Snow Queen (2002 film)

Gerda, along with her father, Wolfgang, is in mourning over the death of her mother who died nine years previously by freezing to death in the woods. Gerda has grown to hate the winter because of this and the family has not been able to move on. In this version, Kai, rather than being a childhood friend, is the new bellboy at the hotel owned by Gerda's father and he immediately sets out to befriend Gerda and help her through the healing process. They start ice-skating together and over the course of their friendship, the two soon fall in love. It is because Kai has helped Gerda find new purpose in life that she sets out to rescue him when he is kidnapped by the Snow Queen. The Snow Queen refers to Gerda and Kai's relationship as "true love."

The Snow Queen in this version is intentionally malicious towards Gerda and desires to keep Kai for herself. Throughout the movie it is slowly revealed that the Snow Queen has been hoarding power for some time, intending to destroy all the other seasons and rule the earth alone. She intended to achieve this goal using the Devil's mirror, a beautiful full-length mirror that was shattered into thousands of pieces above the earth. The Snow Queen initially kidnaps Kai because the final piece of the mirror fell into his eye, but she takes him to her palace and tasks him with putting the mirror back together. Additionally, during the opening scenes, split-second flashes of the Snow Queen when Gerda's mother is alone in the forest imply that she was the cause of her death. This is possibly because Gerda's mother was a magical rival of the Snow Queen (her mother's brooch, which Gerda carries throughout her journey, has the magic and warmth needed to defeat the Snow Queen). There is also a sub-plot involving a fierce, talking polar bear who is the Snow Queen's henchman and stays by her side because he is in love with her. After her defeat, he carries her away into her castle and is seen taking the form of an elegantly dressed man (credited as the 'Polar Bear Prince').

Various characters that Gerda meets in the original story have been altered. The witch of eternal summer has become the motherly "Spring Witch," the prince and princess of the palace have been merged into the cunning "Summer Princess," and the Robber Girl's mother has become the fierce "Autumn Robber." In the film all three women are sisters of the Snow Queen who, like their winter sister with Kai, want to keep Gerda, albeit for various differing reasons. Together, the four sisters are known as the "Four Seasons". Gerda must escape from the Witch's cottage, the Princess' palace, and the Robber's camp, before she can reach the Snow Queen's mountain home and face the Snow Queen herself. It is stated in the legend that Spring, Summer, and Autumn have been severely weakened by Winter's attempt to take almighty power, and indeed, none of the other three sisters ever really show the same levels of power and magical influence that the Snow Queen wields over the course of the film. When they hold Gerda they explain that they are doing it to protect her, as their sister is much stronger than they can ever imagine, and that only they know the depths of the Snow Queen's cruelty and heartlessness. However, each of them helps Gerda on her quest in some small way, and just before the final fight between Gerda and the Snow Queen, visions of the Spring Witch, the Summer Princess, Chen (a young conjurer in the Summer Princess' court and a friend of Gerda,) and the Autumn Robber's daughter (who stopped her mother from killing Gerda,) along with a vision of her mother, encourage Gerda to keep going and that she knows what she must do to defeat the Snow Queen.

The magic mirror is the central piece of the plot and the catalyst for Gerda's adventure to rescue Kai. Listening to a legend being told to Kai by the Polar Bear, it is revealed that the mirror was forged by Satan, who gave it to the Four Seasons so they could admire their work. When Spring, Summer and Autumn looked into the mirror it reflected the essence of their power and the promise of life, while Winter saw a cold and barren world, which was the way of her season. Satan however had made the mirror twisted so that, as Winter gazed at her reflection, she desired for the power of her season to be absolute. Thus, one day, Winter steals the mirror, taking it to the Arctic wastes, where no one can find it. With the mirror now in her sole possession, she became the Snow Queen, and the world became colder. But this was not enough for the Snow Queen, since her sisters still lived, though greatly weakened. Taking the mirror up to the sky, she attempted to fly to Heaven itself, to demand that winter be made the dominant and unchallenged power on Earth. However, the magic of the demonic mirror and the magic of Heaven did not sit well together and the mirror shattered before she could reach Heaven, the glass fragments scattering to the four winds and starting the Snow Queen's quest for the recovery of the shards that fell into human eyes. After the Snow Queen's defeat, the mirror is seen sinking through the floor, possibly returning to Hell.