On New Years Day we took our kids to the cinema to see Frozen. In the credits it mentions the movie was loosely based from The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen.

It’s the third movie our kids have seen on the big screen. They love it (especially as it happens occasionally) and we make a big deal of it – own comfy chair watching on the big screen while sharing popcorn. This time we also bought the Frozen plastic cups to use at home.

I read The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen as I was interested in the differences between the original story and Disney’s adaption. Kay and Gerda are childhood friends. One day a small fragment of glass falls into Kay’s eye causing his sight to only see negative. He is taken away by the Snow Queen who kisses his forehead causing his heart to be like ice and forget all he knows. Gerda goes on a quest to find her friend. The little robber-girl befriends Gerda giving her reindeer to help find Kay. Gerda finds Kay, her warm tears melt his ice heart, and his tears wash away the glass. They return to grandmother’s house where she’s sitting in the sun reading aloud from the bible: “except ye become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God”. Kay and Gerda now understand the words of the old song: “Roses bloom and cease to be, but we shall see the Christ-child see”.

Since the 1940’s Walt Disney wanted to put The Snow Queen into film but never knew how to approach it in a way that would be relatable to an audience. Seventy years later it has been loosely adapted to film as Disney wanted.  There are a lot of changes from the original story in order to create the Disney version. The Snow Queen, Elsa, becomes Anna’s sister in the movie. Anna is based on the character Gerda from original version. Kristoff who helps Anna in the film, is based off the character the robber-girl who gives her reindeer to help Gerda find her friend Kay.

Frozen is a beautifully created film with a true love twist. Our daughter enjoyed the heroic princess, while our son liked the frosty character. Our daughter now sporadically sings ‘Do you want to build a snowman’ from the movie.

Debs.