Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

dweilermg-1 Hans Christian Anderson was truly many years ahead of his time since this story about the poor little girl peddling matches on the street being ignored by people hustling and bustling while doing their Xmas shopping offering no comfort or compassion to this needy child truly defined the result of the over-commercialization of Christmas and people losing sight of the true meaning of the season.

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...

Polaris_DiB If you come into this short thinking, "Hey, that girl looks like Lilo," you aren't wrong. This short is pure Disney through and through, which has its good sides and its bad sides, but definitely gives off a very brand-name feel.The story is a Hans Christian Anderson tale about a pauper girl who finds brief comfort in the matches she's trying to sell until the cold eventually wins and takes her life away--not before, however, she so escapes into her imagination to find comfort, warmth, and love. This is a very good story, and in fact is done very well by the animators. It also shows that even though Disney is making shorts again, they're still sentimental fluff on topics the maker's don't really know that much about.Sure, it's sweet, but it's also impersonal. All the power this short has is really in the filmmaker's use of tropes like the cute homeless girl and the magic warm Christmas tree to tug at our heartstrings, but the film makes no attempt to really give any sense of objective to the works. It's meant to make us feel sad, not make us think or understand. It's sweet, but it lacks substance. In other words, it's typical later Disney, through and through.I do give it a few props merely for the fact that it's not CGI. The Oscar nominated short films this year were dominantly CGI, and will probably be more so as time goes on, so it's good to see that one particular company is maintaining a different form. Unfortunately, that company is also infamous for their sugar-coated reality and sentimentality, so they've managed to keep that as well.--PolarisDiB

Fd-Up-Squirrel Originally created as part of Disney's "Fantasia 2000" it was more than likely booted because the film already contained another work by Hans Christian Anderson, but it may be safe to assume that it may have also had a lot to do with the fact that this piece does contain the original ending (which, oddly enough, "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" which ended up in Fantasia 2000, has a very different ending).With Disney's decision to change the ending to "The Little Mermaid" it does come as a surprise that they managed to keep "The Little Match Girl" in tact, and it's rumored that there was some bit of fighting to keep the ending.The piece takes place in Russia, and follows a little girl with no shoes running through the streets of St. Petersburg trying to sell matches. She's cold, and appears to have no family, and despite that her feet are merely covered by rags, everyone is either too worried about themselves, or just sickened by the idea of dealing with this little urchin. As it grows darker and colder, and as the snow starts falling harder and wind starts picking up, she seeks refuge in an alley and starts lighting her matches to stay warm, and with each match, imagines herself in warm place, with familiar faces.It's a completely sad and emotional piece,a nd will surely bring a tear to your eye. It's both strange and lucky that it's available on the 2006 Platinum Edition of "The Little Mermaid". At only 7 minutes, it's a completely powerful and beautiful piece- beautifully animated (the animation ranks up there with Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, and Pocahontas) and beautifully scored! This is a must see (but keep that Klennex box close)