Frozen

I generally avoid animated features, especially in this age of computer-generated animation, when animated features are ugly and claustrophobic.  I do continue to enjoy the animated shorts of Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and others, who produced hand-drawn mini-masterpieces with such characters as Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote.  My about-to-turn-four daughter Victoria, however, has become rather fond of the characters Elsa and Anna from Disney's Frozen (they are ubiquitous in her pre-school) so Susan and I thought we would watch the film before we offered it to her for viewing.

The Palace Walls were of driven snow, the doors and windows of cutting wind; there were over a hundred halls, as all the drifting snow had formed them, the largest stretching for many miles, and all brightly lit by the strong Northern Lights.  They were vast, empty, ice-cold and gleaming.
Hans Christian Andersen, The Snow Queen.

The Disney movie has little to do with the original Andersen story, but rather is a meretricious and bland version in typical Disney style.  I can't even say it is for children of all ages because there is too much gratuitous violence, unmotivated cruelty and primitive humor for a four-year-old (or anyone else, for that matter); it's as harsh as a Norwegian winter, as Anna seeks her sister Elsa in the snow.  One thing I found interesting were the parallels to the gentler TV series on Disney, Jr. Sofia the First; Disney has always been a studio unafraid to repeat themes endlessly:  Sofia the First also has friendly trolls, squabbling sister princesses, and a talking bunny who plays a more pivotal role in Sofia the First than the snowman Olaf does in Frozen. 

If you have young children I recommend reading them fairy tales, or finding versions they can read themselves.  There are also some excellent puppet shows around:  Nicolas Coppola did a fairly straightforward version of The Snow Queen at Puppetworks in Park Slope that my daughter loved.