By Chris Klein
Enquirer contributor

It was just as promised. Wednesday night's performance of Disney On Ice really was fun for all ages.

The show, "100 Years of Magic," was a dazzling compilation of scenes from Disney's best movies performed on ice (and sometimes suspended above the ice). The wonderful combination of silly antics and graceful skating performances kept the near-capacity crowd entertained for two-plus hours.

Crowd approval was apparent from the start. The Mouseketeers opened the show with a medley of sing-along Disney favorites, followed by Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Mickey, who were greeted with shrieks from the younger set.

Later, everyone watched in quiet awe as the Blue Fairy (Allison Bennett of Canada) danced to "When You Wish Upon a Star." But they quickly came to life as Pinocchio (Japan's Isao Matsura) gave an amazing performance that included a flawless quadruple jump.

One of the most impressive performances of the evening was the re-enactment of several scenes from Mulan. But unlike the rest of the show, the scenes' serious nature and excessive length made the young audience restless.

Every Disney on Ice show has wonderful costumes. But this year's collection is over the top. With painstaking detail, each costume is true to the character it portrays, while remaining flexible enough to allow for each skater's jumps and spins. In all, the show contains 147 costumes, the best being those of the more than 20 skaters who each represented a different country for "It's a Small World."

Also outstanding were the wild colors and complicated appendages from A Bug's Life, Toy Story's green soldiers, and Belle and her Beast.

Because most Disney movies portray some variation of a prince and his princess, it was no surprise that a celebration of Disney's past 100 years included lots of pairs. Belle, Cinderella, Ariel, Pocahontas, Snow White and Jasmine each danced beautifully with their prince. The performance by Russian skaters Natalia Zaitseva and Dimitri Savine was especially powerful as The Lion King's Simba and Nala.

Although it was well past bedtime, the youngest Disney fans were still on their feet clapping and waving to Pumbaa and Timon as they performed their on-ice rendition of "Hakuna Matata" near the close of the show. The "100 Years of Magic" finale brought everyone to their feet one last time.

Disney on Ice through Sunday, U.S. Bank Arena, 562-4949.