A Pequena Vendedora de Fósforos

One of the saddest cinematic displays I have ever seen. It is 2D rendered 3D animation overlaid with traditional illustrations as well. The animation is well done and coordinates well with the score. The film is very short, 11 min or so, but it is a simple plot with only one main character (the match girl), and by the end of the picture you are totally engaged in the girls plight. H.C. Anderson had a way with human despair, and this film captures that nature without one word uttered. I recommend this film despite its graphic illustration of society's malevolence and disregard. To be honest I have never read the original Anderson story, but it seems to have a similar tone to his other works (not the Disney adaptations).

I first saw this film streamed on youtube.com and had no idea that it was a Disney short. Sure it had Disney's beautifully fluid animation (in 2D no doubt, just like old times), but unlike Disney of late, it told a deeply emotional tale with inventive visuals and no compromises in its themes. Its based on the Hans Christian Anderson fable of a small Russian girl selling matchsticks on a harsh winter's evening, when no one seems to care less. Alone and without shelter, she rides out the night lighting her matchsticks for warmth in a street corner, allowing herself to be transported to hospitable, warmer places of fantasy.

By the end, i was deeply moved by what i'd seen, but as the credits rolled, i was astonished; directed by Roger Allers; executive produced by Roy E. Disney?! Who would've thought that the company currently responsible for such tat as "The Wild" and "Chicken Little" are still capable of such profound work as this? I thought that this kind of animation only existed in Japan. Apparently, Disney is still alive somewhere under all that commercialism. In a western culture that thrives on bland, generic animated comedies (fot the most part), in short and feature length, seeing this, and from the company that seems to have finally submitted its guard to that culture, is a breath of fresh air (to use a well worn cliché).

Get "The Little Mermaid" Platinum DVD release and give it a glimpse, the only place your likely to see this in an acceptable format. This is an improvement from Disney, hands down, not just on their most recent stuff, but from all their modern works. While the majority of the 90's showcased impressive and at times classic examples of Disney's animated division working at their best, no other film from their modern catalogue tackles such real ventures in human desperation and suffering. True, this is mostly due to the source text. But several of Disney's other adaptations of literature containing disturbing and tragic content have all but washed out those elements, so while the result was still universally great entertainment in an innocent way, it definitely missed out on the more emotionally rich possibilities that Japanese animation mines frequently, and Disney itself used to acquire from time to time in their earlier classics (Dumbo and Pinocchio to name a few). Not so here, Disney seems to have acknowledged this revelation from the east. In fact "The Little Matchgirl" is actually comparable to the profoundly depressing Studio Ghibli war time anime, Isao Takahata's "Grave of the Fireflies", in its sophistication, while also remaining fairly inexplicit to appeal to all but the youngest audience. Stuff like this has very rarely found its way into western animation, and pretty much never in the ones released as mainstream features. This may be only a short, but if Disney can somehow stick to this path of much more sophisticated and imaginative movie-making and implant that thinking into their feature output, we may well see their next Golden Age in animation sooner than planned. Fingers crossed.

A little girl, living in Russia in the winter, has a few matches to sell. She is shunned by all who see her. They have no empathy. Finally, she finds a corner between some buildings. She begins to strike the matches. As each one burns, she experiences (in her mind) all the things that she doesn't have: heat, food, safety, and love. There is that same ending that we have come to know.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been deeply moved by Hans Christian Andersen's story. It is so beautiful, so touching and so poignant, yet I don't consider it depressing in any way. From the very start, I had immediate sympathy for the Little MatchGirl of the title, and I was hoping this Disney short would do this amazing story justice. And it does.

The Little MatchGirl in my opinion is a small Disney masterpiece, it is very short, but it is beautiful in every meaning of the word. I am a huge fan of Disney, not only of their films(Beauty and the Beast especially) but also of their Silly Symphonies like The Old Mill and Flowers and Trees. The Little MatchGirl is yet another favourite of mine from them.

The short has no dialogue or voices, all through visuals and music, and this worked. The animation is simply stunning, the backgrounds, character features, the architecture of those beautiful Russian buildings and colours are consistently amazing. And I have to say the music is outstanding, this was a piece of music- Borrodin's String Quartet no. 2, Nocturno- that I really underestimated, it is a truly beautiful work that is put to perfect use and beautifully performed. The story is still poignant and touching in tone, the title character I related to immediately and the pacing is just right.

Overall, a superb short, like I said with The Old Mill, I forgot I was watching a cartoon and thought I was watching a work of art. 10/10 Bethany Cox

it is one of films who are not defined but story - well - known - but for art to translate in image a classic text. the science to present new nuances for Andersen story . and, in that case, the job is remarkable.for the grace of details, for the smart solutions, for the lovely animation, for the blue and white and gray, for the magic and for the last images. a film like an embroidery. delicate, simple, touching, honest and hard careful work. the little girl is different by the original character but the new details are beautiful homage to the author. a lovely short film.useful for the remember of childhood emotions.