The Little Matchgirl

2006
U
7m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A poor young girl has a burning desire to find comfort and happiness in her life. Desperate to keep warm, the girl lights the matches she sells, and envisions a very different life for herse... Read allA poor young girl has a burning desire to find comfort and happiness in her life. Desperate to keep warm, the girl lights the matches she sells, and envisions a very different life for herself in the fiery flames.A poor young girl has a burning desire to find comfort and happiness in her life. Desperate to keep warm, the girl lights the matches she sells, and envisions a very different life for herself in the fiery flames.

Director
- Roger Allers
Writers

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

5.4K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Roger Allers
Writers

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 nominations total

Photos16

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
In 2005, Walt Disney Feature Animation finished production work on a new adaptation of "The Little Match Girl". The short was originally intended to be a part of "Fantasia 2006", but this project was canceled. The Little Matchgirl is last of the four shorts from the aborted compilation to be developed as a standalone film. It combines hand-drawn animation, computer techniques, and stylized backgrounds, and retains Andersen's tragic ending. This short was subsequently released as a special feature on the 2006 Platinum Edition DVD of The Little Mermaid (1989).

Connections
Featured in The 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films: Animation (2007)

Soundtracks
String Quartet #2 In D Major: 3rd Movement: Notturno (Andante)
Written by Aleksandr Borodin (as Alexander Borodin)
Performed by Emerson String Quartet
Violin: Philip Setzer
Violin: Eugene Drucker
Viola: Lawrence Dutton
Cello: David Finckel
The Emerson String Quartet appears courtesy of Duetsche Grammophon

User reviews30

Featured review

10/10

A small Disney masterpiece: Such a beautiful and touching story

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been deeply moved by Hans Christian Andersen's story. It is so beautiful, so touching and so poignant, yet I don't consider it depressing in any way. From the very start, I had immediate sympathy for the Little MatchGirl of the title, and I was hoping this Disney short would do this amazing story justice. And it does.

The Little MatchGirl in my opinion is a small Disney masterpiece, it is very short, but it is beautiful in every meaning of the word. I am a huge fan of Disney, not only of their films(Beauty and the Beast especially) but also of their Silly Symphonies like The Old Mill and Flowers and Trees. The Little MatchGirl is yet another favourite of mine from them.

The short has no dialogue or voices, all through visuals and music, and this worked. The animation is simply stunning, the backgrounds, character features, the architecture of those beautiful Russian buildings and colours are consistently amazing. And I have to say the music is outstanding, this was a piece of music- Borrodin's String Quartet no. 2, Nocturno- that I really underestimated, it is a truly beautiful work that is put to perfect use and beautifully performed. The story is still poignant and touching in tone, the title character I related to immediately and the pacing is just right.

Overall, a superb short, like I said with The Old Mill, I forgot I was watching a cartoon and thought I was watching a work of art. 10/10 Bethany Cox