The Snow Queen - La Reine des Neiges

There's one thing I like and one I dislike about this version of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen."

1. The animation kept a good pace with the original story in modern perspective as promised by Wizart Animation officials. Even though there are a few scenes and/or plots that are a bit confusing, but they do adapt the elements from the original story.

2. The English soundtrack sounded and looked like that it was improvised than putting up a good effort. The English soundtrack was not that I've expected. It was supposed to stay on course with the story, but instead jumped out from the story to show off.

I give that movie a "B+." However, I'll give it an "A" if they do a better job with the English soundtrack.

Not great by all means(the animated adaptation of the story from the 50s is much better), but a more than acceptable version of one of Hans Christian Andersen's best stories. In detail it sticks much more faithfully to the story than Disney's Frozen did, though that film had more polish and magic from personal opinion, and it has that mysterious and poignant spirit of the original story if not its darkness, understandably. Some of the story here did have a slightly rushed nature to it pace-wise, maybe part of the reason for some skim-the-surface character development, the characters are very recognisable and have personality but lack dimension(rather archetypal in a way)in places. The dialogue also can sound cheesy and not as flowing as it could have done. However, much of the story does work, the latter parts of the film do pack a powerful punch, it always did engage me at least and there is some nice messaging. The heart-warming and tense parts are done well as well. The animation is very well done, it doesn't try to do too much and it looks completely natural from the smallest details to bigger effects like snow fall and the lake reflections. Everything moves smoothly and the colours are very lavish and atmospheric, the characters look good and match their personalities fine. The music added a lot to what was going on, the scoring was beautifully melancholic, hauntingly powerful and any tense parts to the music were done very rousingly and enough to make you bite the nails. The voice acting is more than serviceable with everybody playing with heart and commitment, with only Gerda's voice actress having occasional unevenness, big emphasis on occasional because she did do a good job. Overall, not a definitive version, though it never intended to be and I wasn't expecting to be either, but a good one. The original story is a classic and while with some obvious foibles The Snow Queen(2012) does very little to disgrace it. 7/10 Bethany Cox

For a movie with a lower budget (compared to other animated movies), The Snow Queen is really beautiful. Some of the animation is really impressive. The setting is really vivid and creative. It's got a cast of pretty neat characters, and a weasel side kick that steals the show. The character design on the Snow Queen is really interesting.

As for the bad stuff...

The audio for the film was less than stellar. I watched the English dub, so it might be better in the original version. It's just that some of the vocal performances aren't great. Some of the character designs are a bit ugly. Also, the plot isn't great. It feels like things move incredibly quickly, and the beginning feels slow. The ending felt confusing and rushed, and some of the plot points aren't explained very well.

Overall, I recommend this movie, especially for a younger audience. It's really creative, and the visuals are spectacular. It might not be the best movie in the world, but it is certainly entertaining.

This is a nice adaptation with style and ability.

It is not in par with Disney stuff but clearly above the average.

Voices in French are not perfect and the script is sometimes lacking but animation is good and the overall story is solid. There are clearly delimited stages with their own graphic styles but an overall graphic unity midway between 3D and a fairy tales book.

It avoids the ever-joking bias of many current days animation productions and remains faithful in spirit to an European tale.

This is promising debut for Wisart Animation studio, and a nice leisure for the whole family starting age 6.

The voices didn't really seem that good to me, they didn't match the characters at all. I think it would have worked better if they even tried using their real voices instead.

It sounded like they were trying hard to make their voices deeper or more scratchy and it didn't work well. The end result seemed more forced on the actors parts.

So not only were the actors pretty bad in my opinion, but... What was with all the abnormally large breasted women.. what. the. hell? Some even talked in mannerisms to make their breasts bounce more.

Overall, I was not very happy with this movie. The characters seemed very stiff and it didn't flow very well. Pass.