Too much of everything

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I heard that this movie was an influence on Hayao Miyazaki. Really? This is definitely good, but not on his level at all. I guess I didn't like this as most people. With the mass success of "Frozen", I was eager to see what were considered some of the other best adaptations of the "Snow Queen" story. This is one of the highest ranked versions and while I personally didn't love it, I certainly enjoyed it. It's mostly because I grew up reading the classic story. I don't quite remember the events of the book, but I know it featured two kids who meet the title queen. It was more faithful than the infinitely more popular Disney movie.I'm always eager to watch all movies, including foreign ones. I was glad to have come by a dubbed version and I don't think I've ever even seen an animated Russian movie before. The weakest part is that it is too short and fairly anti-climatic. It still has good pacing most of the time. The strongest point is probably the animation. The Snow Queen sticks out above all as being the most beautifully animated character or thing. I really did feel bad for these little kids, especially when they were getting into fights. ***

In the 1950s and 60s, several Hollywood studios bought international films and re-dubbed them into English. In many cases they also cut the films to pieces and rearranged them in a sad attempt to make them more marketable. In EVERY case I can think of, the results left a lot to be desired. A few of these, such as the re-dubbing and reworking of "Godzilla" (where Raymond Burr seemed to be added rather randomly in order to 'Americanize' the action), worked well enough. But most were simply awful. The list of terribly dubbed stupid international films is very long indeed, with films like "Invaders from Space" and cartoons like "Alakazam the Great" and "Pinocchio in Outer Space". While "The Snow Queen" isn't as bad as the three films I just mentioned, it is pretty bad. Why is it so bad? Well, much of it is because when it comes to showing it to American kids of the day, the material is pretty dull stuff. And, with excellent Disney productions to compare it to from the same time period (such as "Sleeping Beauty" and "101 Dalmatians"), the film just comes up very, very short and the kids would have clearly demand Disney! The film begins with a prologue starring Art Linkletter and a bunch of not particularly talented kids (one who is named, I kid you not, 'Dick Johnson'- -so much for making this a family-friendly film). They are all enjoying a supposedly impromptu and TOTALLY SCRIPTED Christmas morning. You wonder WHO all these kids are and WHY are they at Linkletter's home and WHERE are the parents!! It's all done in an attempt to legitimize the film which follows. In other words, back in the late 50s, Linkletter was a beloved American TV star...and if HE loved the film, it must be good...right?! Well, no. I just assume that Universal Studio paid him a gob of cash to hang out with the kids and promote a crappy Soviet cartoon. As for this Russian film, it's well animated compared to some films of the day (by the late 50s, standards in animation were dropping world-wide). Not as good as Disney, but not bad for the day. Sure, the humans often had creepy expressions but again I make allowances for this because of the period in which it was made. The story is about the Snow Queen from Hans Christian Andersen. It's actually a lot closer to his story than the recent Disney film "Frozen", though I doubt if many folks will really care. The story is about two adorable (?) kids who love each other--Kay (a boy) and Gerta. Unfortunately for them, Kay makes a mistake of making fun of the Snow Queen and she responds by hardening his heart and making him a total jerk towards poor Gerta. Then, the Queen steals the boy and takes him to her frozen kingdom to be her friend. As for Gerta (and this is the ONLY thing I really liked about the film), she wasn't about to stay back home and cry--she set out on a long adventure to get her beloved Kay. The path leads to many adventures (some involving nice fairy tale creatures and some involving fairy tale jerks) and eventually Gerta's persistence is rewarded. In many ways, it reminds me of the wonderful children's book "The Paper Bag Princess" but is so dull and heavy-handed that its great message is lost because the film is so charmless. The bottom line is that I cannot see many kids enjoying this. Younger ones especially will squirm in their seats if they're made to watch this one and older ones simply will wonder why they didn't just watch something else. You should definitely consider seeing something else.

I have fond memories of this film as a child... Watching it today, it actually still holds up well. The Russians have adapted one of Hans Christian Anderson's lesser-known tales quite well, and utilizes a talented cast for the English-language version: Sandra Dee, Tommy Kirk, Patty McCormick and even June Foray("Rocky" of ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE fame). Like most of Anderson's stories, THE SNOW QUEEN has many dark moments, and might actually be a little frightening for the little ones, but also treats the viewer to a little bit of morality- that of the love and devotion of two childhood friends. While the actual film is great, the American-added prologue with TV Host Art Linkletter and a bunch of kids really dates the material... fast-forward and enjoy this wonderful treat for young and old.

I was entranced by this film when I saw it a kiddie matinee in the 60s, and upon repeat viewings it is truly wonderful. I just don't understand why this film has not been given a proper treatment in the west. I've seen three english versions; the original US release with Art Linkletter was what I saw in the theater. A few years ago I chanced upon a strange version with the original elf narration restored, but with portions of the score dropped out to make way for horrible contemporary pop songs. Thirdly there was a version shown on PBS sans Linkletter, but with an entirely new soundtrack, which fared better than the pop version I mentioned (though not much better) Still the imagery is fabulous regardless of which botched presentation it is, and I would go out of my way to see an unadulterated version even without the benefit of translation.