Review
‘Frozen’ brings holiday cheer to theaters
December 5, 2013
With winter finally here, Disney has come out with its latest animated feature “Frozen,” which weaves snowmen, a heroic journey and sisterly love into a fine addition to the Disney canon.
Elsa and Anna are the two princesses of the kingdom of Arendelle, with Elsa hiding a taboo power: the power to control ice and snow. Having almost hurt her sister, she and her parents decide to hide her powers from the world, leaving Anna distanced from her beloved sister. But as people pass away and the years go by, Arendelle is seeing Elsa as the new queen, with Anna happier than ever.
But when Elsa’s power gets loose and she is accused of being a witch, she can only run and douse the land in eternal winter. Now with the help of some friends along the way, Anna must get her sister back and show her that the one thing that will never freeze over is the love they have for each other.
“Frozen” from the beginning, had me a bit flustered with the rampant advertising of the snowman character Olaf and reindeer Sven, but as more and more trailers were released over time, the true colors of the film began to shine to reveal what could be a Disney movie returning to its endearing fairy tale roots. With that said, “Frozen” is by far one of the best entries in the Disney canon since it has switched to 3-D animation.
There are two areas that Frozen shines very clearly in: story and animation. Despite what some trailers may imply, the film at its heart is about two sisters looking out for each other and trying to bring everything back to the fun way it was when they were kids.
“Frozen” does an excellent job reinforcing this relationship in the film, while also enforcing themes of nostalgia and the different forms of true love. This is not to say it does not have its laughs. The film injects a healthy and clever dosage of jokes and laughs that will appeal to almost everyone who sees the movie, though some may stumble slightly.
Aside from the story, “Frozen” is also beautiful to look at. All the scenes are extremely well directed with an eye for detail and know just when to play it up or slow the moments down, really adding to the emotional depth the movie has.
Speaking of music, I did not realize how much I missed the catchy music of Disney movies past until I listened to the music of “Frozen.” The music and songs, attributed to Christopher Beck, invoke the fun and magic expected from a Disney musical. It is the songs, along with the characters, that make them so much fun to see and sing along to.
The voice actors do a fine job at portraying their characters, as well. Kristen Bell is great as the energetic and optimistic Anna, while Idina Menzel does an excellent job at portraying the disturbed, yet caring Elsa. Even the comedic voices chosen do well, with Josh Gad as the cheerfully naïve snowman, Olaf, stealing many of the laughs in the picture. Each actor does their role great justice and brings out the best and worst of each.
With one of my only complaints being that I wished it were longer and set up over a longer duration, “Frozen” still manages to be a highly satisfying mark in Disney’s lineage of animation. It manages to ensnare you and take you on a sleigh ride of laughs, sadness and fun that manages to make you remember the charm that Disney films have always been meant to deliver.
Ryan Funes is a lover of all things movie, TV, video games and stories and wants to become a television writer someday. In his spare time he enjoys hanging with friends, tapping into his imagination, and watching cartoons of all kinds.