An over the top, all singing and dancing performance on ice - exactly what you would expect from Disney.

Wembley Arena opened its doors to Disney on Ice last week as the show celebrated its silver anniversary and it was certainly a magical performance, complete with drifting ‘snowflakes’.

The show is narrated by Mickey Mouse and his crew - Minnie Mouse, Donald, Goofy and Daisy, as they take a trip of a lifetime, from exploring Africa with Simba and his friends, to Neverland, visiting the mermaids under the sea and finally to the frozen world of Arendelle. As a narrative device this worked really well and broke up the ice dance routines from the various films. More importantly though, as this is primarily aimed at children, the characters themselves were highly engaging and interacted with the audience.

The Lion King was first, the dance sequences were sublime - particularly between Simba and Nala. Timon and Pumbaa as you would expect provide great comedy and I have to take my hat off to whoever plays Pumbaa - mastering skating on all four’s was impressive.

The next stop on Mickey and his crew’s travels was Neverland. While majority of this was packed full of energy, it was interactive and fun, in places it did feel a little like it was dragging and although you’d expect such a production to be melodramatic, at times this was a bit too much - there’s only so many times you can state the obvious such as with the slapstick slipping over on the ice gags. We also noticed that some children watching the production really started to get restless, which my friend found rather off-putting.

Thank god it was the interval next.

The second half started with a bang and it was certainly the better half. Beginning with the Little Mermaid, the songs were lively, the dancing and even the staging and lightening was colourful, dramatic and engaging.

The evil sea witch Ursula - her costume was great, in fact all the costumes were incredible, but Ursula’s was just phenomenal, especially when she inflates to become the giant, wicked witch, who thinks she’s got control of the kingdom under the ocean - this was done really well, aside from the slightly squished head.

The finale was Frozen and both Elsa (Angela Lien) and Anna (Jessica Latham ) were sensational. There was even a snow effect, which surprisingly lifted the energetic atmosphere even more - children were actually standing on their seats trying to see everything.

All in all, Disney on Ice is a fun-filled, magical show - perfect for a family evening out.

Jyoti Rambhai Details: www.disneyonice.com