Frozen is the latest feature produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, the same company that brought us the terrific Wreck-It Ralph just last year. They return with another quality feature that has everything that a good animated feature should. A moving story, memorable characters, genuine humor, and even some singing.
Our journey begins with the introduction of sisters Princess Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Princess Anna (Kristen Bell) as children. Elsa, the older sister, is also gifted with special magic abilities that allow her to create snowy winter effects. While playing together one night, Anna is hurt due to an accident with Elsa’s magic that causes her parents (King & Queen) to seek out magical help. As a part of the cure, the night of the accident as well as her knowledge bout Elsa’s magical powers will be erased from Anna’s memory. This forces Anna to be quartered off, hiding her abilities form her sister, creating a distance between the sisters. To make matters worth, their parents are later killed in a tragic accident at sea that leaves the children more alone than they already are with their new living conditions.
After closing the Kingdom’s gates for many years, they reopen them for the first time in 13 years in order to host Elsa’s coronation ceremony. This troubles Elsa, as she’s afraid that she will accidentally show her magic powers during the ceremony, fearful of how the outside world would respond to them. On the other hand, Anna is excited for the ceremony. Not only because she is tired of being cooped up in their castle, but because she’s also tired of her sister shutting her out, seemingly for no reason.
While out exploring The Kingdom and all its new visitors, Anna has a quick greeting with Prince Hans (Santino Fontana) where she falls for him so quickly that she gets engaged to him literally later that same day. This news infuriates Elsa when they ask for her blessing, causing her to accidentally show her powers during her rage. The people of the Kingdom and the travelers become freaked out, causing Elsa to flee from The Kingdom into the mountains, leaving them in an unexpected winter wonderland. Only the Kingdom never had to deal with weather like this, causing it to become quite a troubling time for them.
From here on out, it’s up to Anna to find her sister, make amends, and calm her down. Along her journey she meets Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), a traveler who sells ice for a living, along with his trusty reindeer, Sven. The real scene stealer comes from a magical snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad), who was created by Elsa the night of the accident, and is brought back to life with the reemergence of her powers. They all journey together to help Anna find Elsa and calm her down so they can save the Kingdom from the wrath of the winter storm.
Frozen starts off slowly during the introduction of its plot and characters, but it makes the turn and finds its groove once Kristoff comes into the picture. Throw in the hilarious talking snowman Olaf (easily the movie’s scene stealer), and the film takes off near classic Disney levels. The musical numbers and genuinely clever, and the characters all show their own blend of life and humor that bring Frozen to life in a highly enjoyable fashion. The film, directed by both Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee, looks gorgeous. Lee also handled the screenplay, which is witty and very thoughtful in its approach. The story has many elements of the traditional Disney fare, but the payoffs are so well earned and achieved that it works well regardless. There’s even some twists thrown in there as well, some that I truly didn’t see coming.
Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf are some of the best Disney characters in a long time, and will not be forgotten anytime soon. This is due to some amazing voice work from Josh Gad as Olaf, as well as Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, who have some great musical performances as Anna and Elsa respectively. I had a great deal of fun while watching the film, which is what counts. It’s a true crowd pleasure for both children and their parents (and the rest of us adults as well).
Although the competition in the animated film genre was pretty thin this year (Monsters U aside) I think its safe to say that Frozen is the best animated film of 2013, and should take home the prize come Oscar season next year.
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