Frozen (2013) review

Disney… I don’t need to explain any more than that because I don’t need to. This company needs no introduction. It’s only the company responsible for many of the finest animated films of all time; The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Little Mermaid; the list goes on and on. Disney’s been making films ever since the 30’s and even though they have hit some rough spots from time to time, like in the 80’s or the early 2000’s (in the case of the latter decade, that’s mainly because of the rise of computer animation), they’ve managed to maintain a good level of quality over the years. Recently, the company’s been getting back into form with films like ‘Princess and the Frog’, ‘Tangled’, and ‘Wreck it Ralph’. While technically the latter two films were computer animated films, in certain ways (e.g. design, story) they felt like the traditional animated films that put the company on the map in the first place. The same can be said for their latest film, ‘Frozen’, loosely based off of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, ‘The Snow Queen’.

In the kingdom of Arendelle reside two sisters/princesses of the Royal Family, Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel). For years, the two have been separated from each other for one main reason. Elsa was born with magical ice powers and one day when the two sisters were younger, an incident between them as a result of Elsa’s magic resulted in her being locked away from the world and Anna losing any memory of her sister’s powers (but not the memory of her). On the day of Elsa’s coronation ceremony, her powers end up getting revealed to the people of Arendelle, leading Elsa to flee into the mountains. This then results in a massive snowstorm that covers the entire kingdom in endless winter. Hoping to set things right, Anna sets off with a mountain-man named Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), his reindeer Sven, and a living snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad) on a quest to find Elsa and hopefully bring an end to the endless winter, before it’s too late.

As you might expect from Disney, the animation is just top-notch in almost every aspect, from the landscape to the overall art design. As far as the characters are concerned, the movie has its fair share of memorable characters. Both Anna and Elsa were engaging characters and I really liked the sister dynamic between the two, which is where a lot of the film’s heart comes from. If I’m right, this is the first Disney film to actually have two female leads and on that note, it’s executed really well. Kristoff and Sven are also really memorable, mainly in part due to their interesting relationship, with Kristoff frequently translating Sven’s ‘thoughts’ through his facial expressions. However, the standout character would easily have to be Olaf the snowman. He has many of the most memorable and hilarious moments in the film. There are two characters that are really bland, though. The first is the prince Hans (Santino Fontana), who’s just your generic nice guy who Anna falls for at the beginning of the film. The other character is the Duke of Weselton (Alan Tudyk, who’s quite underused here). At first, it seems like they’re playing him off to be the main villain, but in the end they do nothing with him.

So how about the music, which was done by Robert and Kristen-Anderson Lopez (most known for their work on Broadway on shows like ‘Avenue Q’ and ‘Book of Mormon’)? All in all, it’s quite good. The Lopez’ experience in Broadway certainly translates to this film. Your mileage may vary on the idea of characters randomly going into musical numbers but overall, the songs are still really good. My favorite song would have to be 'Let it Go', which is Elsa's big solo after her powers are revealed to the people of Arendelle, as she no longer has to worry about keeping her powers hidden; she's now free. It does help quite a lot when most of the cast has had plenty of experience on Broadway (Menzel, Groff, Fontana, and Gad), and main star Kristen Bell especially holds her own in the musical numbers alongside the Broadway stars. All in all, the film has a great voice cast, even though some don’t have much to work with (e.g. Fontana and Tudyk, as I went over earlier).

‘Frozen’ is another excellent outing for Disney in almost every way. The animation is terrific, a lot of the characters are really memorable, and the film has a really nice soundtrack. However, the film did have two rather lackluster characters in Hans and the Duke of Weselton. If the writers gave more character development to them, I’d say this was arguably one of Disney’s finest films up there with classics like ‘Lion King’ or ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Still, this is one of their best films in the last few years or so (at least since 2000). Disney may be moving away from traditionally animated films but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing because their recent computer animated films (since 2010) still feel like the old-school animated films in many ways. All in all, this is just another fun and entertaining family film. What more should you expect from Disney?

Rating: 4/5

(I also want to give much praise to the terrific short, ‘Get a Horse’, which runs before this film. It’s a very creative blend of the old-school Disney animation from the 30’s and the modern computer animation of today. I’d say Disney should do something like this again. This would be a great idea for a 3-D show at Disney theme parks. Best Animated Short Film at the Oscars, maybe?)