I'm a great enthusiast of fantasy and fairy tales, but they don't always transfer well to the screen, so I'm always pleased when I come across a film that does a good job with fantasy material. While Snow Queen doesn't get everything right, it presents an imaginative retelling of a famous fairy tale that turns out to be a lot of fun.

Snow Queen is a highly faithful adaptation of the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, in everything from the plot and structure of the story to its characters. We are introduced to young Gerda (Chelsea Hobbs), who is her father Wolfgang's (Robert Wisden) only joy in life after her mother's death. When a newcomer, Kai (Jeremy Guilbaut), arrives, it seems that Gerda has found true love... until one winter day, the Snow Queen (Bridget Fonda) interferes, and both Gerda and Kai are faced with the most dangerous challenges of their lives.

Where the filmmakers have made changes in Andersen's fairy tale plot, it has usually been beneficial: for instance, the relationship between Gerda and her father, and Kai's interactions with both, are developed in a way that enhances the rest of the story as it develops. Likewise, the choice to make Gerda and Kai young adults rather than small children as in the original tale is a good one, allowing the film to more fully develop its themes of love and temptation. The film overall benefits also from having the roles of Gerda's father, and their family friend Minna (Wanda Cannon), take on greater importance than in the original story, as Wisden and Cannon are excellent mature actors whose performances bring a needed counterbalance in depth to the merely adequate performance of Hobbs as Gerda.

The plot is well adapted also: in the original story, Gerda's adventures are more picaresque, but in the film, these are tied together with a common thread that relates them to the overall story, making the film's plot more cohesive. All in all, it's a nicely done adaptation, one that brings the story to life in a colorful and memorable way.

One of the most interesting aspects of Snow Queen is its fairy-tale world that straddles the line between old and new, ancient and modern. On the surface, the film has a general Old World ambiance, from its vaguely German-looking architecture to its horse-drawn buggies in the streets, yet it has a distinctly modern tone as well. In fact, the setting cleverly mixes the old and the new: along with horses for transportation, the folk of Snow Queen have electric lighting, as well as other modern touches here and there. But it's not a case of seeing anachronisms in a period setting: from the very beginning, Snow Queen creates its own world in which magic is real, like a subtly changed reflection of our own, and the overall effect is both intriguing and satisfying.

Magic... that's where another very well-done element of Snow Queen comes up. The existence of the Snow Queen herself, her ensnarement of Kai and what transpires thereafter, and the various beings whom Gerda encounters, are all clearly fantastic in some way, but the presentation of actual "magic" is consistently kept to a very subtle level. There are no spell-flinging wizards here, or magical rings with special powers. The magic in the story comes from the existence of beings who are magical by their very nature, who stand outside the boundaries of reality as we know it. As one example, the Snow Queen's power is evidenced not by dramatic conjuring, but by a simple, small hand gesture, a slight twitch of the fingers that could almost be missed if the camera didn't call our attention to it (and if we didn't see its effect on its victim). But that simple gesture is enough, and it gathers importance throughout the film until at the end, it's fully evocative of the Queen's power.

In terms of the special effects, the filmmakers have gone with an admirable policy of "less is more," with the result that the quite well-done effects that we do see are all the more impressive because we haven't been jaded by their overuse. That's not to say that subtlety holds sway throughout the entire film... we do get a talking polar bear and a talking reindeer. I have a very bad association with talking animals in movies, as they tend to be all-too-recognizable as people in furry suits, but fortunately Snow Queen survives its animal characters. The bear pushes the boundary of believability but fortunately manages to stay within acceptable limits, and the reindeer is used with restraint and ends up being rather cute.

Originally created as a television movie for Hallmark, Snow Queen is a quite long production, at a running time of three hours, but I found it to be well-paced and engaging all the way through. The structure of the film is such that it's easily watchable in several sessions (which is in fact how I watched it), in any case.

The DVD

Video

Hallmark's release of Snow Queen is presented in a non-anamorphic widescreen transfer, at the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Rather oddly, the keepcase correctly says that the film is presented in letterboxed widescreen  but the cardboard slipcover (and some online sources) incorrectly claims that it is anamorphic.

The image quality is very good overall, with a very clean print that's free of any noise or flaws. There's some edge enhancement, but it's not too intrusive. Colors are bright and vibrant throughout the film, but contrast in some scenes is a little off: blacks are not quite as dark as they should be. Snow Queen is a visually interesting film, and all in all the DVD transfer does a good job of presenting it in an attractive manner.

Audio

I was very impressed with the audio quality of Snow Queen. Viewers have the option of either a Dolby 5.1 or a Dolby 2.0 soundtrack; the default is the 2.0. The 5.1 track is excellent, creating a sense of immersion throughout the film with excellent surround sound; the side channels are used very well for directional effects as well as general surround sound. The track overall has a clean, clear sound to it, with the various music, dialogue, and effect portions all in good balance, and with no background noise.

Extras

A moderately interesting ten-minute making-of featurette is the only special feature of note on the Snow Queen DVD. There is also a photo gallery and a trailer that's a montage of various Hallmark productions.

The DVD has rather odd packaging, with a completely superfluous cardboard slipcover over the plastic keepcase. Menus are easy to navigate.

Final thoughts

I found Snow Queen to be an enjoyable fairy tale, adapted faithfully but also with a sense of imagination from the original Hans Christian Andersen story. The film has good production values throughout, and offers a nicely distinctive fairy-tale world with an interesting story. The DVD presentation is good, with excellent audio quality and very good video quality in its widescreen (though not anamorphic) transfer. It's recommended.