[yasr_overall_rating]
Santa and his friends narrate five time honored Christmas stories.
“A Frozen Christmas” is a sweet narration of five Christmas classic stories told in vintage whimsy. The stories are told by children with Santa visiting in the interludes. Each story is told with a progression of holiday backgrounds and not by cartoon animation as expected. While the stories are very well told and the backgrounds are pleasing to the eye, this set of stories failed to be more than background noise.
“A Little Girl’s Christmas” is the first story. Every year this young girl receives presents but has never seen this man of enigma and prays this Christmas to lay eyes on the Jolly old man. In her sleep, she is given slippers and a light to find Santa’s home. Upon finding him, the little girl joins him for his trip to deliver presents. Beyond tired but happy to have found the man who makes Christmas special to her, the little girl is happy to find their first stop down the chimney is her home.
The second story is “The Fir Tree.” So tiny hares can jump over him with ease, the fir tree hopes to grow tall enough to be a Christmas tree someday. Finally, his day comes, and he is chopped down and taken to a beautiful apartment where his service is utilized for the single day of Christmas. In this olden day rendition of the tale, Christmas trees only stand for a day to cover presents and bear fruit and sweet treats to be ransacked after gift opening. With his mission served, the young tree is moved to the attic to tell his tale to mice before becoming firewood.
After two sleepy tales, Santa introduces his gingerbread man to wake children up via a disco dance with no relevance to the mood previously set. The third story is “The Brave Tin Soldier.” Many tin soldiers are created out of a melted spoon, the last soldier with only one leg. Across the active toy room, the soldier spots a beautiful dancer with only a single paper leg and falls in love. The tiny man takes a journey through the city by accident and is returned home via the belly of a fish. His short journey ends when he is tossed into the fireplace along with his one true love to be consumed together and their ashes molded together forever.
“The Elves and the Shoemaker” is the next tale. A poor shoemaker has only enough leather to make one pair of shoes to support his wife. He goes to bed with the intent of making the last pair of shoes in the morning. Upon waking, he finds the shoes meticulously made for him, and they sell for top dollar. Now he has enough money to buy the leather for two pairs of shoes. This pattern continues until the couple is quite wealthy and they decide to stay up to find out who is making the shoes for them. To their surprise, they spot a team of elves and decide to pay forward the kindness by whipping up shoes and clothes for the elves who never return again.
A sad tale ends the narration with the tale of “The Little Match Girl.” A poor girl is banished to the streets by her parents to sell a collection of matches on the cold winter streets. Unable to sell her wares, the young girl curls up in a dank street corner hoping to warm up in her threadbare clothes. She lights a match and daydreams about the perfect Christmas. With a final match, she follows her departed grandmother to heaven, leaving her tiny body frozen on earth.
With the last story told, the narration is not returned to Santa as expected. Instead, the collage of wintertime pictures and music continues to play on the screen. While the tales are sweet in an old-fashioned way, they should have been acted out by cartoons as indicated by the deceptive cover. This DVD would better serve as the narration of a children’s play acted out on stage. Another valid option would have been to turn this collection of stories into a CD format to be listened to in the car. While enjoyable, the pace is too slow for the over-active children of this generation and fails to enchant.
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