By Mary Whitfill, editor-in-chief

Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven the reindeer have ventured far from the kingdom of Arendelle to bring a little ice magic to TD Garden. The sisters and their trusty sidekicks took to the rink on Friday for Boston’s first performance of Disney On Ice presents Frozen.

The Disney film has garnered millions of die-hard fans across the globe, and those familiar with the Oscar-winning story will find a lot to love with Feld Entertainment’s latest. However, those less familiar with the original story will spend a lot of time scratching their heads as the show, a shortened version of the feature film, left out a few crucial plot points.

The parents of Elsa and Anna, princesses of Arendelle, are omitted from the story completely. Although they didn’t feature heavily in the film to begin with, their presence made it clear why a troll was involved in the lives of the young royals and why Elsa spent so much time alienating her little sister. Without them, the audience is left confused as to why an out-of-place troll-king named Pabbie is explaining that Anna was struck by magic, and why the queen-to-be never comes out of her room. These confusions take some of the magic away from one of the films most lovable songs, “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”

However, seeing as how nearly everyone in America has either seen or been exposed to the original plot, we get the point:  Elsa can’t control her powers and lives in fear of being discovered. The childhood of the sisters is glossed over in the on-ice performance, but when the pair finally reach adolescence, performers Taylor Firth and Becky Bereswill shine.

The first 20 minutes of the show also introduce us to Kristoff and Sven (arguably a more loveable pair than Elsa and Anna), the despicable Prince Hans of the Southern Isles and the hilarious “agile peacock” that is the Duke of Weselton.

Shortly before intermission, the ice queen flees her coronation and runs to the North Mountain to build her new palace. As soon as the white-blond braid comes down, the blue chiffon costume makes its debut and the glittery cape whips around, the air changes and the room buzzes with the excitement of hundreds of young fans on the edge of their seats. From here, the show continues with the original charm of the film.

Throughout the show, a majority of the movie’s songs are featured, including “Love Is an Open Door,” “Let It Go,” “Fixer Upper” and “In Summer.” The audience cheerfully sang along as parents balanced youngsters on their laps and the most energetic of the bunch ran the stairs in their Elsa costumes performing their favorite tunes.

The dialogue was straight from the film and the actors lip-synced directly over the original audio clips with the exception of a few lines. Realistically, matching movement to voice is no easy task and all of the actors convincingly melted into their characters throughout the show. The strong figure skating made the actor’s experience apparent and Hans even pulled out a back flip at the beginning of the performance.

Disney On Ice presents Frozen uses lighting, props, projections and pyrotechnics to create a growing ice monster (comically named Marshmallow) that threatens Anna, Kristoff and Olaf, sends Kristoff across the ice on a self-propelling sled (twice) and creates a fountain that “freezes” under Elsa’s powers. The effects are cheesy to the grown-up eye, but had children mesmerized across the Garden.

The biggest special-effects failure came in the final minutes of the show, when Anna is turned to ice. Or, in this case, just stands very still.

There is no special effect, additional costuming or any other way of showing why Hans’ attempt to hit the princess with his sword sends him reeling backwards. For all we know, the guy slipped. However, true “Frozen” fans will understand the plot, despite its shortcomings, and relish the on-ice magic as it unfolds in front of them.

Overall, the show was a fun, albeit over-priced, live-action version of one of Disney’s most captivating films to date. A cross-country traveling bunch, the show is at the Garden through Feb. 22.

Photo courtesy Feld Entertainment