BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Foreverisacastironmess It's something that everyone fears in their heart of hearts, the thought of being utterly alone and out in the cold. I love how there are no words. It doesn't need any, the feelings are the same in any language. The story and its poignant music go together absolutely perfectly. This animated short is fairly brief and it's so engrossing that the time flies by before you know it. The Little Match Girl short is so great because it captures and mirrors the exact same emotions you get from reading the story, or remember from being read the story as a small child. My mother used to read this to me when I was little and it was extraordinary to me how familiar it felt watching this, and how all those old emotions came flooding back. There's the harrowing plight of the girl trying in vain to sell her matches, the improbable, desperate hope as she strikes them and experiences her beautiful visions-a rather disturbing thought that now occurs to me with my adult sensibilities is that they could be near-death cold induced hallucinations-and of course, finally, the tragic hopeless despair of her sad lonely end. Sure, she is now free, with her beloved grandmother in a better place of warmth and love, but she had to die to do it. What's so "happy ending" about that? It certainly makes me feel little joy, it makes me feel cold in my gut, as cold as the girl probably felt, and I felt the exact same way when I was small. That is precisely how you're supposed to react. Very sad, but perhaps also grateful for just a certain something. That's why I think it's very important for little kids to be read this and all the other classic tales and fables because I believe they can instill a sense of empathy, as well as other good values. Of course it "pulls at the heart strings" that's the whole point, to make you feel the sorrow, to make you CARE. Anyone remember that? Kids should be read stories like this because they should know, in an innocent gentle way, that this world can be a very cruel place, and that not every ending is a happy one. There's not really much in the story that they left out of this. Except, in some of them I remember, it shows a few of the townspeople sadly offering far too late sympathies as they discover the girl, and then the scene changes to show the girl and her grandmother as angels in the stars... And so, for the sheer emotional impact alone, do I consider this to be, for what it is perfect. It couldn't be any more moving. If anyone really "enjoyed" if that is the right word, the deeply moving themes of this short I highly recommend you try and watch the 1988 TV drama: God Bless the Child. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. Thanks for reading! Stay warm now...

bts1984 For me, Disney's gold generation finished a long time ago, by the end of the early 90's. Disney was no longer Disney after that.This is a precious little short, one that will surely become a classic. Actually, you can say that it was already born a classic. If this wasn't included as bonus material on 'The Little Mermaid' DVD, I probably wouldn't know this until now or even hear about it.This short has no dialog, but pretty classical music instead. Images and classical music are so expressive that they speak for themselves, not unlike 'Fantasia'. As such, this short doesn't even need dialogs. Besides, its story couldn't be more simple to understand and this lack of dialogs makes it a heavier experience when it comes to emotions.This mini-motion picture is based on a tale by Hans Christian Anderson, being undeniably a sad one. I know that Hans Christian Anderson was danish, but I don't know if his original tale took place in his native country. I only know that in this short the plot takes place in Russia.Besides the moving and heartwarming story, this short has got artwork of high quality. The artwork is a successful combination between old and new. On the one hand, its artwork clearly evokes the classic/traditional Disney artwork from the good old times. On the other hand, it looks simultaneously modern and current.I don't know the title of this in my country. Perhaps it has no Portuguese title at all?

Atreyu_II 'The Little Match Girl' is a Disney animated short of enormous quality. In fact, it's a surprise to know that this is a relatively recent short, such are its high standards. It means that Disney wasn't as lifeless as it seemed, after all.This short has potential to become a classic, for it lacks no ingredients to achieve that. It has a simple but emotional story, beautiful artwork and backgrounds, great animation, magic and a classic atmosphere. The music is beautiful too, capturing the essence of this mini-film: "Nocturne from String Quartet No. 2 in D Major" by Alexander Borodin. It feels much more like a short from Disney's good old days than something from recent years. The story is sad and emotional, like I mentioned. It takes place in Russia and its artwork and backgrounds have a vaguely familiar feeling (resembling 20th Century Fox's "Anastasia"). The little girl of the story looks like Mulan, though.This story is based on a Hans Christian Anderson's fable about a poor and homeless little girl trying to sell matches in a cold Winter night (when it's freezy and snowing), possibly to get some money for some food and possibly to find a warm and comfortable place. The story shows us the difficulties she has to deal with and her wishes. These wishes are shown through the visions she has (like being in a warm and comfortable place). There are no dialogs at all, but despite that it's very easy to understand the story and its message.This short is included as an extra in 'The Little Mermaid' Platinum Edition DVD released in 2006. After getting that DVD, that is how I got to know this short.

SevenStitches I first saw this film streamed on youtube.com and had no idea that it was a Disney short. Sure it had Disney's beautifully fluid animation (in 2D no doubt, just like old times), but unlike Disney of late, it told a deeply emotional tale with inventive visuals and no compromises in its themes. Its based on the Hans Christian Anderson fable of a small Russian girl selling matchsticks on a harsh winter's evening, when no one seems to care less. Alone and without shelter, she rides out the night lighting her matchsticks for warmth in a street corner, allowing herself to be transported to hospitable, warmer places of fantasy.By the end, i was deeply moved by what i'd seen, but as the credits rolled, i was astonished; directed by Roger Allers; executive produced by Roy E. Disney?! Who would've thought that the company currently responsible for such tat as "The Wild" and "Chicken Little" are still capable of such profound work as this? I thought that this kind of animation only existed in Japan. Apparently, Disney is still alive somewhere under all that commercialism. In a western culture that thrives on bland, generic animated comedies (fot the most part), in short and feature length, seeing this, and from the company that seems to have finally submitted its guard to that culture, is a breath of fresh air (to use a well worn cliché).Get "The Little Mermaid" Platinum DVD release and give it a glimpse, the only place your likely to see this in an acceptable format. This is an improvement from Disney, hands down, not just on their most recent stuff, but from all their modern works. While the majority of the 90's showcased impressive and at times classic examples of Disney's animated division working at their best, no other film from their modern catalogue tackles such real ventures in human desperation and suffering. True, this is mostly due to the source text. But several of Disney's other adaptations of literature containing disturbing and tragic content have all but washed out those elements, so while the result was still universally great entertainment in an innocent way, it definitely missed out on the more emotionally rich possibilities that Japanese animation mines frequently, and Disney itself used to acquire from time to time in their earlier classics (Dumbo and Pinocchio to name a few). Not so here, Disney seems to have acknowledged this revelation from the east. In fact "The Little Matchgirl" is actually comparable to the profoundly depressing Studio Ghibli war time anime, Isao Takahata's "Grave of the Fireflies", in its sophistication, while also remaining fairly inexplicit to appeal to all but the youngest audience. Stuff like this has very rarely found its way into western animation, and pretty much never in the ones released as mainstream features. This may be only a short, but if Disney can somehow stick to this path of much more sophisticated and imaginative movie-making and implant that thinking into their feature output, we may well see their next Golden Age in animation sooner than planned. Fingers crossed.