Frozen Reviews

"The cold never bothered me anyway."

The promotional campaign for 2013's Frozen has been selling an entirely different motion picture, which thankfully renders the finished product a delightful surprise. Whereas the trailers foreground both the action beats and the bumbling slapstick comedy, the heart of Frozen is something else entirely, and the resulting picture is staggering in its visual artistry, originality and heart. It's not just good, but genuinely great, a magical throwback to the Disney animated movies of the 1990s when princesses were the order of the day. Frozen will be a godsend for those who adore Disney princess movies, but it will also work for anyone seeking a fun time, as it's smart and playful enough to engage viewers of just about any demographic. This is Disney's best animation in years, and that's saying something with Wreck-It Ralph and Tangled also under the studio's belt.

As young girls, sisters Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell) were close, sharing many fond memories of childhood playtime. But Elsa is cursed with the ability to conjure ice, leading to an accident involving Anna that almost kills her. To protect Anna, her memories of Elsa's powers are taken away, and Elsa locks herself away from the world, hoping to find a way to control her curse. Following the death of their parents, the pair grow up in isolation, with Anna left wondering why her beloved sister shut her out. When the day comes for Elsa to be crowned queen of the land of Arendelle, Anna romances a handsome prince named Hans (Santino Fontana). But Elsa doesn't approve of the coupling, and the ensuing argument pushes the nervous new queen to unleash her powers in front of everyone, covering the kingdom in ice and bringing about a permanent winter. Escaping high into the mountains, Else hopes to live in exile, but Anna feels responsible for her estranged sister's outburst and hopes that Else can bring back the summer. Heading out into the cold in pursuit of Elsa, Anna is assisted by ice dealer Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), his reindeer pal Sven, and a living snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad) who dreams of experiencing hot weather.

Frozen is a loose adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson story The Snow Queen, which Walt Disney actually tried to adapt back in the 1940s before concluding that it was never going to work Disney-style. Yet, co-director/writer Jennifer Lee (who wrote Wreck-It Ralph) has managed to crack the nut at last, and it's hard to imagine anyone doing a better job. What's surprising about Frozen is that the trademark love story tangent does not play out exactly as anticipated - in fact, the heart of the story is the love between Anna and Elsa, with male interests playing a more ancillary role in the tale. The picture's third act is better left unspoiled, as it's beset with twists and turns, bestowing the flick with more innovation than anyone had a right to expect. There's Disney formula at play here, but the tale is coloured in with such zeal and wit, and this is the most unpredictable House of Mouse animation for a considerable amount of time.

In keeping with Disney tradition, Frozen is one step away from being a full-fledged musical, as the picture is peppered with scenes of characters pouring out their hearts in various energetic numbers to advance character development. The best is easily Elsa's Let It Go, which is also the greatest Disney song since the '90s - it's a show-stopping number, sumptuously animated and beautifully sung. Not all of the songs are home runs, but the vocals are consistently excellent, and it's easy to imagine kids listening to the soundtrack on repeat for months on end. What's also exciting about Frozen is how genuinely funny it is, with Lee's writing exhibiting the type of wit and sophistication often saved for Pixar productions. In any other movie, Olaf would be a useless Jar Jar Binks-like sidekick to keep the kids happy, but here he's a brilliant creation who lights up the screen whenever he appears. As long as you have a sense of humour, there's a good chance you'll laugh at Olaf's antics.

Frozen's comedic moments and songs are remarkable, but the picture also excels from a technical standpoint, boasting spectacular art and costume design, not to mention luscious animation. Most impressive here are the character expressions, which are exceptionally complex and nuanced. This is particularly evident with Sven the reindeer - he never vocalises a word, yet he says a great deal through his physical reactions and expressions. The princesses here are terrific creations, too (yes, plural - there are two princesses). Anna may be perceived as just one more Disney princess, but she's more feisty and charmingly awkward than prim and proper. Plus, Elsa is the closest thing to an antagonist that Frozen has until the third act, which is groundbreaking in a Disney movie. Luckily, both characters are voiced with spunk and spirit; Kristen Bell is almost unbearably cute, while Idina Menzel gives real dimension to her animated role.

With its strikingly original storyline, an array of colourful characters and a narrative structure that belies expectations, Frozen is a borderline revolutionary effort from the House of Mouse. It's a new instant classic for the studio which manages to be suitable for family consumption without specifically pandering to the little kids.

8.9/10

I'll admit that when the teaser for Frozen first came out, I was appalled. It appeared that after the recent commercial and critical successes of Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, Disney was testing our tolerance for the pedestrian. And subsequent trailer releases did little to boost my confidence in the picture. I am pleased to say, however, that Frozen far exceeded my expectations, and proved itself worthy of the Disney name. It's not as funny as Winnie the Pooh or Wreck-It Ralph, and it doesn't capture the Disney Renaissance feel as well as The Princess and the Frog, but Frozen is one of the year's best animated films- especially notable in a year where good animated films have been rather scarce.

Loosely based off of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, The Snow Queen, Frozen is about two sisters (both princesses) named Anna and Elsa. Elsa, the elder of the two, has magical powers that allow her to create and manipulate ice and snow. Elsa has to keep this secret to herself, though, in order to protect her sister and the kingdom. But on the day of Elsa's coronation, her cover is blown, and she flees to a far away mountain, and puts the entire kingdom in eternal winter. Anna is determined to speak with her sister and help her fix everything, so Anna begins a journey to her sister- but not without the help of an ice salesman named Kristoff, a reindeer named Sven, and a talking snowman named Olaf.

Frozen takes elements from Renaissance Disney (such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King) but there is clearly more influence from modern Disney (such as Enchanted and Tangled). The Tangled influence is the most evident in this picture, but thankfully many of the flaws evident in that feature are nonexistent or minimized in this one.

The characters are definitely more modern Disney. In Renaissance Disney, the primary characters were somewhat bland, but very likable. Most of the humor came from the supporting characters. In more recent Disney films (specifically Tangled), the main characters can provide just as much humor as the supporting cast, and that much is true here.

It's worth noting, however, that many of the characters are irritatingly similar to those in Tangled. For example, Anna is alarmingly similar to Rapunzel. Sven seems like a combination of Maximus and Pascel (and essentially serves the same purpose as both of these characters), and while I won't say that Kristoff completely goes the Flynn Rider route, there at least seems to be a little influence from this character. Despite this, these characters are still entertaining, and serve their purpose.

The more notable characters, however, are Elsa and Olaf. The internal conflict in Elsa is done to perfection, and her character design is fantastic. Olaf- despite being pushed heavily in marketing- isn't in quite as much as the film as you would think, and (thankfully) he isn't nearly as obnoxious as one might think based on the trailers. On the contrary, he's very funny, and provides many of Frozen's biggest laughs. He's not as good as Genie from Aladdin, or even Mushu from Mulan, but he' gets the job done. The Duke of Weselton (delightfully voiced by Alan Tudyk who portrayed King Candy in last year's Wreck-It Ralph) is funny in the few scenes he's in, but his motivation as a (minor) villain is both underused and underdeveloped. There's also a very funny character named Oaken who runs a trading post who gets one very memorable scene.

The songs also seem to take more of a page from modern Disney. Rather than producing big, Broadway-type numbers like the Renaissance Disney films are known for, the songs in Frozen have a very noticeable pop vibe- while retaining the orchestral score. This was notable in certain songs in Tangled and Enchanted, but they were never implemented this heavily. Also, rather than Alan Menken/Glenn Slater collaboration that recent Disney musicals have had, the score is instead written by Christophe Beck with song lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (Book of Mormon, Winnie the Pooh).

There are 10 songs in this film, but two are reprises, and one is under a minute, and it's really more of an afterthought. The opening number, "Frozen Heart" has a similar feel to "Virginian Company" from Pocahontas. It's a good song (and destined to be forgotten among the other numbers), but the melody and music is especially nice in this song. I'd personally be interested in an instrumental version of this song with a fiddle performing the melody in place of the vocals.

"Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" is a heartbreaker. Don't let that innocent title fool you, this song was a tear-jerker. The lyrics aren't especially clever, nor do they flow especially well, but that's not the point of this particular song. Rather, it's to show the struggle Ana and Elsa have being separated, and this is accomplished perfectly through visuals and pitch-perfect singing performances. "For the First Time in Forever" is the most Tangled-esque song in the film with bouncy lyrics and predictably chipper attitude. But it won me over all the same (especially towards the end).

"Love is an Open Door" is a catchy and comedic number that's sort of a parody of the absurdly brief pre-marriage relationships between Disney characters. Later parody and satire humor related to this is also successful. In fact, I would argue that the few bits of parody/satire type humor in this film is better than all related humor in the entirety of Disney's Enchanted.

"In Summer" and "Fixer Upper" are good for throwaway comedy numbers, but the standout is "Let it Go." On one hand, the pop song vibe is a pinch distracting, but the orchestral score makes it work. The lyrics are excellent, the visuals here are gorgeous, and Idina Menzel nails the singing. A reprise of this song performed by Demi Lovato plays during the credits, but it's vastly inferior to the original.

Disney films are also known for their beautiful animation and Frozen is no exception. The environments are gorgeous, sometimes stunning, and some scenes involving snow falling are almost breath-taking. Admittedly, this films might have really benefited from traditional animation instead of CGI, but that doesn't make the visuals any less attractive.

The cast is reasonably good. Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel as Anna and Elsa respectively are without flaw, whilst Jonathan Groff as Kristoff is good enough. Josh Gad as Olaf is channeling a lot of Jonah Hill here, but the performance works, and it's never annoying.

Christophe Beck has composed dozens upon dozens of scores over the years, but none of this work has been especially memorable. Frozen is an important milestone for him, however, as it's a reasonably good score, though his work is certainly outshined by the music in the lyrical numbers- which are composed by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez.

The first half hour of Frozen provides some of the biggest laughs of the film, and more importantly, the most touching moments. And while there are emotional highs and lots of humor throughout the rest of the film, nothing else in this film compares to the first half hour. The first 15 minutes especially are pure cinematic gold. But the rest of the film does more than enough to make itself a memorable animated film that you would be doing yourself a favor to check out while it's in theaters. It's not the best that modern Disney has to offer, but it's a fantastic throwback to the Disney Musical.