The Snow Queen

Based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, this British version of the story stars Linda Slater as Gerda, who must rescue her friend Kay (Joshua Le Touzel) from the evil clutches of the Snow Queen who has abducted the boy. Gerda is racing against time, as deep within the snowy tundras of Lapland, the Snow Queen is on the verge of turning Kay's heart into a Tastee Freeze. Combining animation backgrounds and live-action footage, The Snow Queen follows Gerda's adventures on her desperate journey. Along the way she meets the Summer Garden Witch (played by David Battley; male transvestitism on television being one of those quaint British customs that never really took here in the States); a group of robbers in the wood; and, ultimately, the Snow Queen herself. While the "look" of the film is often quite lovely, The Snow Queen contains more filler than it needs, and suffers from one major flaw: Linda Slater as Gerda combines noticeably wooden acting with a penchant for shouting rather than speaking her lines. Not a horrible adaptation of the classic fairy tale; merely an irritating one. Not a necessary purchase. (Available from: BFS Video, 350 Newkirk Road N., Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada L4C 3G7.)