The Great Thaw

The old gang is back in the mountains, and even though they have a few wrinkles and some extra weight, some things just don't change. And some things change a lot. The return to the heroes of the Czech comedy classic plays more on a nostalgic note than a comedic one, but unfortunately it doesn't really work. If it weren't for some good acting, decent cinematography and music, it would have been a dud. This way, after twenty-five years, The Great Thaw is just a mediocre film whose closing credits will have you wondering why it was made in the first place. (19/12/2008)

Unbalanced. If the creators hadn’t been afraid of cutting out all those dumb age-old wisecracks, completely ignoring the three dames and letting the aspects that work shine through, this could have been much better. It had the material for it. I expected improvisation, I got it. But I didn’t expect that the creators were going to have something to say. And they certainly do. It doesn’t work as a comedy even for a second, but as one big melancholic nostalgic sigh, it plays its role surprisingly well. (11/10/2009)

The courage to try to continue on the same chat a quarter of a century later still surprises me. And I'm not even talking about daring to present the viewers, craving for another comedy, a hundred-minute reminiscence of something long gone. But some things don't change - Cabadaj comes to the forefront, Mácha is the most grateful comedic character, and Převrátil serves as a means of viewer identification. And yes, the supporting female cast is incredibly annoying again. Nostalgia and melancholy mood, however, surprisingly feel good. I saw myself in the main characters, I rooted for some of them to turn their lives around in the right direction, and even though I sometimes felt unnecessary theatrics, I was still interested in how John and Pelant wanted to conclude this script. That may ultimately be the stumbling block. Great gestures, big words, and marginally intensified serious situations really don't suit Sněženka. Still, a huge surprise by domestic standards. 70% (22/11/2009)

I cannot compare it to the original comedy model from the 80s because I have avoided it so far, but I still have to say that this film is missing a lot of things. It is a dull and average affair on all sides. The actors and the screenplay did not appeal to me. Overall impression: 45%. (14/04/2009)

The most common opinion I've encountered is that I might like this film precisely because I wasn't particularly charmed by the "first" film. Yet it doesn't work either way. I could hardly find a few minutes where I wasn't shaking my head in disapproval. The work with the soft pastel colors that surrounded mainly the skiing Marika was quite successful, but that's about it - if you don't count the simple but nice idea of the poster. On the other hand, I was facepalming significantly when the film was recalling the careers of "Jeníčková" and "Suchánek" and found it downright awkward how little the script managed to cope with their fates. And the side storyline about today's youth? It is misguided… (03/03/2009)

Les personnages du premier film désespèrent de leur misérable vie 25 ans après. La plaisanterie a été remplacée par une triste dépression. Cela vaut la peine d'être vu seulement si vous vous intéressez à quoi ressemblent ces acteurs après tant d'années. À vos risques et périls. (03/03/2011)

I admit that I don't have such a strong connection to the first movie, which is a classic. I simply never saw it as a child, but I must acknowledge that after turning twenty and watching it for the first time, it got me. However, the second movie is a disappointment for me, as the nostalgia that was mainly conveyed through having seen the first film did not work on me. Yes, it served its purpose. But nobody will remember this film as the original "Sněženky a machři". (23/12/2013)

The sequel to the cult Czech film Snowdrops and Aces didn't turn out as badly as the reviews here might suggest. Watching the fates of the aging high school students, I felt a strange nostalgia that I quite enjoyed in combination with the good mood-setting music. However, my impression was a bit spoiled by the sometimes rather immature acting of Jan Antonín Duchoslav, and unfortunately, Eva Jeníčková wasn’t very good either. I could have also done without the lines from the original film, as here they feel a bit inappropriate given the age of the main characters. (55%) (01/01/2022)