The Snow Queen 2 (), is a 2014 Russian animated fantasy comedy film directed by Aleksey Tsitsilin. It is the sequel to The Snow Queen (2012). The film follows the story of troll Orm who gets mired again in lies and financial irresponsibility after he sees a reflection while working as a miner. The vainglorious troll Orm gets a chance to become a hero again when the Troll King Arrog proclaims the decree that whoever rescues his royal family trapped at the palace of the Snow Queen will receive a grand prize.
Development began in 2014, as the writers signed up for a sequel in response to the rousing reception of The Snow Queen. The animation focused on improving the animation quality of the film from its predecessor.
The Snow Queen 2 was released theatrically in Russia on 1 January 2015, with an international pre-release during November and December 2014 in the United States and the United Kingdom. It became the first Russian film to top weekend box office in a European country. The film was noted for its good humor, bright characters, and epic battles.
A sequel, The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice, was released in 2016.
Plot A year after the Snow Queen was defeated by Gerda, Orm the anteater-like troll has thawed out the rest of his kind and now lives with his grandmother Rosa70m King "Rosa, I have a confession, I could faint at any moment." and Gerda's pet white ferret Luta, works in the troll village as a miner. Orm takes an oath at Lake Gao never to tell another lie and from that moment his reflection comes to life and starts manipulating him into doing the wrong things, including lying.
Upon being fired from his job after insulting the knight Arrog and facing eviction from his cottage, Orm is manipulated by his reflection into donning armor so he can take part in a competition to decide who will marry Princess Maribel. In order to impress the Princess and her uncle, the King, Orm lies about defeating the Snow Queen. However, Gerda, who had arrived at the village with her brother Kai and friend Alfida, overhear Orm's lies, leading to an argument between the two that culminates in Gerda leaving.
Later, as Orm and Rosa are moving into the King's palace, the King says he feels as if he has seen Rosa before, to which she asks if she has changed that much over the years. Suddenly the North Wind appears and abducts Princess Maribel, causing the King to decree that whoever rescues her will marry her. Orm, joined by Arrog and the other warriors, set off to rescue the Princess, but Orm reluctantly abandons the others and arrives at Gerda's village, only to discover that her mirror has been stolen. Orm then sends Gerda a message asking her to meet him at the Black Cliffs. En route, Gerda, Kai and Alfida meet the trolls, who reveal that Orm had abandoned the troop. Gerda, disillusioned with Orm, sails off with the others, tearfully abandoning Orm at the cliffs.
A distraught Orm is manipulated by his, now blue and frosty, reflection into pulling him into the real world, upon which he freezes the ocean, trapping Gerda and the others. After a confrontation between the two, Orm's reflection, referring to himself as the 'Snow King', reveals that the more he grows in power, the more Orm weakens and becomes invisible. The Snow King then unleashes his army and overwhelms Orm's friends, encasing them all in ice. Orm tries to warn Gerda but she can't see, hear or touch him and the Snow King tricks her into thinking he is the real Orm and freezes her, and Luta, then traps Orm in the mirror realm. Orm, while trapped, realizes that the Snow King was born from his lies, and manages to free himself by loudly confessing to his lies, thawing out Gerda and the Snow King's other victims, while at the same time reverting the Snow King back to his normal reflection.
In the end, Orm is taken back to the troll village but instead of being punished he is hailed a hero. Rosa marries the King, and Orm gets his cottage back and rekindles his friendship with Gerda. Arrog marries the Princess and have children, as seen during the end credits.
Cast CharacterRussian ActorEnglish ActorOrm, Snow KingIvan Okhlobystin Sharlto CopleyArrogGarik Kharlamov Sean BeanGerdaNyusha Bella ThorneAlfidaValeriya Nikolayeva Isabelle FuhrmanLutaDee Bradley BakerRahatShura Bi-2 Pat FraleyTroll KingFyodor Dobronravov Jeff BennettGrandmaOlga Zubkova Candi MiloBossMikhail Tikhonov James ConnorGuardsAleksey LikhnitskiyRoman Yunusov JB BlancNick TateSnow QueenGalina Tyunina Cindy RobinsonMaribelAnna Khilkevich Sara CravensYoung OrmOlga Shorokhova Tyler MernaEricDiomid Vinogradov Larry CedarLokumLyova Bi-2 Bill ChottKaiRamilya Iskander Miles Hoff
Production
Development
After The Snow Queen, the producers and the creative team of Wizart Animation decided to continue the story. The breakthrough moment of the original film persuaded the writers to start writing the sequel. The Russian 3D CG sequel was produced by Timur Bekmambetov. The director's chair in the new project was taken by Aleksey Tsitsilin, who worked as the director of photography in the first installment. The scriptwriters continued the themes of the first film. They were inspired by the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen and focused on presenting a captivating follow-up plot to the original film. Aleksey Tsitsilin, producer Vladimir Nikolaev, art director Alexey Zamyslov with participation of Timur Bekmambetov and Roman Nepomnyashchiy wrote the script for the sequel. Diana Yurinova, Wizart Animation's international distribution manager as well as producer sold the film to international markets in China. The film was signed into contract for distribution across many countries at the Cannes film festival in 2014 while its peer Frozen film was breaking box office records.
The film took an innovative turn from the prequel by emphasizing the character development of the character Orm the troll instead of the character Gerda. After the release of the first film, the audience was amazed by the character troll Orm. Taking the audience consensus into account, the sequel developed the side-character to new levels. Previously the character Orm was depicted as the creator of a magic mirror. In this film, the scriptwriters presented Orm as a main character who must pay off the debts such as foreclosure and mortgages. However an opportunity to save Princess Maribel causes the troll to commit deceptions leading to the development of themes of corruption and the consequences of telling lies. The writers instilled elements of tragedy without losing the plot's comedy framework.
The writers used an orb as the motif object that drives forward the plot's conflict. The use of the orb's reflection and its subsequent mysterious whispering in Orm's imagination depict the effects of alter ego which was chosen as an allegory to Plato's Ring of Gyges or Tolkien's One Ring. A review from Russia found the film has parallels to The Lord of the Rings. The similarity occurs when characters Gerda and Orm finally reach the palace of the Snow Queen that is similar in story line to the character Frodo seeking to overcome his identity crisis by journeying to the volcano at Mordor in The Lord of the Rings. The themes of truth and friendship are highlighted in the film that will serve as a factor in regaining character Orm's consciousness. The film also was inspired by the victory of the Russian Olympic bobsleigh team at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
The Russian cast included Ivan Okhlobystin who voiced Orm and Snow King. Russian singer Nyusha (Anna Shurochkina) voiced Gerda. Pirate girl Alfida was based on Andersen's nameless little Robber Girl. Wizart opened a competition to all Russian residents for a chance to be cast as the voice actor for the character Alfida. Out of the 150 contestant submissions, St. Petersburg accountant - Valeria Nikolaeva was chosen as the voice cast for Alfida. Actor Garik Kharlamov (ru) voiced the Troll King Arrog.
Popular Brazilian actors Larissa Manoela (Carrossel) voiced Gerda and João Côrtes voiced Orm. Portuguese voice artists include singer Ana Malhoa, TV host and actor Júlio Isidro, and actress and mother of Cristiano Ronaldo - Dolores Aveiro.
Work on the second feature progressed at an international level. Ned Lott was announced as voice director and casting who has animation credits including Zambezia, Khumba, and the English version of Ernest and Celestine. At the Toronto International Film Festival, the voice cast was announced for the English version of the film. International stars took part in the dubbing including Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings) as Arrog, Sharlto Copley (District 9) as Orm, Bella Thorne (Blended) as Gerda, and Isabelle Fuhrman (Hunger Games) as Alfida.
On 5 November 2014, Wizart presented the English-version of the film at the American Film Market. Promotional activities in Russia started on 6 December 2014 as the Snow Queen, an ice rink inspired by the film opened near Triumphal Arch of Moscow. Singer Peter Nalitch and the band Nogu Svelo! performed at the opening.
Animation The main characters become even more realistic in animation than they were in the prequel. The wool dynamics is utilized by physics, converging animation to science. Vladimir Nikolaev, producer for the film states, "All our wool is dynamic, that is, it is crushed by clothes, it is crushed by fabrics. It interacts with all objects that the trolls touch, that is, this is all honest physics - this is not animation." The character "North Wind" consists of nearly 80 million particle pixels. The most complex scene was animating the fish that splashed out of the waterfall. With over 25 layers of effects, the tests and production of that scene took three weeks. For all the materials and calculation of special effects, a server of 200 terabytes was needed. It would have taken 997 years to produce this cartoon if it had been produced on a single computer.
In the second installment, new animation innovations were introduced that weren't present in the prequel. The characters have the new opportunity to raise their eyebrows; to move in different flexible ways allowing them to express a new set of emotions. The film also feature more special effects as evident in the polar battles with a Troll army. The animators refined lighting and shooting systems that added a subtle layer to the film.
Director Aleksey Tsitsilin remarked the film script was a product and contribution by the residents of Voronezh, the city in south Russia where Wizart Animation is located. Even some of the settings like the tall clock tower is inspired by the southern railway at Voronezh. In terms of character design, drawing the protagonists required a concerted effort from the animators more so than drawing the antagonists. There were over hundred modifications before reaching a final picture. The process of English-language voice-over caused some of the humor to be misinterpreted. The Valley of the Trolls was inspired by the water channels featured in a map of Venice. The Troll king's palace was built in the style of Italian architecture. The cast recording was done at the studio in Moscow.
Soundtrack Mark Willott composed the original score and songs of the film. British band Butterfly Stone provided vocals for the theme song "Find Yourself." The soundtrack includes two songs performed by the Belarusian-Russian band Bi-2 who also were voice cast for the characters Rahat and Lokum. Bella Thorne who voiced Gerda performed the main song “Diamond." Chosun Entertainment says the song is "cheerful and addictive melody." A localized version of the song was also released in Bulgaria performed by Eurovision nominee Yoanna Dragneva (bg).