The Snow Queen is a 1995 Animated Adaptation of The Snow Queen made by Martin Gates Productions.
The evil Snow Queen plans to use a magic mirror to plunge the world into eternal winter, so she can take over the world. When the mirror shatters and two pieces end up inside a young boy named Tom's body. Tom becomes cruel and corrupted by the Mirror pieces and then gets kidnapped by the Snow Queen. It’s up to Tom’s twin sister Ellie and her friend, Peeps the sparrow, to rescue him.
In 1996 it got a sequel, The Snow Queen's Revenge. Seeking revenge for her defeat, the Snow Queen captures Dimley, dares Ellie to rescue him, and plans to create an Iceosaurus to freeze the world.
Not to be confused with The Snow Queen (1957), The Snow Queen (1977), The Snow Queen (2005), or The Snow Queen (2012).
This movie contains examples of:
- Adaptation Name Change: Gerda and Kai become Ellie and Tom. Bae the reindeer becomes Dimly.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- The Snow Queen was an ambiguous figure in the book; here she's an all-out villain.
- The witch with the garden is a nice character in the book, even though she tries to keep Gerda with her forever. Here, she's a villain who wants Ellie's heart to give her eternal life.
- Advertised Extra: For the first movie, Dimly is on many of the posters and box art despite only appearing in the last half hour. He's a more prominent character in the sequel.
- All Myths Are True: The story of the Snow Queen is very real, as Ellie and Tom discover.
- Animated Musical: Both the original movie and the sequel.
- Animation Bump: Scenes with the Snow Queen tend to be better-animated than the others.
- Animesque: The Snow Queen's general design, in contrast with the cartoony animals, trolls and humans.
- Anti-Villain: The trolls in the second movie, where they're forced to do the Snow Queen's bidding.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ellie and Peeps encounter an old woman who appears nice, but is actually a Wicked Witch who wants Ellie's heart for her elixir of life so she can be eternally young.
- Chekhov's Volcano: In the sequel, the Snow Queen's palace is on the edge of a frozen volcano. At the end it erupts, trapping her in lava.
- Cool Airship: The trolls' flying machine is a giant dirigible.
- Crazy-Prepared: The Snow Queen has a South Pole palace for when summer arrives in the North.
- Denser and Wackier: The first movie was an abridged adaptation of the fairy tale with a couple songs. The second was an original, cartoony story with many songs.
- Devil in Plain Sight: The garden witch lets the audience know that she's bad news within seconds of being introduced by exchanging Traitor Shots with her Right-Hand Cat. Ellie and Peeps don't notice and suspect nothing.
- The End... Or Is It?: Both movies end with this.
- Endless Winter: This is the Snow Queen's ultimate goal.
- Expy: The three trolls are not too distant in role and characterization from the Urpneys in Gates' previous cartoon The Dreamstone. Similarly, most of the changes made to the Snow Queen essentially make her their Zordrak. Ellie's personality and role isn't too distant from Amberley either.
- Eye Beams: These are one of the Snow Queen's powers.
- Failed a Spot Check: Ellie and Peeps somehow don't notice the old woman in the garden and her cat exchange Traitor Shots in the middle of Ellie asking her if she has a spare bed for the night.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: The Snow Queen gets these at the end to show she's still alive.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Wardrobe and Baggy.
- Elsbeth and Pearl from the sequel.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Ellie and Peeps don't suspect anything is amiss with the old woman in the garden—even when she and her Right-Hand Cat exchange Traitor Shots in the middle of Ellie asking her for a bed for the night—until Peeps overhears her gloat about her Evil Plan. Not to mention, her cat is blue, a hint that she's a witch.
- Hot Witch: The Snow Queen is an attractive lady well-versed in sorcery.
- The garden witch briefly assumes a younger, sexier appearance during her Villain Song.
- I Have Your Wife: In the sequel, the Snow Queen kidnaps Dimly to force Ellie to go to her castle. A similar thing happened in the first movie, but there it wasn't intentional.
- Implacable Man: The Snow Queen survives being frozen solid and being imprisoned in lava.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Peeps often thinks of himself, but cares for his friends and his selfishness is mainly due to his lack of courage.
- Eric is the meanest of the trolls, and by far the least inconsiderate. However, he cares about his fellow trolls and tries to save Ellie from the Snow Queen after she convinces them to help her.
- Pearl from the sequel is rude to pretty much everyone, but that is because she is bored with her life and unhappy with the fact that she and Elsbeth never get thanked, or even spoken to by the Queen.
- Clive and Rowena from the sequel originally wanted to help Ellie and Peeps after saving them from drowning in the sea, but then when they found out that they were wanted by the Snow Queen, they decided to capture them for money.
- Jump Scare: In the first movie, after the Snow Queen is frozen solid there's a very fast cut to her glowing eyes, along with a Scare Chord.
- Kick the Dog: After the mirror shard turns Tom evil, the first thing he does is try to crush Peeps under his boot—right after he had fed him.
- The Snow Queen starts strangling one of her bats after she finds two mirror pieces were uncollected.
- Kiss of Death: Ordinarily being snogged by such a gorgeous lady would be exciting but The Snow Queen gives Tom a lethal, magic kiss on the forehead that'll make him slowly freeze to death.
- Large Ham: The Snow Queen and Peeps.
- Larynx Dissonance: Peeps looks very cute and young yet sounds like an older man.
- Life Drinker: The witch plans to use Ellie's heart as a means for eternal youth.
- Likes Older Women: After the mirror shard corrupts him, the only person Tom shows any respect to is The Snow Queen who easily charms him into serving her.
- Magic Mirror: The Snow Queen plans to use this to freeze the entire world.
- Magical Native American: Freda is a Sami who trains flying reindeer.
- Minion with an F in Evil: The Snow Queen's troll minions bungle her scheme in the beginning, and aren't effective afterward. They gradually turn good as the movie goes on as they can't bear to think of the Snow Queen killing a young boy.
- When the Snow Queen returns and confronts them in the sequel, they immediately sell out Dimly as a prisoner for her. They soon suffer a Jerkass Realization however.
- Ms. Fanservice: The Snow Queen is a very beautiful, curvaceous woman with a breathy voice and lush, full lips.
- The Musical: Both movies have songs in them.
- Parental Abandonment: Ellie, Tom and their younger sister Polly live with their grandmother. There’s no mention of their parents.
- Pig Man: The sequel has a restaurant staffed by humanoid pigs who want to cook Brenda to serve as food for their guests.
- Put on a Bus: Tom is resting at home for the entirety of the second movie.
- Related in the Adaptation: Ellie and Tom are siblings instead of next-door neighbor friends.
- Revenge of the Sequel
- Scenery Gorn: Seen when the volcano erupts in the second movie as the palace crumbles.
- Scenery Porn: The painted backgrounds are very pretty.
- Sequel Hook: Both the first movie and its sequel have one. In the first movie, Freda specifically states that the spell won't keep the Snow Queen frozen forever. In the second movie, after the Snow Queen gets encased in lava her eyes glow, hinting that she's still very much alive. Interestingly enough, there was never a second sequel.
- Sequel Reset: The trolls immediately go back to serving the Snow Queen after she confronts them in the second film, only to Heel–Face Turn again.
- Shapeshifting: The Snow Queen's bats can turn into reindeer, and vice versa.
- Storyboarding the Apocalypse: In the Snow Queen's villain song in the sequel, there are shots of the world freezing over.
- Take Over the World: This is the Snow Queen's goal.
- Talking Animal: Peeps, Dimly, and Brenda.
- Team Pet: Peeps the sparrow and Dimly the reindeer. The sequel adds Brenda the bird.
- Traitor Shot: The Wicked Witch in the garden and her Right-Hand Cat exchange this with each other in the middle of Ellie asking her for a bed for the night. Ellie and Peeps suspect nothing.
- The Vamp: The Snow Queen behaves a little seductively towards Tom, presenting herself as the sort've sweet, beautiful older lady a boy like him would do anything to impress.
- Villain Song: The Snow Queen gets one in the sequel.
- Volcano Lair: In the sequel, the Snow Queen's palace is on the edge of a frozen volcano.
- Winter Royal Lady: The Snow Queen wears a fur cape.
- Would Hurt a Child: The Snow Queen openly plans to kill Ellie and Tom, and the witch tries to kill Ellie and retrieve her heart.
