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Movie Review

The Snow Queen: Mirrorlands (2018) Movie Review

Director: Robert Lence, Aleksey Tsitsilin

Writer: Robert Lence, Aleksey Tsitsilin, Vladimir Nikolaev, Aleksey Zamyslov, Andrey Korenkov (Screenplay)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Laurie Hymes, Samia Mounts, Marc Thompson, Devin Bailey Griffin

Plot: After a powerful king traps all the world’s magicians in the Mirrorlands, Gerda battles to keep magic alive through kindness and friendship.


Tagline – All Gerda’s friends and even old enemy gather their efforts to protect magic world.

Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Fun Family Film

Story: The Snow Queen: Mirrorlands starts as we meet Gerda a young woman who sees her whole family having magic abilities, only she has none, they are all kind magicians using their abilities fo the better of the people of the town. The King Harald wants to eliminate the magicians from his world, sending them to the Mirrorlands, where he has already exiled the Snow Queen.

Greda must go on her own adventure to free the magicians from the Mirrorlands including her family and stop the evil plan of the King.

Thoughts on The Snow Queen: Mirrorlands

Characters – Gerda is the youngest member of a magic family, only she doesn’t know her abilities yet, she helps in the small family shop, is kind to the residents of the city, she must find a way to rescue her family and friends after they are taken to a hidden realm, she travels the land to first learn her abilities and secondly save the locals from the evil king. King Harald is the evil ruler that wants to eliminate magic from his world, turning to scientist for the improvements in his life and his kingdom, imprisoning anyone who has magic abilities. The Snow Queen is considered evil to the kingdom, trapped in isolation in the Mirrorlands, she freezes other people who are sent there, only she isn’t the evil most people believe, she is also a victim of the King. We do meet the other characters that are trying to help Greda on her adventure to save the people that have become trapped in the Mirrorlands.

StoryThe story here follows Gerda, a young woman who is still waiting for her magical powers to be revealed, who needs to travel the land to save her family and friends from the king that wants to eliminate magic from the world. This is a story that focuses on needing to learn about your own importance to the world, with Gerda needing to wait for her powers to come out, while her good-nature will make her positive impact on everyone around her. This is part of a series, which might have references to previous films, which unfortunately I can’t tell you how important the last two were. It does have the clear message of seeing the world through other people’s eyes before judging them and accepting people are different in life.

ComedyThe comedy in the film does work well, with most being slapstick level, with how certain characters will always find themselves in situation they make mistakes in.

SettingsThe film does create a beautiful kingdom for the events to happen through, we see just how they different locations are crucial for the next chapter of the adventure.

AnimationThe animation through the film does look great, right up there with the best companies in the business today.


Scene of the Movie – Anders book.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not knowing if the previous films have plot points I would need to know about.

Final Thoughts This is a fun animated movie that could be enjoyed by the family, it has a nice runtime for the younger audience to enjoy too.

Overall: Enjoyable.

Signature Entertainment presents Snow Queen: Mirrorlands in Cinemas nationwide July 10th

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Romance – G – God Help the Girl (2014)

Director: Stuart Murdoch

Writer: Stuart Murdoch (Screenplay)

Starring: Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, Hannah Murray, Pierre Boulanger, Cora Bisset, Sarah Swire

 

Plot: As Eve begins writing songs as a way to sort through some emotional problems, she meets James and Cassie, two musicians each at crossroads of their own.

 

Runtime: 1 Hour 52 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict:

 

Story: God Help the Girl starts as we meet Eve (Browning) she is living in a mental home to help her deal with the emotional problems which have damaged her body. Eve isn’t happy here and when she can, she runs away to watch music, here she meets James (Alexander) who offers her friendship.

With the latest escape, Eve moves into the flat in the same building as James and the two-start helping each other and Cassie (Murray) to write songs, giving Eve the purpose she required in life, before they trio decide to start their own band.

 

Thoughts on God Help the Girl

 

Characters – Eve starts this film in a mental home because of her own personal problems, she needs to learn to rebuild her life after the problems which occurred, we don’t learn completely what the issue was early on. She writes songs to help her through the treatment, before escaping and meeting another musician, starting a band opening herself back up to the world. James is the one of the group who had been part of a band before, he offers Eve friendship as they both learn to enjoy the music once again. He doesn’t want to be a cliché when it comes to music, which only holds up the band from finding their own sound. Cassie is the girl from a rich family, she has always struggled to write her own songs, joining with the rest she can learn to perform to the world.

PerformancesEmily Browning in the leading role shows of the acting skills here with her character needing to deal with the largest amounts of emotional problems with her life. We understand each emotion she is going through and she does hit off the singing too. Olly Alexander and Hannah Murray both fill the supporting roles, where they both get their moments to shine.

StoryThe story is split between three people, the focus on Eve who has mental problems in her life, she is trying to help herself through music, we watch as she needs to put her life back together and see how much she is willing to risk to put herself back into the life she needs to be living, there are many important factors to understand what she is going through, which is the most important part of the story, learning to balance dreams and life can become difficult. The other two characters must learn this with their own reasons holding them back one not wanting to be cliché, the other needing to accept everybody for being the same in life. With the serious nature to the film, the randomness of the songs can sometimes take away the message, though most of the songs are here to express the emotions being felt through the film.

Musical/RomanceThe music in the film has plenty of songs that are showing the emotions that the characters are feeling, which is great, though they don’t feel catchy as they want to be. The romance shows how the lives of these three young people are trying to find love over a summer of music.

SettingsThe film is set in Scotland which gets to show the beauty in the busy streets and open country.


Scene of the Movie –
Final performance.

That Moment That Annoyed Me The songs aren’t as catchy as you would imagine.

Final ThoughtsThis is a musical that tackles serious mental health issues, while teaching us the ideas of balancing dreams and reality.

 

Overall: Musical that teaches life lessons.

Rating