Long before Disney's Frozen hit American theaters, a hand-drawn adaptation of The Snow Queen released in Russia, later to travel overseas.
The 1957 film will appeal to fans of classic hand-drawn fairy tales such as Disney's Pinocchio and Peter Pan. There is even a Jiminy Cricket-like character, Ole Lukoje (Vladimir Gribkov), who narrates at multiple points throughout the story. Plus, unlike Frozen, The Snow Queen is faithful to Hans Christian Andersen's literary tale. If you've read it, you should be able to follow the film well.
As a faithful adaptation, The Snow Queen is more Christian than Frozen. While both feature self-sacrificing female leads, the Snow Queen (Mariya Babanova) clearly represents Satan here. Babanova's voice acting succeeds at bringing out her wickedness, which has no motives other than to destroy.
Unlike Disney's early classics, though, The Snow Queen suffers from a few things. First, the live action opening scene took a bit long to conclude. Instead of focusing on the Christmas presents of multiple children, it could have focused on the one girl who unwrapped "The Snow Queen" and go directly from there. Second, the lighting is surprisingly poor for an animated movie, enough to make me grow drowsy. I don't know if this film has ever been restored, but regardless, The Snow Queen can use one.
Of course, there are more things I appreciate about The Snow Queen, especially the art style. It has Disney's cartoony realism, but at the same time, it is distinct. For example, the eyes of Gerda (Yanina Zheymo) and Kay (Anna Komolova) are smaller with no white shading. They also appear as if they came out of a European folk painting. The red and white village, too, was charming to look at.
There are a few songs, including an opening one that plays during the opening credits. Their holiday-inspired tone was memorable, but regarding the lyrics, I only remember the "spring" reference in the opening song. Of course, the songs are not in Broadway-style; they are incidental.
Fans of hand-drawn animation or the original Hans Christian Andersen tale will appreciate this faithful take, especially during the holiday season. Otherwise, there is little I can recommend.
SCORE: Okay (6.5/10)
STREAMING SERVICES: Tubi, YouTube
Have you seen The Snow Queen? What do you think about it?
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