The Snow Queen

Yes, this exists. Originally made & released back in 2012 in its native Russia, this ended up being released in the US both on
-demand and in theaters in 2013 obviously trying to cash in on another more popular adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale by a certain animation company! Anyway, should this be as celebrated as Frozen or should this be given the cold shoulder? Let's take a look!

Story: Despite the fact it was clearly released in English to cash in on Frozen, this is actually a pretty faithful adaptation to the original Snow Queen tale! Instead of making it into a princess flick about sisters, this sticks to the original plot of a girl called Gerda trying to save a boy named Kai, the offspring of the last known wizards the Snow Queen had frozen) from the evil Snow Queen after she curses him. The rest of the movie is actually about Gerda & the Snow Queen's troll henchman Orm trying to get to the her palace including coming across a crazy flower lady, a king & a pirate ship. However, like Frozen, it does make some changes to make it more kid friendly, and to be honest, it can be for the worst! Not only does it use the generic journey plot, but it also includes annoying comedic sidekicks for Gerda to interact with on her journey to save Kai. This creates the problem of not really having a cohesive narrative, feeling more like small vignettes which never really have any pay-off by the end. And thanks to the English dub...it can resort to some immature jokes. I'm talking about poop jokes and of course, obligatory fart jokes because apparently that's 'comedy'. And to hide spoiling the movie, the relationship between Kai & Gerda is changed so the beginning once you quickly can be a tad disturbing. That's only a nitpick compared to the rest of the plot, though and there is one thing I will give the movie credit for: the world building. On top of respecting the original fairytale, the world the movie is set in is interesting to watch and the way it dives into the Snow Queen's backstory was pretty well done. Despite resorting to your typical quest plot and an inconsistent structure, it still feels pretty nice to see a legitimate adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale from this instead of a Frozen rip-off.

Animation: Now, I'd like to point out that the budget for this film was only $7 million, which is nowhere near the budget of a mainstream animated film nowadays (heck, even Idina Menzel's salary for Frozen was more than the entire budget for this). And with that, the animation is surprisingly good! Sure, the characters may have underdefined skin & textures at times (especially the Snow Queen), the character animation can be a bit clunky & the human designs are pretty basic, but given the low budget, it's clear the animators did their best with what little they had. I will say that the world itself is pretty creative, blending fantasy and reality seamlessly with the very interesting designs for the various monsters and creatures which inhabit it. Without a doubt the best part of the animation has to be the backgrounds. Not only does it accurately depict the setting of Russia, but it can also get creative with the different places Gerda and Orm go to, like the the Flower Lady's greenhouse and the King's castle literally split in two. The effects are also surprisingly good for what they are, especially whenever the Snow Queen would use her magic or when Gerda conjures magic on the. Even the texture can also look pretty good, especially on elements like Luta's fur, flowers, magic and the character's hair. It may not be up to scratch with the likes of Disney or Dreamworks, but the animation is still good for what it is.

Characters: When it comes to the characters, they're more of a mix. Gerda is the protagonist who wants to save Kai from The Snow Queen. To be honest, neither she nor Kai are that interesting and they don't really have much personalities other than Gerda being snarky yet naive and Kai being a talented painter. Orm is the comedy sidekick who helps Gerda on her adventure to save Kai despite being a minion for The Snow Queen and...yeah, he grated on my nerves. He's the source of most of the bad comedy (I think it's more of a case of the English dub instead of the character himself), but he still has a little arc of his own learning about making friends compared to being someone's slave. Luta is the generic cute animal sidekick for Gerda, who doesn't really contribute much other than reaction shots. The side characters Gerda and Orm meet are all one-note and to be honest, were way too weird. The Flower Lady was just crazy trying to kidnap Gerda for her unexplained powers to make a quick buck, the King was weird wanting to split Gerda in two between himself and his children (before quickly learning how much his family really means to him), and the Pirate leader and her daughter were hardly characters at all. They were all either obstacles or plot devices which are quickly forgotten for the next part of Gerda and Orm's journey. Finally, there's The Snow Queen AKA Irma (Gee, doesn't that sound like Elsa?) She's mostly your typical cold hearted and stern villain, although she can genuinely come across as threatening and intimidating. They're not the worst written characters I've ever seen in an animated movie, but I think it just goes down to personal taste because I can't really describe any of these characters as beyond mediocre.

I know it's very easy to assume that this is a Frozen knock-off because of the story & release date coinciding with the movie, but it's actually more than that. The best I can say is that it's OK. While the plot is a bit generic, it's still a decent adaptation of the original Hans Christian Andersen tale, there are a few bumps in the animation, bit it's still good for what it is and there are some good characters, but the main ones are generic. Do I think Frozen is better? Well, I find it unfair because despite being based on the same source material, they're actually very different movies. I may prefer Frozen because of the strong emotional stakes, better written characters, unforgettable songs & subverting Disney tropes while celebrating them, but this is still worth a watch!
Story: 😕
Animation: 😊
Characters: 😕
Overall: 😕