WATCH IT AGAIN; RECOMMEND IT TO THE YOUNG AT HEART.

I have just sent for this film and have not yet received it but am buying it again after having it on VHS. My two girls loved it and I am now getting them this as a format they can watch now. It is a superb christmas gift gift for kids around 8 to 12 years. And great as a christmas film. 10 out of 10

Good