Interestingly just like in 'Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors' (1964) - another Russian fairy tale movie I just watched yesterday - the king isn't the brightest bulb in the box and secretly is under the command of the kingdom's richest man, a capitalist through and through he made it big as a businessman by selling ice and as is usually the case with people who have handled ice a lot he is as pale as Dita von Teese, his body temperature is 34.2°C and consequently is heartless and spews "Nonsense!" a lot when other people talk about feelings.
He's the story's main villain. Although he makes a lot of trouble for the main character - a girl on the quest to save her brother who has a cold heart after he kissed the snow queen (Nyzzzz!) and is now in her hands - he eventually lacks the courage, the willpower and the strength to ever finish anything he started because he comes to a halt as soon as he is confronted with an obstacle that he can't move out of the way by "throwing money at it" (=figuratively speaking...I suppose one has to make that clear when talking about a fairy tale movie). In one scene he negotiates with a group of thieves and when the head of the thieves asks if they can trust him he puts himself on the same level as thieves by saying: "Nonsense! We are both businesspeople." The message is clear, capitalists are criminals.
The movie starts off with a teller of fairy tales walking the streets who through voice-over explains that he will not only tell but even show us a fairy tale in which he puts himself in. Although not one of the most prominent characters in the tale he secretly makes himself the hero because his character repeatedly saves the day. The "good guys" win their battles almost effortlessly and eventually it is VERY easy for the girl to bring her brother back home and to warm his cold heart again (which takes her two minutes of chit-chat with him).
Visually it isn't too spectacular except for the titular Snow Queen whose appearance is dashing while her persona is positively icy and her impressive ice palace which you only get to see for one scene towards the end doesn't need to shy away from a comparison with "Superman"s Krypton sets.
He's the story's main villain. Although he makes a lot of trouble for the main character - a girl on the quest to save her brother who has a cold heart after he kissed the snow queen (Nyzzzz!) and is now in her hands - he eventually lacks the courage, the willpower and the strength to ever finish anything he started because he comes to a halt as soon as he is confronted with an obstacle that he can't move out of the way by "throwing money at it" (=figuratively speaking...I suppose one has to make that clear when talking about a fairy tale movie). In one scene he negotiates with a group of thieves and when the head of the thieves asks if they can trust him he puts himself on the same level as thieves by saying: "Nonsense! We are both businesspeople." The message is clear, capitalists are criminals.
The movie starts off with a teller of fairy tales walking the streets who through voice-over explains that he will not only tell but even show us a fairy tale in which he puts himself in. Although not one of the most prominent characters in the tale he secretly makes himself the hero because his character repeatedly saves the day. The "good guys" win their battles almost effortlessly and eventually it is VERY easy for the girl to bring her brother back home and to warm his cold heart again (which takes her two minutes of chit-chat with him).
Visually it isn't too spectacular except for the titular Snow Queen whose appearance is dashing while her persona is positively icy and her impressive ice palace which you only get to see for one scene towards the end doesn't need to shy away from a comparison with "Superman"s Krypton sets.