Have always loved fairy-tales and Hans Christian Andersen was, and still is considered, one of the masters of this type of story. Only the stories of the Brothers Grimm, though their approach was different and tended to be darker, come close to those of Andersen. 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier' is among his best known, and while other stories of his move me more (especially 'The Ugly Duckling') the story has always been a lovely one and always will be.
It has come over well in animation, 'Timeless Tales from Hallmark's' adaptation is one of the best of that series and 'Fantasia 2000's' treatment of it to the music of Stostakovich was not half-bad either if rushed. To me though, this adaptation is the definitive animated adaptation and also don't think the story overall has been adapted better than here. 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier' is the second Andersen story adapted by Rabbit Ears Productions, the first being 'The Ugly Duckling' (also wonderful), and is a contender for their best Andersen adaptation and for me it's one of their overall best as well.
'The Steadfast Tin Soldier' looks lovely. It's simple but in an elegant way, and it was perfectly suited for a story that in itself is quite simple. The use of colour, the cute but not too much so character designs, not too sparse attention to detail and how everything moves fluidly from each frame to the next and never cheap drawing are great. Likewise with the striking and not overused use of the company's animation style for their children's literature animated adaptations series this is part of.
Music has an understated beauty, having presence but doing so without resorting to bombast, loud obtrusive sound effects and being used all the time. Showing a remarkable ability of making such simple use of instrumentation and harmony interesting and so mood-enhancing, especially towards the end. The writing has charm and poignancy in distinctive Andersen fashion, balancing so beautifully with the words. The charm and poignancy also carries over and even more so in the storytelling, which is well measured and nuanced and never dull or rushed. The ending brought tears to my eyes, a good thing as it always has done since a child but more so as an adult when realising its depth.
Jeremy Irons' narration is a major plus here. Am very familiar with his film/television voice-overs and audio books (i.e. 'Brideshead Revisited', 'Lolita'), as a fan of his, and have for a long time considered him one of the greatest when it comes to narration. 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier' does absolutely nothing to change my mind, such sympathetic and nuanced delivery of beautiful words (some of it delivered in a way that gives new meaning to them) spoken in that unmistakable and "listen to for hours" voice of his.
Overall, absolutely wonderful. One of the series' essentials. 10/10
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