Frozen [PG]

Princesses Elsa and Anna of Arendelle had the strongest relationship with they were little, but this changes one fateful night when the two are playing together. Elsa, possessing magic powers to create ice and snow, accidentally hurts Anna resulting in the erasing of her memories in order to save her. Afraid of hurting her again and having to keep her powers hidden from Anna and the kingdom, Elsa confines herself to her room, severing their sisterly ties. On the day of Elsa’s coronation, Anna falls for a prince and asks Elsa for her blessing of their marriage. Elsa snaps with the pressure of hiding and the absurdity of Anna’s request and accidentally covers the land in an endless winter before fleeing into the mountains. Now, it’s up to Anna to find her sister and rekindle their relationship before it’s too late. 

So it seems that the glory days of cartoon classic Disney are gone, now it’s all this Pixar/Dreamworks-like animation, which is breathtaking and visually stunning and all, but it’s just not the same. Old school Disney fans will be able to see my point and hopefully side with it on some level. The last three movies Disney’s brought out, all bearing a title of a singular word, have featured this brand of animation: Tangled, Brave, and now Frozen. I’m not saying that I didn’t like the movie; I just don’t think it was worth all the hype that my friends had rallied around it and I definitely don’t think it was worth a $12 ticket (I could have waited for it to come out on DVD). 

Princesses Elsa and Anna of Arendelle had the strongest relationship with they were little, but this changes one fateful night when the two are playing together. Elsa, possessing magic powers to create ice and snow, accidentally hurts Anna resulting in the erasing of her memories in order to save her. Afraid of hurting her again and having to keep her powers hidden from Anna and the kingdom, Elsa confines herself to her room, severing their sisterly ties. On the day of Elsa’s coronation, Anna falls for a prince and asks Elsa for her blessing of their marriage. Elsa snaps with the pressure of hiding and the absurdity of Anna’s request and accidentally covers the land in an endless winter before fleeing into the mountains. Now, it’s up to Anna to find her sister and rekindle their relationship before it’s too late. 

We’ll start quickly with the story. Loosely based on The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson, the plotline sits at the relatively weak end of the spectrum. The romance is only hinted at, there is no real sense of danger or drama or even mild dilemma, the secondary characters are hardly given any time to grow… in short, it’s all pretty whirlwind. There are a few unforeseen twists, but nothing comes as a real shock and aside from the ‘climactic’ ending, there is really nothing in this movie that cited a strong emotional response in me. 

The animation is what makes the movie worth watching. It’s a visual feast, one that looks too good to eat really. What can I say about this animation that I’ve not already said before? The second highlight is the music. 

The soundtrack proves to be another original and memorable collection of classic tracks with Elsa’s ‘Let it Go’ being a guaranteed one to get stuck in your head. I was getting a very strong Wicked vibe really when hearing this, as many of the songs between Elsa and Anna are pumped full with contrasting medleys and harmonies and very specific timing. This feeling was justified when I learned that Idina Menzel who played the original Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West) on Broadway does the voice of Elsa. 

Featuring the voice talents of Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff, Santino Fontana, Alan Tudyk, and Ciaran Hinds, Frozen is a lovely little film to come out of the studio, but I just feel that Disney has fallen into a pattern, are not longer indulging audiences in the cartoon animation that first established them, and aren’t really trying to give us anything new and awe-inspiring.