I have to admit, I haven't been super impressed by Disney's animated output. Outside of the content coming from Pixar, things have not been great. There have been some good things, but for the most part it has been rough going. But Frozen is a true return to form for the studio. A well presented movie that mixes a tradtional fairy tale, Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, with enough contemporary attitudes and female empowerment to please everyone in the audience. Energetic, humorous and not at all cloying, this wonderful toon lifts up what has so far been a lackluster year at the box office for animated features. As an added bonus, there is a truly charming animated short at the front of the film. It is by far one of the wittiest and most clever shorts that have been done in a while.
Lauren MacMullen's Get A Horse!, which debuted to rave reviews at the Telluride Film Festival, is extremely charming and fun return to form for Mickey Mouse and friends. The short begins as a old school black and white cartoon but shortly thereafter erupts into 3D and sways back and forth between the two in hilarious and certainly inventive ways that is sure to leave you with a smile. Horse! is a surefire winner that is better in it's short running time than most animated features this year.
Frozen, which has been in development for the better part of a decade under the stewardship of many writers, directors, and song writers, is a welcome outing from Disney. Like with the Little Mermaid, which is another Anderson story, Disney has hit another one of the park. As we have seen in the very recent past, it does not have to be the typical princess story tropes recycled on screen to be successful. Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (who earns the distinction of being the first female director on an in-house Disney animated feature) do a fairly good job in hitting all the right notes for this film to register with younger audiences, while also laying in the darker themes of a mentally and emotionally tortured queen, her lonely younger sister, and an initially straight laced but ultimately two faced suitor.
Refashioning the original Anderson fairytale, this is the tale of two royal sisters, the older, more reclusive and brooding blonde Elsa, and the younger and much brighter Anna. Raised in the splendor and beauty of a castle, but isolated from the rest of the world because of the perceived danger of the ice powers Elsa is born with. The death of their parents forces Elsa to take the throne in her late teens. Elsa has long heeded a warning from her youth to never allow her powers to show. But during her coronation, her sister Anna mistakenly removes one of the gloves that help her keep the power in check, exposing her capacity for magic to the world. Unlike most stories of this sort, it is not evil that unleashes danger upon her people, but merely an accident by her sister that could have been avoided had she been more open with her.
Wherever she turns, she simply can't help but unleash ice and snow. But instead of putting the gloves back on and returning to hiding, Elsa embraces something she has not experienced since she was young: freedom. She flees to the isolation of the North Mountain while singing the extremely liberating "Let It Go", building herself a beautifully animated ice castle while her subjects freeze back at home.
Despite having recently been swept of her feet by the dashing young Prince Hans, Anna departs immediately after her sister. But because she has spent the majority of her life behind the locked doors of the castle, Anna is not at all suited for life in the outdoors, especially not during the horrible winter brought upon by her sister. It is at this point that she enlists the help of Kristoff, his trusty sidekick Sven, who is more dog than reindeer, and not long after, the snowman Olaf. This group of mismatched personalities makes it's way through the perilous forest in search of the queen in hopes of bringing her home, while back at the village the duplicitous Hans is gaining the trust of the people.
While very enjoyable and and highly entertaining, Frozen is not perfect by any means. It drags a little towards the end. And I'm not sure why but the screenwriter insists on adding teen Americanisms to Anna's dialogue. While not immediately annoying, upon further thought you begin to wonder how (or more importantly where) Anna has picked these things up. Her dialogue is constantly peppered with phrases like "freaked out", but no one else that she associates with speaks like this. And if she has been locked up in the castle all these years, where did she pick these things up? It's a minor nitpick, but a valid one nonetheless. Also, the idea that Anna would immediately fall in love and want to marry the first guy who speaks to her is an odd one. I can understand her being boy crazy seeing as she is a teen girl with a bright personality who has been locked inside her whole life, but it was just strange for them to jump to her wanting to marry him right out of the gate. Again a minor gripe, but one that took me out of the movie a little bit.
The voice cast is spot on. Kristen Bell as Anna and Idina Menzel as Elsa do the majority of the heavy lifting in the film, and they could not be more perfect. Idnina in particular turns in a great performance, shifting between the colder and more distant place that Elsa begins at, and the slightly warmer and open but still keeping with her personality place that she ends in. The male voice actors hold there own as well, with Josh Gad being the most obvious standout.
All in all a very enjoyable film. Frozen is a must see this holiday season. 8/10
Brett Royster
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