Review: Disney on Ice

BY DAVID GADD

"Fantastic."

There you go, all you really need to know about the latest Disney on Ice show, Disneyland Adventure, which started its seven-show Auckland season this week.

This pithy summation is courtesy of my expert reviewer of the night, one five year old girl in the middle of the Disney demographic.

And believe me, that one comment is high on the praise scale for a five-year-old born a teenager (sleeps in late, insists on dressing with her own unique fashion sense and grunts for communication).

But being the conscientious reviewer I am, I backed up by a second expert. Cue cute five-year-old friend.

"So what was the best part?"

"All of it."

Don't feel the need to read on any further.

I can't really improve on that.

This is a typically Disney-polished family-friendly bundle of fun - as slick as the ice the performers skate on. Disney knows its audience and with this show has delivered exactly what they want: two hours of dancing, music, special effects and just the right dash of humour.

You just had to look at the beaming faces leaving the Vector Arena at the end of the night; that is those who hadn't crashed and were being carried out.

Congratulations to Vector - the show relies on quite a bit of pre-taped dialogue which in other venues might have been mangled through a poor sound system, but here came through as clear as a bell.

The basic premise (and I don't think this rates a spoiler alert, but skip the next few lines if you want to remain in the dark) is that the wicked fairy Maleficent (for those not familiar with the Disney cosmos, she's the one with the spinning wheel in the 1959 adaptation of Sleeping Beauty) stages a coup on Disneyland leaving Mickey and Goofy needing to rope in superhero family The Incredibles (from the 2004 American computer-animated Pixar film) to help save the day.

On the face of it an unlikely kluge of the historic Disney canon with its more recent reinvention of itself, but hey, slap it on ice and it works.

The storyline weaves its way through a sampling of some of the most loved Disney creations and characters. Amongst the  highlights The Jungle Book with a nice medley of Louis Prima's catchy "I Want To Be Like You" and Baloo the Bear's "Bare Necessities"; Alice in Wonderland; the Pirates of the Caribbean; and Cinderella whose carriage is lit with lights in a magical grand finale.

There was the occasional bumbled jump, but none of it detracted from what was an all round strong skating performance from the cast - amongst notable moves were a female pirate swung round in dizzying circles just millimetres from the ice (not being an Olympic ice skating fan I lack the ability to give you a technical name for this).

But top marks go to the unknown skater dressed as Buzz Lightyear of Toy Story - head to toe in a Buzz space suit including a full facial mask he managed to nail an incredible back flip. Well done that spaceman.

There was nothing to quite live up to the special effects of the Disney ice troupe to visit, the Princesses show (anyone remember that fire spitting dragon?) but Maleficent's staff and a pirate's cannon both caused a few gasps as they threw fireballs about.

There were also just the right number of references to provide a bit adult humour for the many parents there - Mr Incredible flexes to a few bars of 1990s dance hit "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred and Talking Head's "Burning Down the House" made a quick and fitting cameo.

More bizarre is the nod to Lord of the Rings with Maleficent using an inflatable all-seeing eye.

All in all, all I can do is return to my two five-year-old experts - who went home smiling, happy and impatient for Monday so they could share it all with their mates in the schoolyard.

After Auckland, the show goes to Christchurch.

* What did you think of the show? Post your comments below.

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