Disney’s ‘Frozen’ Enchants Viewers This Holiday Season

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Disney’s marvelous “Frozen” fits snugly in the lineage of princess stories that the studio has been crafting for decades while also looks forward to empower girls in ways that its predecessors never considered. It is a remarkably fun movie, especially in 3D, alive in ways that so many of its peers in this lackluster year for animation simply are not. With great voice work, fantastic music, and a script that feels like its themes emerge naturally from its story and characters instead just being forced upon them, “Frozen” is Disney’s best animated feature since “The Lion King.”

Elsa and Anna are princesses, literally. Their parents are royalty and they are left to their own devices to play as little girls do. Elsa has a secret. She has magical powers – abilities to freeze her environment or cover it in a blanket of snow. While playing with Anna, she misfires and freezes her sister. Their parents take Anna to a magical group of trolls who save her life but the family damage is done. Anna’s memory of the event is wiped clean but Elsa is locked up in the castle, separated from the one who loves her most and forced to hide her secret instead of learning to control it.

Frozen
Frozen
Photo credit: Disney

Years later, Elsa and Anna’s parents have died and the young women are now opening the doors to their estate to their subjects for the first time. Anna is ecstatic while Elsa is fearful of her secret being discovered. It’s the story of the girl who couldn’t wait to meet the world and the one scared of what the world would think of her. The thematic symmetry between the two leads is marvelous, setting up the arc of where this riff on Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Snow Queen” will go from here. Anna meets a handsome prince, who sweeps her off her feet while Elsa’s secret is revealed, plummeting the land into eternal winter and forcing her into exile.

It’s not a spoiler to say that “Frozen” is a piece about dealing with what makes you different, an important lesson for all children, girls and boys. There’s an amazing musical number in the middle, sung by Broadway legend Idina Menzel as Elsa, that is chill-inducing (pun only slightly intended) to the point that the audience I saw the film with applauded at its conclusion. It is an important moment for Disney in that this song, “Let It Go,” which is almost guaranteed to win the Oscar for Best Original Song, really proves to be forward-thinking for young girls without sacrificing storytelling in favor of moral message. Girls are judged harshly from a very young age, taught to be too cognizant of their appearance and often made to believe that they’re lesser than the boys in their class. Through theme, song, and storytelling power, “Frozen” teaches us that it is when we hide our individuality that we do the most damage to ourselves and those we love.

Frozen
Frozen
Photo credit: Disney

It’s also just a damn good time - at turns clever, funny, sweet, and romantic. About halfway through, Josh Gad shows up as a snowman named Olaf and he threatens to steal the show a bit with his comedic hijinks. I’ll admit that I like the first half, which features less physical humor and more music, significantly more than the “Olaf half.” However, kids will embrace the character that Disney is already selling as the face of the film and a straight fairy tale without the physical comedy might have been a tougher sell for little ones. And even if Olaf represents something that skews a little younger than the dark first act of this flick would suggest, the writers still keep it remarkably fresh. We complain all the time as critics about animated films that don’t try anything new. A snowman who sings a song about how he can’t wait for summer (not knowing what it will do to him) is clever, funny, and certainly unique.

The voice cast is strong throughout as the producers made the incredibly smart decision of focusing on actors who could sing the excellent music like Menzel instead of casting household names. Kristen Bell does surprisingly good work as Anna but Menzel steals the piece, especially whenever she sings. Male leads are voiced by Jonathan Groff and Santino Fontana and they’re both effective.

“Frozen” might be a little long for some kids and does sometimes get a little silly for its own good (there are a few too many snowman butt jokes) but it really does remind me of the comeback period of Disney in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s – “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty & the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King.” There have been some successful outings for Disney since then but they’ve mostly watched as Pixar and Dreamworks stole a lot of their creative thunder. It took an ice princess to steal it back.

“Frozen” stars Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, and Santino Fontanta. It was written by Jennifer Lee and directed by Lee & Chris Buck. It opens on November 27, 2013 and is rated PG.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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