I didn't get my first taste of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" until a few weeks ago, when I watched Jean Renoir's silent short-subject adaptation, for which he unusually cast his 28-year-old wife in the lead role. Many subsequent versions of the story have followed, the latest being this impressive 7-minute snippet from Disney, which tells the story wordlessly against a classical music soundtrack. Notably, 'The Little Matchgirl (2006)' was the studio's final 2D-animated film, the last remnant of a dying art, its seems, in popular American animation. Directed by Roger Allers {whose only previous directorial credit was 'The Lion King (1994)'}, this short was nominated for an Academy Award in 2007, but lost to Torill Kove's 'The Danish Poet (2006),' which I unfortunately have yet to see. From a studio whose non-Pixar track-record has been a little shaky in recent years, this little treat suggests a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel, and that Disney still retains more than enough creativity to produce quality works of art.
In pre-revolutionary Russia, a young girl stands shivering in the winter cold, trying unsuccessfully to sell matches to passersby. As though she didn't exist, one person after another strides past without even acknowledging her silent pleads; one man scavenges enough kindness to help her down from a pole, but waves away the offer of a match. As night falls, the young girl huddles beneath a snowstorm, trying miserably to warm herself by the flame of a matchstick. As she slowly and tiredly succumbs to exposure, the girl descends into sparks of fairytale, envisioning the warm home of her deceased grandmother, with a roaring fire and a dinner table bulging with food. 'The Little Match Girl' was initially produced for a 'Fantasia'-style compilation film, and so the music Aleksandr Borodin's "String Quartet #2 In D Major: 3rd Movement: Notturno (Andante)" plays a major role. However, the music doesn't "interact" with the story and images as did the segments in 'Fantasia (1940),' and so there's an impersonality of tone that the film struggles to shake off.
In pre-revolutionary Russia, a young girl stands shivering in the winter cold, trying unsuccessfully to sell matches to passersby. As though she didn't exist, one person after another strides past without even acknowledging her silent pleads; one man scavenges enough kindness to help her down from a pole, but waves away the offer of a match. As night falls, the young girl huddles beneath a snowstorm, trying miserably to warm herself by the flame of a matchstick. As she slowly and tiredly succumbs to exposure, the girl descends into sparks of fairytale, envisioning the warm home of her deceased grandmother, with a roaring fire and a dinner table bulging with food. 'The Little Match Girl' was initially produced for a 'Fantasia'-style compilation film, and so the music Aleksandr Borodin's "String Quartet #2 In D Major: 3rd Movement: Notturno (Andante)" plays a major role. However, the music doesn't "interact" with the story and images as did the segments in 'Fantasia (1940),' and so there's an impersonality of tone that the film struggles to shake off.