Frozen Review

"The Snow Queen" Disneyfied

Children and adults alike have every reason to be excited for Frozen, one of most intelligent animated musicals ever produced. Patriarch of the genre Walt Disney Animation Studios has finally reclaimed its throne from Pixar as the hallmark for spellbinding animation with a tale destined to become the family hit of the holiday season. Containing all the elements that make a Disney classic, Frozen combines the old with the new, featuring exquisite modern animation complimented by traditional sing-along tunes.

Loosely adapted from Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen”, the movie includes snow and ice and a Queen, but other than that, departs seismically from the original tale. Set in the Nordic Kingdom of Arendelle, the older of two princesses, Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel), possesses magic powers that enable her to create ice and snow which when she’s stressed or angry are magnified to epic proportions. Young Princess Anna (Kristen Bell), unaware of her sister’s burdened secret, desperately wants to connect but spends her days wandering aimlessly in her parents castle, dreaming of the day romance will whisk her away.

When Elsa can no longer hide her powers from the world, she exiles herself to the snowy mountains but does not understand the magnitude of her curse, having trapped the kingdom in an eternal winter. Anna pairs up with lonely ranger Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) to help find her estranged sister in an effort to mend fences and thaw out winter. Along the way they meet a talking snowman called Olaf (Josh Gad) and an amusing mute reindeer in the vein of the horse from Tangled. Kristoff and Olaf are strikes of comic genius, many a time inducing riotous laughs in a full cinema.

Frozen succeeds on all levels that Brave, Pixar’s first film with a female lead wanted to but failed. Elsa and Anna’s complex relationship displays a newfound maturity in Disney’s storytelling, adding two worthy additions to the princess canon. Both sisters are properly fleshed out and are equally enticing to watch. Overarching themes of love, loneliness and hope remain all the more resonant with a cast of smartly written original characters with great singing voices. The Broadway-esque soundtrack is stoked with fun songs that have the potential to come alive onstage in an eventual live-action musical. Invoking the spirit of renaissance greats The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991), this icy adaptation is undeniably heart warming.