3 Snow-Filled Cartoons for Chilly Winter Days

It’s wintertime again– fire up the cocoa, break out the blankets, and snuggle in for a snow day with these three icy animated escapades (that are not Frozen or Frosty the Snowman!)

Ice Age

2002, PG

In this warm and fuzzy tale, Diego the saber-toothed tiger, Sid the sloth, Scrat the rat, and Manfred the mammoth find a lost human infant, and despite the impending polar peril, undertake a long and arduous journey to return him to his tribe. Problem is, they can’t exactly use an express delivery service.

The story takes place 20,000 years ago at the beginning of the Ice Age. To avoid potentially fatal frostbite, the planet’s sub-zero heroes begin migrating south… with a bawling baby in tow. This is a funny, lively, and very sweet film.

The Snow Queen

2012, PG 

Loosely based on the same classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale as Frozen, The Snow Queen follows young animal-lover Gerda, and artistic Kai – a pair of magical children who’ve been banished from their home by a malevolent monarch so that she might turn the world into a frozen wasteland.

The offspring of a glassmaker wizard who created a mirror that reflects the true nature of anyone who gazes into it, these children pose the only threat to her diabolical plan and as such, must be done away with. The Snow Queen takes Kai prisoner, but Gerda is not so easily caught. The wicked royal sends her troll minion, Orm after Gerda, but they form an unlikely bond, and along with Gerda’s adorable pet ferret, go through a series of adventures involving pirates, witches, flower-mongers, and other colorful characters as they try to rescue Kai from the Snow Queen’s icy embrace.

Younger kids will especially enjoy the simplicity of the story, and the lack of silly songs throughout is a welcome relief for adults from the usual tuneful tropes.

Norm of the North

2016, G

Why be normal, when you can be Norm? Norm is a polar bear with a big vocabulary and his greatest gripe is this: There is no room for tourists in the Arctic. Usually, that wouldn’t be a problem, but when a diabolical developer threatens to build luxury condos in his own glacial backyard, Norm does what any self-respecting furbearing mammal would do: He heads to New York City to stop it.

With a cute, cuddly cast of remarkably resilient ragtag lemmings as his right-hand, err…men, Norm takes on the Big Apple; and big business. Building on the classic “fish out of water” theme, Norm of the North is at its most hilarious when the animals go nose-to-nose with the New Yorkers, at one point, even winding up on a TV talk show.

What cartoons will you be watching with the kiddos during the chilly winter days? Share your favorite films with us!

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