Disney on Ice: Worlds of Enchantment at Wembley Arena

Ever since it was first introduced in the early 80s, Disney on Ice has been bringing the company’s beloved characters to life for kids all over the world. Figure skating is inherently mesmerising and, especially since the release of Frozen, it’s a great medium for entertaining children. But with Disney on Ice: Worlds of Enchantment, the magic gets lost somewhere between the TV screen and the rink.

A large part of the genius of Disney and Pixar films is that they are often enjoyable for youngsters and their parents. It makes perfect sense: for kids to see their films, adults usually have to sit through them too. And the older viewers are the ones footing the bill after all, so to at least try to please them as well just seems like common courtesy.

Young children will no doubt be thrilled to see characters they know and love prance around in real life during Worlds of Enchantment, but the rest of the audience will find very little to enjoy. The ice skating is passable, costumes are often either unintentionally hilarious or horrifying, the dialogue (where not taken directly from the films) is asinine and half the time the ‘“plot” of each segment is haphazardly squished together in such a way as to simply allow for the most famous parts of the movies to get a look in. As an adult, it can be hard to follow, so for younger kids it must be even worse.

In this regard, the Toy Story and Cars sequences were particularly lamentable. Instead of watching giant, nightmarish talking cars (Mater’s huge wobbly teeth will haunt my dreams for years to come) slip in circles around an ice rink for what felt like an eternity, they may as well have held up a flashing neon sign reading “costume change”, for all the fun it was.

The only part that even halfway redeemed the production was Frozen, where it seems the majority of everyone’s effort was concentrated. But that comes as no surprise; the story lends itself perfectly to the ice, and Elsa would have had to fall flat on her face to stop Let It Go from being emotive and fierce.

Aidan Milan

Disney on Ice: Worlds of Enchantment is touring the UK from 4^th April until 6^th May 2018. For further information or to book visit the website here.

Watch the trailer for Disney on Ice: Worlds of Enchantment here: